In what ways did the careers of Stalin and Trotsky Differ in the Years 1917-1924?

As Commissar of Nationalities in 1917 he was responsible for the officials in the various republics outside of Russia. It was in this post that he came head to head with Trotsky and probably why they continued to disagree throughout there political careers. He came up against Trotsky because Stalin, as Commissar for Nationalities, had some control over the army in the republics outside of Russia. Trotsky, on the other hand, was the Commissar for War and didn't like his power base, i.e. the army, being run by other members of the party.

In 1919 he became the Liaison officer between the Politburo and Orgburo. This allowed him to monitor party personnel and the policies that were decided. After this he moved on to become the Head of The Workers and Peasants Inspectorate. This allowed him to oversee the work of all government departments. After holding this post for three years he became General Secretary.

Leon Trotsky was born in 1879 in Georgia. He was a revolutionary who had joined the Bolshevik party just before the October Revolution and played an important part in seizing control as Head of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

After the party had seized control, Lenin became the leader of the new government and Trotsky served as Commissar for Foreign Affairs. In this role he had an important part to play in the treaty of Brest-Litovik and because of the amount of land that was given away in this treaty, it gave Stalin a reason to victimise him, even though Trotsky probably did the best that he could in the situation.