Oh this is all very interesting kami888. I'm definitely enjoying the backstory. Oh, and congratulations on 1000 posts 
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I really enjoy reading your detailed backstory, very believable. Looking forward to see how it all turns out.
End of Stalin
Already after the vote, Lenin had realized that the vote itself was a mistake. He now figured that the Central Committee was already filled by Stalin with his supporters, and there was no way of removing him through CC voting. Instead, Lenin decided to appeal to the lower echelons of the party, which, he believed, were still not pro-Stalin. Thus he declared that the vote in Central Committee was indecisive and called upon a general party referendum on the issue. Stalin predictably objected to this, saying that the party’s opinion has already been voiced, and there was no reason to repeat the voting procedure on a wider scale. Stalin also tried to launch a counter-offensive, a vote to remove Lenin from position of Prime Minister due to his illness. The vote was scheduled on December 20th, and the CC voted narrowly in favor of keeping Lenin. Luckily for Lenin, this was just 4 days before his second stroke. Had the vote been scheduled to occur a week later, the result might have been very different. Nonetheless, the second stroke has left Lenin paralyzed and he could no longer attend Politburo meetings. He was still able to speak though, and he was determined to remove Stalin. He dictated his thoughts and orders to his wife, Nadezhda, who wrote them down and delivered them to the Politburo. Lenin declared that the all-party referendum was of utmost importance because it would decide the future of party democracy as well as the future of socialism itself. In the end, Lenin’s authority prevailed and the question was announced to the whole party membership of about 741,000 people. Stalin was helpless in this case, because as the leader of the Politburo, Lenin had the right to declare party referendum. However, there were problems organizing the referendum, and Stalin hoped to delay the process for as long as possible hoping that Lenin would die by the time the actual voting takes place.
Communist Party members vote to remove Stalin
Lenin’s health declined rapidly, but he didn’t die. Referendum was held on February 13th, and the results evidenced that 47% of RCP(b) membership preferred that Stalin leaves his position and the office of General Secretary to be dissolved once and for all. 35% opposed the idea. 18% were unsure. Stalin had no choice but to comply. After the referendum the secretariat was reshuffled and Stalin was no longer in it. Stalin’s former position as General Secretary was also the key influence point of his coalition. Without it, the coalition began to gradually fall apart, especially so because it was becoming dangerous to be on his side – Lev Kamenev (one of the founders of Troika) voiced his opposition to Stalin and to his ideas, and he was followed by ex-deputy Prime Minister Rykov.
For a time being, Stalin kept both his job as Commissar for Nationalities and his seat in Politburo. However, ever since the referendum, his influence in the party has significantly decreased and everyone including himself had realized that the referendum effectively put an end to his political career. As Trotsky put it in his memoirs, “The Iron Man has fallen, and the whole conspiracy aimed at jeopardizing Lenin’s party fell with him”. Having been discredited by the news media both in Russia and at home, in Georgia, Stalin was even considering leaving Politburo once and for all, but his remaining supporters (Zinovyev, Beria) convinced him to stay.
Lenin’s death in 1924 didn’t make the situation for Stalin in better. According to the decision of Politburo, Lenin’s role as the Prime Minister was already taken by Trotsky right after Lenin’s third stroke. After Lenin’s death, the Supreme Soviet confirmed the party decision and Trotsky became the legal Prime Minister of Russia – the figure of supreme authority. Trotsky then surrendered his role as the Chief of the Army to his loyal supporter Ivar Smilga (he was one of the leaders of the Polish campaign, along with Tukhachevsky).
Stalin, as the Commissar for Nationalities, was still of opinion that unification was absolutely necessary for the benefit of the economy, industry, trade, and infrastructure of Soviet Republics. However he was pressured by Politburo to abandon his plans of unification. Trotsky and Bukharin were convinced that for the good and convenience of all people, it is preferable that the republics retain sovereignty over their affairs. Their opinion prevailed, and Stalin gave up.
Unification debate in Politburo
In the following months, Transcaucasia was dissolved and its three constituent republics became independent of each other. Following Russia’s example, in Georgia, Ordzhonikidze was removed from the post of first secretary of Georgian communist party, and Beria was expelled from the party completely.
Azerbaijan after the dissolution of Transcaucasia
The Progressive Era
The following decade after the battle for Moscow was relatively stable. Trotsky was supportive of international revolution, but, unlike Lenin, he was not supportive of military operations against Soviet neighbors. During the Polish campaign, he was the main advocator of signing peace with Poland as soon as possible. Now in 1924 Trotsky was absolutely sure that Russia was exhausted by more than 8 years of permanent warfare and needed time to rebuild itself. War Communism was abandoned as soon as 1921, but only few troops were demobilized because of the fear that sudden mass demobilization could lead to unemployment and starvation. Different forms of industrial production quotas were introduced to keep the economy running at maximum capacity. Gosplan commission was set up to determine the quotas for each successive period. In Azerbaijan, the quotas were set every three months, and therefore the production period became known as 3-month plans. Unlike Russia, in Azerbaijan there was no analogy to Gosplan as a unified structure to determine production quotas for the whole country, instead, there was an independent commission for each administrative region in the country. The members of the commission were elected directly through the regional soviets (councils) with the support of ACP (Communist Party of Azerbaijan). Such practice turned out to result in generally lower production efficiency in Azerbaijan compared to Russia, but slightly higher living standards. By 1927s the Azeri economy finally reached the pre-war levels.
