Yakov Sverdlov chairman of the party secretariat Peter Kenez Vladimir Lenin Soviet Union Bolshevik bureaucracy Yakov Bolsheviks General Secretary
His ability to assume absolute power has remained a subject of historical debate. Some historians have attributed his success to his personal qualities. Contrarily, certain political theorists such as Trotsky have emphasised the role of external conditions in facilitating the growth of a Soviet bureaucracy which served as a power base for Stalin. Other historians have regarded the premature deaths of prominent Bolsheviks such as Vladimir Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov to have been key factors in his elevation to the position of leadership in the Soviet Union. In part, because Sverdlov served as the original chairman of the party secretariat and was considered a natural candidate for the position of General Secretary. Historian Peter Kenez believed that Trotsky could probably have removed Stalin with the use of Lenin’s testament but he acquiesced to the collective decision not to publish the document.
