Stalin, circa 1925

Relating to our conversation about when Stalin came to power, from Wikipedia entry about Stalin;

Stalin became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1922 and following the death of Vladimir Lenin [in 1924], he prevailed over Leon Trotsky in a power struggle during the 1920s.

In the 1930s Stalin eliminated effective political opposition both within the Party and among the population (see Gulag) and consolidated his authority with the Great Purge, a period of widespread arrests and executions which reached its peak in 1937....