It always interested me that one of the most murderous dictators of the last century officially held the benign-sounding title of ‘General Secretary.’ From what I understand, Stalin occupied relatively minor post and proceeded to make the post more powerful, rather than assuming an already-powerful post and consolidating power like you tended to see in the west. It was also known that Lenin didn’t think Stalin suited to his role and that Trotsky was a bitter rival. How does a guy like Stalin build a power base out of a relatively minor post and essentially against the wishes of the public faces of the Bolsheviks to the point that he did?
In: Other
During the revolution he was in charge of fund raising. Largely in the form of violent robberies. After the revolution when Lenin took over he was made the general secretary for the party, where the title came from. That position let him feed information to those who would use it to get themselves set-up in powerful positions, and also keep those who would oppose him from getting important memos on time keeping them seemingly behind on the working of the government. Once Lenin had his second stroke and died he called in all the favors he cultivated with the information he provided to his supporters, and used information he had on others to force them to back his bid for leadership.
Latest Answers