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?
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>From what I understand, Stalin occupied relatively minor post and proceeded to make the post more powerful
Stalin did not start out holding a minor post he was one of the original few Bolsheviks. He joined the communist party only a year or two into its existence around the same time Lenin did, when it was still very small. He was generally known for being the guy to do the dirty work, bank robberies, racketeering, etc, got him nearly kicked out of the party a few times. But he was generally charismatic and this set him out as different from many of the “intellectuals who didnt want to get their hands dirty” in the party so he worked his way up.
By the time of the Russian revolution, he already was one of the top people in the party, and was given command of the red army.
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