102 years ago today, March 9, 1923 (January 22, 1923 in the lunar calendar), Lenin suffered a stroke and was forced to leave his post. On March 9, 1923, right paralysis and speech difficulties caused by a stroke forced Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin to leave office. He retained the title of Chairman of the Soviet Government. Lenin has been plagued by the disease since his first stroke in May 1922. He returned to work in November of that year, but a month later, he suffered a second stroke. He has not spoken publicly since November 20, 1922. Lenin's prestige was so high that no leader could take his place during his illness. Therefore, the highest three-person leadership body was formed in the Politburo of the Soviet Union, and the "three-person rule" or three-person alliance emerged as the collective leadership of the party and the state. The three tycoons include General Secretary Joseph Stalin, leader of the Second International Gregory Zinoviev and leader of the Communist Party Organization in Moscow Lev Kamenev. In the months leading up to the onset of his illness, Lenin focused on evaluating the character of his potential successors and eliminating what he believed was severe bureaucracy in the government. One of his last actions was to send a telegram to dissidents in Stalin's hometown of Georgia, sternly condemning Stalin.