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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