What did Stalin do to consolidate/strengthen his power?

Question 13 options:

Allowed free elections

Closed prison camps

Executed rivals and imprisoned dissenters

Fled Russia altogether

Executed rivals and imprisoned dissenters

Explanation:

The leader of the USSR that followed Lenin after his death quickly settled mechanisms for staying in power unrestrained:

He prosecuted followers of Trotsky, who went to exile and eventually was assassinated abroad.

Stalin's regime continuously persecuted political dissidents creating terror conditions where rivals and dissenters faced death.

Since his stay in power in1920s until his death in 1953 lists of people were systematically executed as part of a policy of fear and cult for the leader.

This became the most, as the Great Purge came, for where almost 500 000 persons died.

The imprisonment camps he settled in Siberia designed for political correction and forced labor work were known as Gulags. Most of them were located in Siberia's harshest conditions, were little labor force was willing to locate and live.

The answer is C.) Executed rivals and imprisoned dissenters.