Why did Stalin, not Trotsky, emerge as Lenins successor?

distrusted, especially by older Party members because they had feared that he might become a dictator, especially since the Red Army was loyal to him. Even though Trotsky seemed the most likely candidate to become the new leader, his loyalty was also heavily doubted because he had originally been a member of the Menshevik Party until 1917.Another reason why Trotsky had failed to defeat Stalin was basically because he underestimated his opponent’s powers. Trotsky did not feel threatened by Stalin nor ever felt he could become Party leader. Trotsky was also arrogant and selfish and did not care if he offended senior Party members. People also were worried about Trotsky’s policy called, ‘Permanent Revolution’ which had meant he had wanted to make the whole world Communist. They feared it would lead to bitter wars against nations and more suffering which in return was a major blow to Trotsky’s plan. Therefore, people had found Stalin’s policy of ‘Socialism In One Country’, more favorable and less extreme than Trotsky’s. Due to Stalin’s ruthless tactics and determination; He was a very smart tactician who played members of the politburo to join forces with him and help Stalin rose to power and defeat Trotsky. The three politburo members consisted of Zinoviev and Kamenev whom were both on the Left Wings of the Party and lastly, Bukharin, a Right Wing member of the Party who was considered the best brains in the Party and who was very closely involved with Lenin. This unification lead Stalin to win the first Party Congress against Trotsky in 1924, but also lead to the resignation of Trotsky as Commissar of War.                                                       Lenin’s funeral also gave Stalin an advantage over Trotsky.  During a time when Trotsky was suffering attacks of fever, Stalin used the opportunity to trick Trotsky into not coming but also by giving him a false date of the funeral. Many citizens looked poorly on Trotsky, thinking that he was not bothered to turn up. So in the end, Stalin emerged as a figure that had said he was,’ Lenin’s disciple’, and had seemed to be rising in popularity. The testament left over by Lenin did however cause trouble for Stalin. Before Lenin’s death, he himself had become very concerned about Stalin’s increasing powers. It stated that he didn’t think that Stalin would use his power with sufficient caution’, as well as,’ Stalin is too rude...Remove Stalin from the post....’. However the leading Communists who included Zinoviev and Kamenev had decided not to make the will public for it not only contained criticism of Stalin, but of all of them as well. This then tells us that Stalin did not want to publish it and make it public because it would have politically damaged his career and efforts to become leader of the Communist Party.Again, Stalin’s tactics to use his opponents also favored him well during the struggle for power. Once he won votes on important issues he had Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin expelled from the Party from 1926-1927 for he felt they too were gaining power. In conclusion, Stalin’s image as Lenin’s discipline and his alliance building gained him more support than the aberrant Trotsky with the people. And politically, his tactics to manipulate his possible opponents worked well to eradicate Trotsky and then dispose of them. But it was also Trotsky’s lack of judgment of Stalin that had cost him his chances of becoming leader of Russia because he did not think that his opponent was ever strong enough to emerge.