whom did he succeed?
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin
In the wake of Lenin's death, various protagonists emerged in the struggle to become his successor: alongside Stalin was Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, and Mikhail Tomsky. Stalin saw Trotsky—whom he personally despised—as the main obstacle to his dominance within the party. While Lenin had been ill Stalin had forged an anti-Trotsky alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev. Although Zinoviev was concerned about Stalin's growing authority, he rallied behind him at the 13th Congress as a counterweight to Trotsky, who now led a party faction known as the Left Opposition. The Left Opposition believed the NEP conceded too much to capitalism; Stalin was called a "rightist" for his support of the policy. Stalin built up a retinue of his supporters in the Central Committee, while the Left Opposition were gradually removed from their positions of influence. He was supported in this by Bukharin, who like Stalin believed that the Left Opposition's proposals would plunge the Soviet U
who was the ruthless dictator who was intent on spreading communism in the soviet union and abroad Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
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Joseph Stalin [SEP] Succeeding Lenin: 1924–1927
Lenin died in January 1924. Stalin took charge of the funeral and was one of its pallbearers; against the wishes of Lenin's widow, the Politburo embalmed his corpse and placed it within a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square. It was incorporated into a growing personality cult devoted to Lenin, with Petrograd being renamed "Leningrad" that year. To bolster his image as a devoted Leninist, Stalin gave nine lectures at Sverdlov University on the "Foundations of Leninism", later published in book form. During the 13th Party Congress in May 1924, "Lenin's Testament" was read only to the leaders of the provincial delegations.