The Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in 1917. Soon after gaining power of Russia, the Bolsheviks, changed the name of Russia to the Soviet Union and their name Bolsheviks. A man called Lenin headed this. They were communists, and became the only political party in the Soviet Union. This is what we call a One Party State. The key body in the communist party was the Politburo. If you were number one in the Politburo, you were number one in the country. Members of the Politburo held the key positions in government. In 1924 Lenin dies, and there becomes a leadership struggle amongst the members of the Politburo for the number one job.
The remaining members of the Politburo are
Trotsky Commissar for War
Bukharin Press and Propaganda
Tomsky Trade Unions
Kamenev Chairman of Politburo, Lenin's deputy
Zinoviev Chairman of Cominterm
Stalin General Secretary of the party
Rykov Chairman of Sovnarkom
The man out of all these who thought he was going to get the job was Trotsky. While Trotsky had already thrown his hat into the ring, (he was sure that the job was his) Stalin was going around being friendly to the other members of the Politburo. None of the members of the Politburo liked Trotsky, but they were starting to like Stalin, as he was being friendly towards them. Stalin was nicknamed comrade card index by the other members because of the position he held with in the Politburo. He was using administrative power and turning it into political power. He did this by telling Trotsky the wrong date of Lenin's funeral, this made it appear that Lenin had been snubbed by Trotsky. Stalin was targeting Trotsky as his number one rival.
Stalin starts to enrol his supporters into the party. They start to work their way up into power. Starting at the bottom, Party Conference--->Central Committee--->Politburo. Stalin kept useful information on everybody. He managed to out slogan Trotsky. Trotsky's slogan was " Permanent revolution" meaning we should work to spread communism around the world. Stalin said, "Trotsky's slogan was against Lenin's ideas. Stalin's slogan was "Socialism in one country" meaning we should build socialism in our own country first. Stalin was slowly making Trotsky look bad.
By pretending he was open, he managed to gain some support from other leading communists. Lenin's testament was to be read out to the Central Committee it said, "Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has unlimited authority in his hands and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand is distinguished not only by his outstanding ability. He is personally probably the most capable man in the present Central Committee, but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work." This probably would've finished Stalin. Zinoviev and Kamenev said, " Lenin's testament should not be read out". Trotsky didn't help his cause though, he was vein and arrogant presuming the job was his.
Stalin exploited the factions; they were split over how to develop the economy. Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev were in the left faction, while in the right faction was Bukharin. Luckily for Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev didn't like Trotsky personally. Without any support from his comrades, Trotsky was undermined by Stalin and on his way out. 1925 Trotsky gets thrown out of the Politburo. Now Stalin turns on Zinoviev and Kamenev in the left faction. He shifts his thoughts on the economy to those similar of the right faction. He uses the support of the new men he has moved into the party, eg Molotov. Isolated and out voted Zinoviev and Kamenev are on their way out. Stalin now turns on the right faction and adopts the ideas of the left faction. Bukharin saw the punch coming but by now it was too late. 1929 Stalin and his comrades he bought in are in charge of the Soviet Union.