How accurate is it to say that Stalin’s use of terror in the 1930s was fundamentally similar to Lenin’s use of terror in the years 1918–24?

The answer should reach a judgement on how accurate it is to say that Stalin’s use of terror in the 1930s was fundamentally similar to Lenin’s use of terror in the years 1918–24. The introduction might outline how both leaders used terror tactics, and that Lenin set up infrastructure for party purges which Stalin inherited and used. It should also, however, consider the differences between the two leaders as well, such as how Stalin escalated terror tactics, targeting those within the party, as well as political rivals. It should set out a set of standards, such as the scale and methods of terror tactics, as well as the groups of people targeted. When considering the similarities between the two leaders, the answer might suggest that: Both leaders suffered from a sense of political instability and vulnerability. When the Bolsheviks came to power in October in 1917, they were a minority party who needed to consolidate their hold against other rivalries such as the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. Therefore, both leaders used purges to remove ‘unreliable’ elements from the party and resorted to show trials of political opponents. Equally, both Lenin and Stalin were prepared to use ‘class war’ terror tactics in order to ensure the survival of the communist regime. This was evidenced in Lenin’s rule through Red Terror against the bourgeoisie in 1918, and in Stalin’s the liquidation of the kulaks in the 1930s. Moreover, the leaders policies actually built on one another, for example, Lenin established labour camps for oppositionists in the early 1920s and this was expanded into the gulag system under Stalin in the 1930s. Lenin also created the communist secret police (the Cheka) to guarantee internal security from 1917, who were used to crush the Constituent Assembly on 5^th January 1918 when the social Revolutionaries earnt 21 million votes against the Bolsheviks mere 9 million. Stalin expanded its role (as the NKVD) to safeguard the revolution in the 1930s, using terror against soviet people condemned as ‘counter revolutionaries’, and before WW2 targeted to churches to ensure that no opposition group could stem from within the orthodox church. Both leaders, therefore, used terror tactics to deter their potential political opponents.  When evaluating the extent to which the two leaders use of terror differed, different evidence should be selected for analysis. This evidence should illustrate that Stalin attacked a wider group of people, targeting his party members, as well as supposed ‘enemies’. Lenin only removed party cards, rather than cause any physical harm. Stalin, by contrast, attacked those within the party in order to ensure his own impregnability. For example, in 1934 Kirov was murdered after the Congress of Victor’s in which he criticised Stalin’s targets for the Second Five Year plan. In addition, in 1936, the trial of the 16 targeted left leaders including Zinoviev and Kamenev; the trial of the 17 in 1937 targeted party members accused of working for Trotsky, and the trial of the 21 in 1938 targeted rightist such as Bakunin. Lenin’s Red Terror launched in 1918 never reached the scale of Stalin’s mass terror of the 1930s. In 1938, for example, Stalin set up a quota system for 28% purges. Students might also suggest that, unlike Lenin, Stalin resorted to terror in the 1930s partly due to his pathologically suspicious personality and the need to maintain his narcissistic self-image as the ‘hero of the revolution’, this was exemplified Stalin’s ‘Cult of Personality’, which included lavish celebrations such as was put on in 1929 after Stalin’s 50^th birthday.