Lenin became increasingly ill, there was rising tension between the two likely candidates to replace Lenin. Both Stalin and Trotsky wanted Lenin's place putting them in a Power struggle. In 1924 Lenin died. Trotsky and Stalin were the obvious contenders for taking Lenin's place as leader of the Bolsheviks. When Lenin died he left no clear successor to lead the Communist Party (the Bolsheviks), so it was assumed that Trotsky was going to be Lenin's successor, because Trotsky was very close to him (his right hand man).
Stalin was the General Secretary for Commissar. He was a vicious man with much strength that helped him gain leadership. He was the quiet one in the Bolshevik party, but appeared as Lenin's loyal colleague after his death in 1924. Stalin took on the job of General Secretary and that put him in control of the Bolshevik party. With his position, he promoted his friends and those who supported him and he demoted his opposition and gave them boring jobs.
The two major economic policy makers of the USSR, ...
Chinese Stamp, 1950. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong ...
English: Lenin giving a speech to the troops at th...This helped Stalin gain power because he got to know the party well. This gained him a lot of support and could easily infiltrate his influence on the party. Also Stalin managed to out smart Trotsky. On Lenin's funeral Stalin told Trotsky the wrong day purposely so that he wouldn't turn up and it would make him look bad to the Bolsheviks.
Trotsky had Many Weaknesses also that cost him the Position of leader of the Bolsheviks. For one he had only joined the Bolsheviks at the start of the revolution. Also Further more Trotsky was Jewish and no one really wanted a Jew to lead them. Because of his faith he knew that Stalin would probably come out above him self. Another reason to his weaknesses was that he ran the...