Opposition+to+Stalin;+the+nature,+extent+and+treatment+opposition

It wasn't before in 1932 that Stalin noticed the rise in opposition to his leadership and government. It was not the public who openly criticized Stalin but members of his own political party. These rebellious party members would publicly criticize Stalin's government and political methods. Eventually, Stalin wanted the criticizers to be sentenced to death but once the issue had been discussed at the Politburo, the majority of the men there decided against the execution of the men, thus siding with Sergey Kirov. Kirov's influence in the Politburo grew once he again decided to object to one of Stalin's policies. It was at this point that Stalin began to wonder if Sergey Kirov would want to take his place as a leader before Stalin was dead. In other words; Stalin viewed Kirov as a threat to his power. Kirov's willingness to agrue and oppose Stalin in public supported his threory. Once Kriov again resisted against one of Stalin's orders, he was assisinated on December 1, 1934.

user:annapettersen

I think we need a bit more information about Kirov here. Who was he--what did he stand for? How did Stalin deal with other types of opposition? Was there opposition to to him from the start? Who were his supporters? user:jennpratt