Lenin and His SupportersVladimir Lenin (center) with two other major figures of the Russian Revolution, Joseph Stalin (left) and Mikhail Kalinin (right). After Lenin’s death in January 1924, Stalin moved to seize power and ruled the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. Kalinin was one of Lenin’s earliest followers and then supported Stalin in the power struggle after Lenin’s death. He was one of the few “old Bolsheviks” to survive Stalin’s purges and received a large state funeral following his death from natural causes in 1946. (Photo by Keystone- a-