What support did the main contenders for leadership did the Communist party have?
Trotsky was a leading figure in St Petersburg’s soviet in November 1905, in 1917 his reputation won support for the communists he then masterminded the communist seizure through his leadership he was head of the Red Army which was one of his most important roles, this got him respect off young members and students, he also got support from workers in St Petersburg because he organized a strike for them in 1905, he had a lot of enemies within the party because he wasn’t your average communist, people thought he was arrogant due to his self-confidence but others saw that as a good thing, Trotsky’s relationship with Lenin wasn’t as good as the other communists, Trotsky acted as Lenin’s lieutenant even though they disagreed Lenin said that Trotsky was ‘the most able man in the central committee’, in 1922 Lenin offered him the central position as Chair of the Sovnarkom but he refused.Stalin is one of the most popular names in history, during the October revolution he was a committee member he saw himself as a military tactician, by 1921 he secured himself a position at the highest level of government, him and Lenin first met in 1905 he was described as ‘that wonderful Georgian’ but shortly after Lenin became ill Stalin started to dislike him he got most of his support from the lower class workers because he was head of that party, in 1922 Lenin created a general secretary position and obviously Stalin was the best choice for this role, he was in charge of recruitment and promotion of thousands of party workers. Zinoviev was one of Lenin’s closest friends, during his exile in Switzerland he worked with Lenin on a couple of things,