Took over as dictator of the Soviet Union after Lenin's death in 1924.

• A. Joseph Stalin
• B. Nikita Khrushchev
• C. Leon Trotsky
• D. Mikhail Gorbachev

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how leadership in the Soviet Union shifted after Lenin’s death and who managed to establish and hold a dictatorship. Joseph Stalin won the power struggle that followed Lenin’s death by quietly building support within the Communist Party and the security apparatus, then using his position as General Secretary to place trusted allies in key roles. This gave him the leverage to outmaneuver rivals like Trotsky, who advocated a different path for the USSR and was eventually sidelined and exiled. Over the next few years, Stalin centralized authority, suppressed opposition, and consolidated control over party, state, and police power, cementing his role as the dictator of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev rose to leadership later, after Stalin’s death, and Gorbachev’s reforms came decades afterward, while Trotsky never gained the reins of power.