WI: Lenin assassinated in 1918

The Bolsheviks quickly reorganize and keep going on with the Red Terror and fighting the Civil War. By that point there were enough Bolshevik leaders that they could keep things going without Lenin. In all probability a committee of Trotsky, Stalin, Yakov Sverdlov, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev takes control for most of the civil war. Then they start attacking each other and either Stalin or Sverdlov wins.
 
The Bolsheviks quickly reorganize and keep going on with the Red Terror and fighting the Civil War. By that point there were enough Bolshevik leaders that they could keep things going without Lenin. In all probability a committee of Trotsky, Stalin, Yakov Sverdlov, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev takes control for most of the civil war. Then they start attacking each other and either Stalin or Sverdlov wins.
Why Sverdlov over Trotsky?
 
Why Sverdlov over Trotsky?

Trotsky was a terrible politician. Over the course of his career he managed to alienate most of the other Bolsheviks, and he was infamous for being a condescending ass. He also had been a Menshevik and had only joined the Bolsheviks recently, meaning that everyone distrusted him.

Sverdlov was different. He was famous as an organizational genius and always kept his cool, even under tremendous pressure (after the Kaplan incident he even wrote to Trotsky "Everything's under control."). Whether he could defeat Stalin is debatable, but he is certainly more than a match for Trotsky.
 
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