In 1924 Narimanov became member of the CC RCP(b) but only remained there for a year. On 19 March 1925 he died of heart attack and was buried near Kremlin in the memory of his contribution to world revolution. Shortly after his death, Samed Aga was appointed to as the president of the republic, while Gazanfar Musabekov stayed as Prime Minister (note: historically Musabekov was executed during Stalin’s party cleansings).
New cabinet leaders
Soon after becoming leader of the country, Samed Aga started a campaign promoting Latin alphabet for official use in Azerbaijan. That campaign put him in conflict with Moscow, which would much rather prefer if Azeri language was written in Cyrillic alphabet. The main proponent of “cyrillification” was once again Stalin. There were several propositions for compromise languages or “dual languages”, but that would mean that all official documents would have to be written both in Cyrillic and Latin at the same time and thus would create tons of trouble. Eventually the Moscow leadership decided that all Turkic languages would be written in Cyrillic. Despite the opposition of Samed Aga, most of the CC CPA leadership found it more or less acceptable.
Already after the vote, Lenin had realized that the vote itself was a mistake. He now figured that the Central Committee was already filled by Stalin with his supporters, and there was no way of removing him through CC voting. Instead, Lenin decided to appeal to the lower echelons of the party, which, he believed, were still not pro-Stalin. Thus he declared that the vote in Central Committee was indecisive and called upon a general party referendum on the issue. Stalin predictably objected to this, saying that the party’s opinion has already been voiced, and there was no reason to repeat the voting procedure on a wider scale. Stalin also tried to launch a counter-offensive, a vote to remove Lenin from position of Prime Minister due to his illness. The vote was scheduled on December 20th, and the CC voted narrowly in favor of keeping Lenin. Luckily for Lenin, this was just 4 days before his second stroke. Had the vote been scheduled to occur a week later, the result might have been very different. Nonetheless, the second stroke has left Lenin paralyzed and he could no longer attend Politburo meetings. He was still able to speak though, and he was determined to remove Stalin. He dictated his thoughts and orders to his wife, Nadezhda, who wrote them down and delivered them to the Politburo. Lenin declared that the all-party referendum was of utmost importance because it would decide the future of party democracy as well as the future of socialism itself. In the end, Lenin’s authority prevailed and the question was announced to the whole party membership of about 741,000 people. Stalin was helpless in this case, because as the leader of the Politburo, Lenin had the right to declare party referendum. However, there were problems organizing the referendum, and Stalin hoped to delay the process for as long as possible hoping that Lenin would die by the time the actual voting takes place.
Communist Party members vote to remove Stalin
Lenin’s health declined rapidly, but he didn’t die. Referendum was held on February 13th, and the results evidenced that 47% of RCP(b) membership preferred that Stalin leaves his position and the office of General Secretary to be dissolved once and for all. 35% opposed the idea. 18% were unsure. Stalin had no choice but to comply. After the referendum the secretariat was reshuffled and Stalin was no longer in it. Stalin’s former position as General Secretary was also the key influence point of his coalition. Without it, the coalition began to gradually fall apart, especially so because it was becoming dangerous to be on his side – Lev Kamenev (one of the founders of Troika) voiced his opposition to Stalin and to his ideas, and he was followed by ex-deputy Prime Minister Rykov.
For a time being, Stalin kept both his job as Commissar for Nationalities and his seat in Politburo. However, ever since the referendum, his influence in the party has significantly decreased and everyone including himself had realized that the referendum effectively put an end to his political career. As Trotsky put it in his memoirs, “The Iron Man has fallen, and the whole conspiracy aimed at jeopardizing Lenin’s party fell with him”. Having been discredited by the news media both in Russia and at home, in Georgia, Stalin was even considering leaving Politburo once and for all, but his remaining supporters (Zinovyev, Beria) convinced him to stay.
Lenin’s death in 1924 didn’t make the situation for Stalin in better. According to the decision of Politburo, Lenin’s role as the Prime Minister was already taken by Trotsky right after Lenin’s third stroke. After Lenin’s death, the Supreme Soviet confirmed the party decision and Trotsky became the legal Prime Minister of Russia – the figure of supreme authority. Trotsky then surrendered his role as the Chief of the Army to his loyal supporter Ivar Smilga (he was one of the leaders of the Polish campaign, along with Tukhachevsky).
Stalin, as the Commissar for Nationalities, was still of opinion that unification was absolutely necessary for the benefit of the economy, industry, trade, and infrastructure of Soviet Republics. However he was pressured by Politburo to abandon his plans of unification. Trotsky and Bukharin were convinced that for the good and convenience of all people, it is preferable that the republics retain sovereignty over their affairs. Their opinion prevailed, and Stalin gave up.
