When Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin met his end, Joseph Stalin had been plotting the takeover for years. He had positioned himself in the bureaucratic state for just that. When he seized power, he attempted to eliminate threats to his power grab. He eliminated vast portions of the power elite, including members of Lenin’s inner circle, becoming the General Secretary of the Communist Party. He wasn’t picked by anyone as Lenin’s successor – he aligned himself to take over as Lenin’s successor.
After Lenin died, most people who wanted to keep their heads got into lockstep behind Stalin. Leon Trotsky didn’t, and he paid the price with an ice axe to the brain. The Great Purge followed.
Stalin and Trotsky were expert at eliminating opposition to communist rule and “converting” those who had voiced a less-than-enthusiastic support for their power. Newspapers that wrote…
