Leadership skills give a person the freedom to decide how to use them. They can be used to achieve power; another can use them to enrich others. In Stalin's case, the leadership led to policies that had negative effects on the stabilization of the country. The millions of people lost to Stalin's regime were a devastating blow to the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet Union made more progress under Stalin than under any other leader of the Soviet Union, but it came at a high cost. The policies applied were intended to improve the general standards of the people, but they had the opposite effect and created chaos. Vladimir IIyich Lenin was a major influence on Stalin and how he would come to rule the Soviet Union. “In 1922, with Lenin's strong support, Joseph Stalin was appointed to a newly created post: general secretary (Kort 152).” After Stalin took this position, he began appointing loyal allies to key positions in the government. There were a series of purges within the party to eliminate careerists who were there for personal advancement. This would end up playing an important role for every regime afterward, but Stalin took it to a new level by killing anyone he thought could beat him. Lenin then denounced him saying he had too much power but it was too late as he died and Stalin started eliminating competition to become the leader. “Stalin was the only Bolshevik sitting in the Central Committee, the Politburo, the Orgburo and the Secretariat, the four main centers of power of the party (Kort 152).” Lenin gave him too much power and finally seemed to realize it when it finally became too late. Trotsky and Stalin never seemed to be truly friends; however, they were both friends of Lenin who... middle of paper... Lenin would never have imagined the extent to which the General Secretary would go to take control of the entire state. The policies implemented during the era of Stalinism were great; however the way they were applied was harsh. The Bolshevik Party should be held accountable, in the times of Stalin and especially Lenin, for giving so much power to one individual. During the entire period of terror he became more vengeful while others were favored more and led to the death of many individuals including Sergei Kirov. Ultimately Stalinism was not worth the burden of trauma that Soviet citizens had to face and he should have been held responsible for the millions of lives lost to terror. Works Cited Kort, Michael. The Soviet giant. Armonk New York: M.E. Sharpe, INC, 2010. 202.Remington, Thomas F. Poitics in Russia. New York: Pearson Education INC, 2008.