Unification debate in Politburo
In the following months, Transcaucasia was dissolved and its three constituent republics became independent of each other. Following Russia’s example, in Georgia, Ordzhonikidze was removed from the post of first secretary of Georgian communist party, and Beria was expelled from the party completely.
Azerbaijan after the dissolution of Transcaucasia
The Progressive Era
The following decade after the battle for Moscow was relatively stable. Trotsky was supportive of international revolution, but, unlike Lenin, he was not supportive of military operations against Soviet neighbors. During the Polish campaign, he was the main advocator of signing peace with Poland as soon as possible. Now in 1924 Trotsky was absolutely sure that Russia was exhausted by more than 8 years of permanent warfare and needed time to rebuild itself. War Communism was abandoned as soon as 1921, but only few troops were demobilized because of the fear that sudden mass demobilization could lead to unemployment and starvation. Different forms of industrial production quotas were introduced to keep the economy running at maximum capacity. Gosplan commission was set up to determine the quotas for each successive period. In Azerbaijan, the quotas were set every three months, and therefore the production period became known as 3-month plans. Unlike Russia, in Azerbaijan there was no analogy to Gosplan as a unified structure to determine production quotas for the whole country, instead, there was an independent commission for each administrative region in the country. The members of the commission were elected directly through the regional soviets (councils) with the support of ACP (Communist Party of Azerbaijan). Such practice turned out to result in generally lower production efficiency in Azerbaijan compared to Russia, but slightly higher living standards. By 1927s the Azeri economy finally reached the pre-war levels.
In 1924 Narimanov became member of the CC RCP(b) but only remained there for a year. On 19 March 1925 he died of heart attack and was buried near Kremlin in the memory of his contribution to world revolution. Shortly after his death, Samed Aga was appointed to as the president of the republic, while Gazanfar Musabekov stayed as Prime Minister (note: historically Musabekov was executed during Stalin’s party cleansings).
New cabinet leaders
Soon after becoming leader of the country, Samed Aga started a campaign promoting Latin alphabet for official use in Azerbaijan. That campaign put him in conflict with Moscow, which would much rather prefer if Azeri language was written in Cyrillic alphabet. The main proponent of “cyrillification” was once again Stalin. There were several propositions for compromise languages or “dual languages”, but that would mean that all official documents would have to be written both in Cyrillic and Latin at the same time and thus would create tons of trouble. Eventually the Moscow leadership decided that all Turkic languages would be written in Cyrillic. Despite the opposition of Samed Aga, most of the CC CPA leadership found it more or less acceptable.
I feel that there needs to be something of a final showdown between Stalin and Trotsky.
Great update! Looking forward to the unfolding of events between Trotsky and Stalin.
stnylan
Stalin lost his position as General Secretary, became discredited by the media, lost most of his Politburo supporters, became more or less isolated within the party, while his enemies secured their grip on power. Essencially, his career is over.
The very fact that Stalin is still part of the Politburo doesn't really matter, because historically, Trotsky retained his position as a Politburo member for quite a while after losing his power struggle against Stalin. He didn't make any decisions, he just sat there and occasioanlly voiced protests which fell on deaf ears. In my AAR, Stalin is in this kind of position instead of Trotsky. Essencially he is harmless.
If this isn't enough to be seen as a final showdown - I could deepen the story even further and make Stalin organize his final power bet and perhaps even a rebellion, but that (IMHO) would be a bit unrealistic (after all Stalin was a pragmatic person, he wouldn't be likely to try such things), and moreover, this AAR is really supposed to be about Azerbaijan instead of Trotsky and Stalin.
to all
Unfortunately school is starting and I'm afraid that the school assignments will make the updates come rearer.
Well I think the February referendum was the kind of final showdown you are talking about.
Stalin lost his position as General Secretary, became discredited by the media, lost most of his Politburo supporters, became more or less isolated within the party, while his enemies secured their grip on power. Essencially, his career is over.
The very fact that Stalin is still part of the Politburo doesn't really matter, because historically, Trotsky retained his position as a Politburo member for quite a while after losing his power struggle against Stalin. He didn't make any decisions, he just sat there and occasioanlly voiced protests which fell on deaf ears. In my AAR, Stalin is in this kind of position instead of Trotsky. Essencially he is harmless.
If this isn't enough to be seen as a final showdown - I could deepen the story even further and make Stalin organize his final power bet and perhaps even a rebellion, but that (IMHO) would be a bit unrealistic (after all Stalin was a pragmatic person, he wouldn't be likely to try such things), and moreover, this AAR is really supposed to be about Azerbaijan instead of Trotsky and Stalin.
to all
Unfortunately school is starting and I'm afraid that the school assignments will make the updates come rearer.
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I take your point, perhaps show down is the wrong word, but I think a final something. A final parting maybe, with Stalin going into exile. Or maybe a last hurrah, and given Stalin's own Caucasian connections that might peripherally involve the Azeri.
Anyway, in the grand scheme of things its not important. Alas for school.
Anyway, in the grand scheme of things its not important. Alas for school.