The declaration declared the need for the Constituent Assembly to be at an end

and called for the acceptance of the communist Soviet groups as the ruling
power in the land. Although the assembly rejected the declaration, Lenin and his
supporters continued to push for its ratification in the months ahead. The
disagreement over the declaration was, in effect, the opening volleys of the
Russian Civil War, which Lenin and his followers ultimately won.

"Vladimir Lenin." World History: The Modern Era. 2006. ABC-CLIO. 28 Mar. 2006
<http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com>.

An important member of the Bolshevik Party during the Russian Revolution of

1917, Joseph Stalin rose to become the successor to Vladimir Lenin as the
leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin shaped the early Soviet Union without regard
for the consequences of his actions among the Soviet population and achieved
prodigious growth and a police state of unrivaled proportions. He also led his
country to victory in World War II as Russian soldiers and civilians absorbed the
vast majority of casualties suffered by the Allied forces. Finally, he was one of the
primary architects of the postwar world and its bipolar division between East and
West. Stalin's chief role during most of the revolution was that of propagandist
and supporter of Lenin, especially when the latter was out of the country.
Although he remained in the background, Stalin's work was critical to the success
of the revolution, and in Lenin's eyes, Stalin showed capable leadership. It was
mainly because of Lenin's favor that Stalin gained additional power in the
Communist Party. However, other prominent revolutionaries like Leon Trotsky
and Nikolai Bukharin had doubts about Stalin's personality and abilities. They
believed that he was not fit for a leadership role in the new All-Russian
Communist Party (later renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
[CPSU]).

"Joseph Stalin." World History: The Modern Era. 2006. ABC-CLIO. 28 Mar. 2006
<http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com>.

A leading Bolshevik revolutionary and commander of the Russian Red Army,

Leon Trotsky played a formative role in the establishment of the Soviet Union
following the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the wake of Vladimir Lenin's death,
however, he lost in a power struggle with Joseph Stalin and went into exile,
where he developed a critique of Soviet communism from what he claimed was
the authentic Marxist-Leninist perspective.

Leon Trotsky." World History: The Modern Era. 2006. ABC-CLIO. 28 Mar. 2006 <http://www.worldhistory.abc-
clio.com>.