ABSTRACT
After Lenin died, Stalin hastened to seize for himself the custodianship of Leninism, the most precious legacy of the departed leader. Trotskiy, Zinoviev and Kamenev based their claims to the succession on personal stature as theoreticians. Stalin, having no such status, formulated a gospel according to Lenin in which, as the self-appointed defender of the faith, he forged weapons against his rivals and developed a platform to support his own candidacy.
