Struggle for power

A struggle for power developed between Stalin, the secretary of the Communist Party, and Trotsky, the brilliant Commissar for War. In a way, the struggle was about what the Soviet Union would become, for Trotsky believed in encouraging world revolution, whereas Stalin advocated Communism in one country' and said Russia had to establish its power before there was any attempt to spread revolution.

Stalin was a master of political trickery. He used his position as secretary to put his supporters on the Central Committee of the party. He even told Trotsky the wrong date for Lenin's funeral, so Trotsky turned up a day late. And so it was Stalin who became party leader in 1924. Trotsky was dismissed, then exiled and murdered in 1941.

Stalin won the struggle for power

Trotsky was exiled and eventually murdered