One can almost imagine Joseph Stalin smiling at his people, happy for once in his life as people celebrated in shabby public squares around bronze majestic statues of him. The year was 1929: his fiftieth birthday. Portraits of him hung in squares and public places, his aging face beaming at his people from beyond the canvas. And yet, for each cheer of congratulation, for every smile spent in a wish, there lay a seed of fear: fear for the Iron Man, for Stalin. And for every bronze statue, for every formidable painting, there lay embedded the factor of suppression. For Stalin had become a demi-god, he had become an entity worthy of complete worship; he had become the subject of countless paintings, countless pieces of literature, forcefully bent in praise of him. But Russia’s biggest grievance or biggest gain was this: he had become dictator.

Yet, Stalin’s rise to power was anything but effortless; one of the most important factors being that Lenin wrote a letter about Stalin to leading party members, encouraging his expulsion. Lenin could foresee Stalin’s motives. This letter, however, eventually fell into Stalin’s hands, and was not heard of till after his death.

His rise to power was not only marked by political duels with other prominent figures. It was marked with his shrewd diplomatic takeover of the people in terms of popularity. He, firstly, became popular through projecting Cult of Lenin philosophy, as discussed before. In addition to the Cult of Lenin propaganda, Stalin also never went against Lenin’s philosophies unlike his rivals. His popularity won huge gains through this. And thirdly, he gained even more popularity by promoting nationalistic ideologies in his support of ‘socialism in one country’. People supported him immensely and gained trust in him as a realist, much like Lenin was. This nationalistic ideologies helped Stalin gained more popularity than Trotsky as Lenin opposed this view. His view was concentrated on a more ‘permanent revolution’ through which he envisioned socialism around the world. This view, however, was discarded as impractical and Trotsky lost popularity points against Stalin, who was projecting himself to be the realist.

And that December day in 1929 marked a new era in Russian History. Stalin was dictator. Some people shared Trotsky view on Stalin’s governing sense: a massive river of blood separated the true revolutionary cause and tyranny. Other’s worshipped him prostrate. And this controversy is understandable. Stalin brought Russia out of its economic darkness but brought the individual to its knees. He brought his country up to par with world powers such as the US but had shed the blood of millions to get that far. He was Russia’s biggest grievance, and Russia’s biggest gain. But on that December day in 1929, he was Russia greatest dictator.

From 1922 till 1929 there was a vehement struggle for power, which resulted in dueling openly in the Politburo. This struggle was fought explicitly after Stalin’s death in 1924. And yet, Stalin started planning his rise to power before Lenin passed away. Stalin was a member of three very important committees: the Politburo, Orgburo, and the Secretariat. In these positions he gained supporters quietly. Furthermore, he was the party General Secretary, a position, which granted him the power to elect party-members and expel members who opposed him (as he, technically, represented the party and anything said against him was against he party according to Lenin’s administrative setup, discu

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