AQA
AS
HISTORY
7041/2N
Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Component 2N The Russian Revolution and the Rise of
Stalin, 1917–1929
Version: 1.0 Final
,AS
HISTORY
Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Component 2N The Russian Revolution and the Rise of Stalin, 1917–1929
Tuesday 23 May 2023 Afternoon Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7041/2N.
• Answer two questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer either Question 02 or Question 03.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 50 minutes on Section A
– 40 minutes on Section B.
IB/M/Jun23/E2 7041/2N
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From comments made to his colleague and supporter, Smirnov, by Trotsky in 1924.
Trotsky recorded what he had said in his biography of Stalin, written in exile, 1938–40.
Stalin is needed by all of them: by the tired radicals, by the bureaucrats, by the Nepmen,
by the kulaks, by ambitious individuals advancing themselves in the party, by all the
worms that are crawling out of the upturned soil of the revolution. He knows how to meet
them on their own ground, he speaks their language and he knows how to lead them. He
has the deserved reputation of an old revolutionary. He has will and daring. He is 5
currently organising around himself all the shifty characters in the party, the crafty and
unscrupulous. If everything continues to go automatically as it is going now, Stalin will just
as automatically become dictator.
Source B
From the memoirs of a Swiss communist, Jules Humbert-Droz, 1971. Humbert-Droz was
a close friend of Nikolai Bukharin, whom he visited in February 1929.
Before leaving Russia I went to see Bukharin. We had a long and frank conversation. He
brought me up to date with the contacts made by his group with the Zinoviev-Kamenev
faction in order to coordinate the struggle against the power of Stalin. I did not hide from
him that I did not approve of this collaboration with the opposition. He told me that the
struggle against Stalin was not a political programme and admitted that the bloc the 5
groups were planning was a bloc without principles. Its sole purpose was to get rid of
Stalin. I expressed my reservations, but Bukharin certainly knew better than I what crimes
Stalin was capable of.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, which
of these two sources is more valuable in explaining why Stalin won the power struggle
after Lenin’s death?
[25 marks]
IB/M/Jun23/7041/2N
AS
HISTORY
7041/2N
Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Component 2N The Russian Revolution and the Rise of
Stalin, 1917–1929
Version: 1.0 Final
,AS
HISTORY
Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Component 2N The Russian Revolution and the Rise of Stalin, 1917–1929
Tuesday 23 May 2023 Afternoon Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7041/2N.
• Answer two questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer either Question 02 or Question 03.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 50 minutes on Section A
– 40 minutes on Section B.
IB/M/Jun23/E2 7041/2N
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From comments made to his colleague and supporter, Smirnov, by Trotsky in 1924.
Trotsky recorded what he had said in his biography of Stalin, written in exile, 1938–40.
Stalin is needed by all of them: by the tired radicals, by the bureaucrats, by the Nepmen,
by the kulaks, by ambitious individuals advancing themselves in the party, by all the
worms that are crawling out of the upturned soil of the revolution. He knows how to meet
them on their own ground, he speaks their language and he knows how to lead them. He
has the deserved reputation of an old revolutionary. He has will and daring. He is 5
currently organising around himself all the shifty characters in the party, the crafty and
unscrupulous. If everything continues to go automatically as it is going now, Stalin will just
as automatically become dictator.
Source B
From the memoirs of a Swiss communist, Jules Humbert-Droz, 1971. Humbert-Droz was
a close friend of Nikolai Bukharin, whom he visited in February 1929.
Before leaving Russia I went to see Bukharin. We had a long and frank conversation. He
brought me up to date with the contacts made by his group with the Zinoviev-Kamenev
faction in order to coordinate the struggle against the power of Stalin. I did not hide from
him that I did not approve of this collaboration with the opposition. He told me that the
struggle against Stalin was not a political programme and admitted that the bloc the 5
groups were planning was a bloc without principles. Its sole purpose was to get rid of
Stalin. I expressed my reservations, but Bukharin certainly knew better than I what crimes
Stalin was capable of.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, which
of these two sources is more valuable in explaining why Stalin won the power struggle
after Lenin’s death?
[25 marks]
IB/M/Jun23/7041/2N
