In the argument between the Leftists and the Rightists of the Politburo in the 1920s, Stalin only took side when he wanted to dismiss the other side. Between 1923 and 1925, he allied with Kamenev and Zinoviev to prevent Trotsky from succeeding Lenin and openly attacked Trotsky in 1924-1925. In 1925, Stalin changed side, not because he agreed with the Rightists' ideas but he wanted to vote down the Leftists. In the 14th Party Congress, Stalin took the Rightists' side and had a dispute with his former allies, Kamenev and Zinoviev, regarding agricultural issues and then all the Leftists were successfully dismissed from the Politburo (1926) and from the Party (1927) with the help of his old friends (Molotov, Voroshilov and Kalinin) who were elected into the Politburo in 1925. In 1928, he started to disagree with the Right, using exactly the same arguments as the Left had used before. Afterwards, Bukharin and the others were accused, with Kamenev, of plotting against Stalin's campaign ag

Another reason that Stalin became leader was his main rival, Trotsky, had major weaknesses. Although Trotsky was a brilliant speaker, writer, political thinker, the man who organized the Bolshevik revolution and leader of the Red Army while Stalin was not a good speaker and was not as famous as Trotsky, Trotsky was arrogant, vain and often offended other senior Party members and was unpopular in Politburo. He suffered from the rivalry of Kamenev and Zinoviev who agreed with him politically but disliked him personally and so allied with Stalin to block his succession. He also underestimated his opponents and failed to use his popularity in the army to help his cause while Stalin was able to exploit his power base. Also, Trotsky supported the unpopular idea of "Permanent Revolution" while Stalin supported the popular idea, "Socialism in one country". Many people were worried that Trotsky would involve Russia into new conflicts. Moreover, Stalin appeared as the chief mourner and Lenin's closest friend in Lenin's funeral while Trotsky was unable to attend Lenin's

Some topics in this essay:
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