The two rivals who wanted to lead the communist party were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.

In this essay I am going to explore the reasons to how and why this happened. Stalin held a very powerful and very important position, as the general secretary of the party. He was powerful enough to remove or appoint people to a post. He appointed people who supported him and removed people who were likely to support Trotsky. Older Bolsheviks were not concerned about his moves because they were all worried about Trotsky taking over as dictator.

Stalin's Leadership by 1928 Stalin became leader of the USSR by 1928 through his strengths. He also played on the weaknesses of his opponents; He manipulated important events, and had some luck to secure his place as leader. Stalin used his strengths to his advantage, which helped to become leader. He held some important positions in the part like: commnissar for nationalities, member of the orgbura, which ran all the party’s organisational matters, he was in charge of enrolment and General secretary which gave him the power to give his supporters posts at every level party. And has head of the control commission he had the power to control party membership- that is purge, or expel, members who were considered unreliable.

Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1954. He is widely recognized as a dictator, an oppressor, and a ruthless ruler who took the Soviet Union from economic shambles to a superpower, but with the high cost of human sacrifice and his paranoia of opposition. Stalin saw himself as the natural successor of Leninism-Marxism, but in actuality he created a system of his own which did not go according to the philosophy of Karl Marx and Engels. Stalin’s early political career began just like everyone else who gained prominence in the Bolshevik takeover of the Russian Empire. Lenin had successfully launched his revolution in October, 1917 and became the leader of the Russian Communist Party until his death in January 1924.

14.2 Stalin Stalin’s Rise to Power Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 to 1953. During these years, Stalin had continued to move up the party ladder. In 1922 he became secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, this role enabled him to appoint his allies to government jobs and grow a base of political support. Once Lenin, who had been ruling, died Stalin was able to outsmart his other rivals and soon became the new leader for the Soviet Union. Stalin ruled the Soviet Union by terror.

Why Stalin was Able to Win the Power Struggle with Trotsky The Bolsheviks, the ruling party of the Soviet Union, was lead by the Lenin. When Lenin died in January of 1924, he left behind no clear successor, and vague indications of his intended plans for the Bolshevik party. A power struggle for control of the party ensued, one in which many historical figures arose. Within this plethora of names, two of the most important names in Soviet history arose, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin. As the power struggle continued, the mutual antagonism grew, resulting in a life or death struggle.

Consequences of Joseph Stalin's Leadership Stalin began his rise to power after the death of Lenin in 1924. At this time, Russia was in social, political and economic turmoil and suffering from ailing international relations following the revolution of 1917 and growth of a one party communist sate. The 'uprising of the proletariat' had occurred in a country without a recognisable working class. In order for Russian industry to develop, the political system needed stabilising and capital invested in the major companies. Stalin implemented hard-line tactics to obtain this in the shortest possible time - the consequences of this method of developing the country are to be discussed in this essay.

Stalin saw a need to sure up the allegiance to him by all who were under him. Therefore, he needed to fight out against those who opposed him. So for the rest of 1924, the Politburo continued to argue about the future of the Soviet economy. The fiercest argument was between Stalin and Trotsky over Trotsky's theory of permanent Revolution. Trotsky thought that Communism could not survive in the USSR alone.

Lenin had thought Trotsky to be the better man. Stalin then turned on several who had aided in his rise through the ranks. With manipulation, propaganda, and deception, Stalin rose to be the leader of Russia. (www.msn.com/index/le/ole3200htm.) He was now in complete and absolute control.

After the death of Lenin, his chief lieutenant Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin fought for control of the country. Stalin was able to win out over Trotsky and gain control of the Russian government. He felt that Lenin and Trotsky’s socialistic ideas were flawed in that they were to wait for other countries to revolt and become socialistic as well. Staling believed that a single country could make socialism . In order for it to work, Russia had to become an industrial power at all costs.

Stalin's Authority Over the USSR During the period between Lenin's death, 1924, and the end of the 'Great Purge', 1939, Stalin managed to assert personal authority over the USSR by gaining complete control of the Communist Party and using terror to eliminate opposition to his role as leader. After a successful joint effort with Kamenev and Zinoviev to remove Trotsky from the Communist Party, Stalin turned his attention towards eliminating Kamenev and Zinoviev themselves, as they were a threat to his influence over the party. Both had attacked Stalin's authority and criticised the idea of having one single leader in the party. Therefore in 1926 party meetings were held in Moscow and Leningrad and attended by critics of both Zinoviev and Kamenev. These meetings saw that loyal members of the party were put in control of the two cities and that Zinoviev and Kamenev were removed as Secretaries of local parties.