Leon Trotsky Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin Vladimir Lenin was the head of government of the Soviet Union from 1917 until his death in 1924. After his death, Joseph Stalin begins consolidating power so that he can become the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky was an influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. He became an enemy of the State and was erased from Soviet history after leading the failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s. Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union in the Great Purge. He continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and was eventually assassinated in Mexico by a Soviet agent who used an ice axe to fatally stab Trotsky. Leon Trotsky Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin

An example of how the picture was altered again and again after each person fell out of favor with Joseph Stalin.

This image taken by the Moscow Canal was taken when Nikolai Yezhov was water commissar. After he fell from power, he was arrested, shot, and had his image removed by the censors.

During the October Revolution a number of pictures were taken of successful fighters celebrating their victories. These were often used as postcards after the war. The background of the original image includes a store that says in Russian, "Watches, gold and silver". The image was then changed to read, "Struggle for your rights", and a flag that was a solid color before was changed to read, "Down with the monarchy - long live the Republic!".

Orthodox (of a person or their views, especially religious or political ones, or other beliefs or practices) conforming to what is generally or traditionally accepted as right or true; established and approved. “Orthodoxy means not thinking — not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”—Syme (p. 56)

Outside the context of religion, the term "orthodoxy" is often used to refer to any commonly held belief or set of beliefs in some field, in particular when these beliefs are being challenged. In this sense, the term has a mildly pejorative or negative connotation. Among various "orthodoxies" in distinctive fields, the most commonly used terms are Political orthodoxy Social orthodoxy Economic orthodoxy Scientific orthodoxy Artistic orthodoxy

Vaporized In the vast majority of cases there was no trial, no report of the arrest. People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word. (21)