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The Triumvirate While Lenin recovered from his stroke Russia was ruled by the triumvirate (Stalin, Kamanev and Zinoviev) which had emerged as an anti-Trotsky bloc. The three met before party meetings to agree their strategy and instruct their followers on how to vote. By September Lenin was back at work. He became suspicious of the triumvirate, which was acting like a ruling clique behind his back, and asked Trotsky to join him in a 'bloc against bureaucracy' (i.e. Stalin and his power base). But then, on 15 December, Lenin suffered his second major stroke. Stalin took charge of Lenin's doctors and restricted visitors. Confined to his wheelchair, and allowed to dictate for only '5 to 10 minutes a day', Lenin had become Stalin's prisoner. His secretaries reported to Stalin everything he said. |
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