In 1921, Zelensky was appointed first secretary of the Moscow communist party. and from 1922 he was elected a full member of the Central Committee in 1922 by the 11th Party Congress. As First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee, Zelensky served on the commission that arranged the burial of Lenin in 1924. In June 1924, he was promoted to the rank of Secretary of the Central Committee, working alongside the General Secretary, Joseph Stalin.