United Opposition (Soviet Union)

United Opposition
LeaderLeon Trotsky
Grigory Zinoviev
Lev Kamenev
FoundedMay 1926 (1926-05)
DissolvedDecember 1927 (1927-12)
Merger ofLeft Opposition
New Opposition
Succeeded byBloc of Soviet Oppositions
IdeologyLeninism
Trotskyism
Political positionLeft-wing to Far-left
National affiliationAll-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)

The United Opposition (Russian: Объединённая оппозиция, romanizedOb"yedinennaya oppozitsiya, sometimes translated Joint Opposition) was a group formed in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in early 1926, when the Left Opposition led by Leon Trotsky, merged with the New Opposition led by Grigory Zinoviev and his close ally Lev Kamenev, in order to strengthen opposition against the Joseph Stalin-led Centre. The United Opposition demanded, among other things, greater freedom of expression within the Communist Party, the dismantling of the New Economic Policy (NEP), more development of heavy industry, and less bureaucracy. The group was effectively destroyed by Stalin's majority by the end of 1927, having had only limited success.[1][2]

  1. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (2011). The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. Oxford University Press. pp. 173–175.
  2. ^ "Leon Trotsky: Platform of the Joint Opposition (6. The National Question)". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2021-04-12.