Stalin ruled for almost 30 years, it was always collective, however in the 1930s the cult of personality was at its height and the rest of the Politburo and the

Stalin ruled for almost 30 years, it was always collective, however in the 1930s the cult of personality was at its height and the rest of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission (the really important subset of the Politburo) were entirely under his control. De-Stalinization was real and felt by the party