Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the dictatorial ruler of the Union of Soviet Social Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. He transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. Stalin heavily relied upon the use of terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. Stalin’s name translates to “man of steel”.

Stalin was born on December 18, 1878 in the Georgian town of Gori in the Caucasus. He was of Georgian ethnicity and grew up speaking the Georgian language. Stalin grew up in poverty and was an only child. His father was a shoemaker and alcoholic who often beat him and his mother. During his childhood, Stalin contracted smallpox, leaving him with lifelong facial scars.

Stalin became involved in revolutionary politics at a very young age. As a teenager, he secretly began studying the work of German social philosopher Karl Marx, author of the “Communist Manifesto”, and became interested in the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. After being expelled from school, Stalin became an underground political agitator and took part in labor demonstrations and strikes. He soon joined the Bolshevik party, which was the more militant wing of the Marxist Social Democratic movement that was led by Vladimir Lenin.

In 1912, Stalin was appointed by Lenin, who was then in exile in Switzerland, to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. During the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks staged a coup d'état against the Duma’s provisional government and seized power in Russia. In 1922, the Soviet Union was founded with Lenin as its leader. Stalin had steadily progressed up the party hierarchy and became secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1922. This position allowed him to appoint his allies to government jobs and grow a base of political support. After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin managed to outmaneuver his rivals for control of the Communist Party and became the dictator of the Soviet Union in the late 1920’s.

Stalin launched a series of five-year plans with the intention to modernize the Soviet Union. One of his main goals was to establish government control over the economy. This included the collectivization of farms, which ultimately led to a massive famine that caused 5 million people to starve to death. Stalin was also focused on industrialization. However, he had unrealistic expectations. This caused many workers to lie about meeting quotas, as failure led to imprisonment. Stalin also established the Gulag, the system of forced labor camps. He used it as a form of punishment, and many workers died while at the Gulags.

Stalin used many forms of propaganda to boost his reputation. Propaganda was included in textbooks, broadcasted by radio, and printed in the press. This caused the majority of the citizens of the Soviet Union to view him as a god. Stalin also eliminated his opposition, either by executing them or by sending them to the Gulags. He targeted educated people, military officers, and political rivals and forced people to confess to crimes.

On March 1, 1953, Stalin’s staff found him semi-conscious on the bedroom floor of his Volynskoe dacha. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Stalin died on March 5, 1953, and his body was laid to rest in Lenin’s Mausoleum.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Stalin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Stalin_Full_Image.jpg