Lenin Wanted Stalin Replaced

In 1923, as his health collapsed, Vladimir Lenin began clashing with Joseph Stalin, who had become general secretary of the Communist Party. Lenin argued that Stalin acted too crude and treated comrades in ways he considered unacceptable for such a powerful post. In his notes from that period, Lenin pushed for a plan to remove Stalin and replace him with someone “more tolerant, more polite, and more attentive towards comrades and less capricious.” Lenin’s warning did not carry, and Stalin kept the position that later let him consolidate control.

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