For most of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union was viewed by the outside world as a mysterious monolith, whose leadership was protected by secrecy and ruled by naked fear. What few know is that in the early years of the Soviet state an incredible coup took place.

Lenin's Will presents a fascinating, detailed account of political intrigue at the center of power in 1922 and 1923, when Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - the father of the Revolution - lay incapacitated by several severe strokes.

Previously top-secret documents, here published for the first time, reveal how Josef Stalin, a close political associate, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party deliberately collaborated to falsify and suppress Lenin's last political testament and take control of the young Soviet government.

Reaching into the once highly secret document files of the Soviet archives, Yuri Buranov has combed the hidden recesses of Communist Party plotting to reveal the power plays and back-room intrigues that helped make Stalin the unquestioned successor to Lenin and an absolute dictator feared both at home and abroad.