How far do you agree that the weaknesses and mistakes of Stalin’s rivals was the main factor allowing Stalin to rise to power?
Throughout the summer of 1923, Lenin lay close to death, and a lull settled over the political struggle. But the battle lines were forming in the Politburo and Central Committee. Trotsky seemed to hold the most powerful position, thanks to his close friendship with Lenin before the Soviet leader's strokes, but an opposition had already begun to emerge. Although Stalin would later be Trotsky's primary antagonist, for the moment the opposition included not only Stalin but also two other politicians: Kamenev and Zinoviev, a leading Bolshevik who had been Lenin's closest aide during the Revolution. Together the three formed the "triumvirate"; as Lenin inched closer to death, they launched a series of attacks on Trotsky in party meetings, drawing on his writings and speeches from his years as a Menshevik to attack him for disloyalty to his own movement.
On January 21, 1924, Lenin died. Trotsky was away in that month, and Stalin telegraphed him and said that the funeral would be held immediately, so there was no point in undertaking the long trip back to Moscow. Therefore Stalin forced Trotsky to be absent for the funeral - he knew how to create and use symbols to his advantage. Meanwhile, the cult of Lenin instantly sprang up among the Bolsheviks, who ordered their leader's body embalmed and turned into a shrine in Moscow's Red Square. Stalin took a prominent and very public role in the mourning of the leader, but in fact Lenin's death put him in a jubilant mood. However, the death did bring Stalin his share of difficulties: Lenin's Testament, with its warning against Stalin and suggestion that he be removed from leadership, was read at the next Central Committee meeting. This was a critical moment: if his rivals had demanded compliance with the testament at this point, Stalin would not have survived their attacks--his support base...