Why did Stalin win the struggle for power in 1923 – 9?

Have a little read: ... Why did Stalin win the struggle for power in 1923 - 9? At the end of 1923 it was clear that Lenin would soon die, he had been alive for around 50 years and had suffered from strokes, the next one would finish him off. Lenin had been a successful leader of the Soviet government and the Bolshevik party, he had created various economic policy's, set up the Cheka secret police and resisted White Russian uprisings and foreign intervention. He had been popular with the communists and they trusted him. In 1922 when he was near his death Lenin appointed Stalin General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Lenin felt that as Stalin spoke no Russian he could make no speeches therefore would be no threat. At this point Lenin had another stroke, his second, control now slipped out of his fingers, Stalin now had a chance to push his luck in ceasing power. The first reason leading Stalin on his way to becoming dictator was his abuse of the power Lenin had given him. The CPSU consisted of a ladder like structure with members working there way up to the top, this was quite democratic, but there was never supposed to be a single leader, the highest level would consist of ten people. Stalin as General Secretary had control over who was promoted through the ranks and therefore became the leader there was never meant to be. This was the structure of the CPSU: Party Cells The members of the party cells are chosen. Each town would select around three members to represent them. District Meeting This meeting would be made up of selected members from the party cells, usually one person from each cell would be selected. Region As previously the Region would consist of the best from the District Congress From here on up the levels become more important, the previous sections have not really had much say in what goes on, this party would consist of only thousands of people. Central Committee The central committee consisted of only 125 people this party is one of the highest levels and has a reasonable say in what goes on Politburo This word is a combination of the two words Political Buro this was the highest level in the CPSU and featured 10 people all big names; Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and Stalin. This formation was fairly reasonable and worked well until Stalin started to chose the members to move up himself. When the people in the Party realised this they would do what they could to impress him and therefore the party was evolving into one where everyone supported Stalin. Anybody that didn't agree with this would be discluded by Stalin himself. At this point the road is partly clear for Stalin as he