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| “ | Fascism is a reactionary force which is trying to preserve the old system by means of violence. What will you do with the fascists? Argue with them? Try to convince them? But this will have no effect upon them at all.... Communists say to the working class: Answer violence with violence; do all you can to prevent the old dying order from crushing you, do not permit it to put manacles on your hands, on the hands with which you will overthrow the old system... Communists cannot ignore facts. | „ |
| ~ Joseph Stalin (1934) |
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин, born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Georgian: იოსებ ვისარიონოვიჩ ჯუღაშვილი; December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953) was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1924 until his death in 1953. He led the Soviet Union through a period of rapid growth and industrialization, and led it through World War II in which the Red Army was victorious over Nazi Germany and captured Berlin in 1945, ending the war in Europe.
Joseph Stalin is considered to be one of the most brutal dictators in history and is extremely infamous for his immense cruelty. His regime was responsible for numerous human rights abuses, mass repression, ethnic cleansing, propaganda, deportation, starvation, and numerous executions. It is estimated that 20 million-60 million people died under his rule.
Biography edit
Early life edit
Stalin was born as Iosif Dzhugashvili to a Georgian family in Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Caucasus Vice royalty, Russian Empire (now in modern Georgia) on December 18th, 1878. He was born into a poor family, two of his siblings died in infancy prior to his birth. His father Besarion was an abusive alcoholic who beat his wife named Keke who was Joseph's mother and Joseph himself. He later changed his surname to "Stalin", meaning "Man of Steel" in Russian. He became interested in Marxism at a young age after reading some of Vladimir Lenin's works. It was that this time that he joined the Bolshevik party.
The party needed money and the young Stalin started doing bank heists to earn money for the party. Between 1902 and 1913, he got arrested eight times. In June 1907, Stalin along with other Bolsheviks were involved in a major bank robbery in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia) in which they hijacked a stagecoach along with the police and guards. They got away with 241,000 rubles.
Political career edit
While formally the office of the General Secretary was elective and wasn't initially regarded as the top position in the Soviet state, after Lenin's death in 1924, support became consolidated around Stalin. Instead of the ideology of world revolution professed by Leon Trotsky, the Red Army organizer, proponent of world revolution, Stalin's ideology of socialism in one country became the primary line of the Soviet politics. There exists Stalinism, an ideology that centers around Stalin's ideas and policies in the Soviet Union.
World War II edit
In 1939, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler, and soon Nazi Germany and subsequently the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Hitler betrayed this pact in 1941 with the invasion of the USSR; the Red Army was soon able to defeat the Nazis, and they captured Berlin in 1945. Stalin, along with Franklin Roosevelt of the United States and Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom were among the "Big Three" in the allied leaders of WW2.
Even though the alliance was temporary, he was a very effective allied leader and has respect today for being one of the people who lead the allies to victory. After the war, communist governments gained power in eastern Europe and in other countries like China, thus causing him, as the leader of the most influential socialist state, to be branded a villain by the Western world and sparking the Cold War.
As Leader of the Soviet Union edit
Lenin was hesitant to the idea that Stalin would succeed him, and wrote sometime before his death "Comrade Stalin is unfit for leadership, he is too rude and under-educated." Lenin preferred Leon Trotsky to succeed him. It is unknown if the letter is legitimate or not. Stalin's leadership however lead to a much more efficient military service; Stalin said "In the USSR Military it takes more courage to retreat than it does to advance."
Famously, Lenin had ordered for both homosexuality, divorce and abortion to be decriminalized once his grip on power was absolute. Stalin however re-criminalized homosexuality in 1933, as well as abortion. This was possibly due to him wanting a larger population of the Soviet Union. However, lesbian activity was still legal throughout his period.
Stalin's regime partly to blame for The Holodomor, a natural famine in Ukraine. Around 8 million people died in the famine, which is considered an act of Genocide by 16 countries.
In 1944, he ordered the deportations of Chechens, Ingush, and Tartars, all of whom are majority Muslim, from their homelands to Central Asia after accusing them of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Over 400,000 people were killed during these deportations. They were not allowed to return to their homelands until 1957.
A large number of Stalin's allies throughout his tenure as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were killed. Most notably, many of his opponents were killed during the Great Purge of the late 30's. Stalin died in 1953. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, then began the capitalistic Soviet policy that continued into the 1980s and led to its collapse.
Legacy edit
Stalin led the Soviet Union through rapid industrialization and through victory in World War II. He remains very popular; popular opinion within the Russian Federation is mixed.
Results of a poll taken in 2006 stated that over 35% of Russians would vote for Stalin if he were still alive. Fewer than a third of all Russians regarded Stalin as a "murderous tyrant". In a July 2007 poll, 54% of the Russian youth agreed that Stalin did more good than bad, and 46% (of them) disagreed that Stalin was a "cruel tyrant". Half of the respondents, aged from 16 to 19, agreed Stalin was a wise leader. In 2011, a poll by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found that 45 percent of Russians had a "generally positive" view of Stalin. In his home country of Georgia, that number rises to 68 percent. Only a few years beforehand, a TV poll of 50 million Russians named Stalin the “third-greatest Russian of all time.” Western Ukraine still commissions statues of him on a regular basis.
Gallery edit
Images edit
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Stalin at the Tehran Conference in 1943. -
Drawing of 1947 rappresenting Stalin in his office. -
Meeting betwenn Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in 1945. -
The Time's cover rappresenting Stalin. -
Stalin with his daughter Svetlana in 1935. -
Russian propaganda poster showing Stalin. -
Statue portaying Stalin.
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Videos edit
Trivia edit
- Joseph Stalin's mother was Keke Geladze. Stalin had a better relationship with his mother than his father. However, his daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, claims the only person her father had any fear of was his mother. This could be attributed to his strict upbringing, his mother was a pious and raised him devout in the Russian Orthodox Church. At one point in fact, she was hoping for him to train as a priest in the church.
- When his wife, Kato Svanidze, died from typhus, Stalin apparently said at her gravesite "This warm creature could soften my feelings towards humans, now she's gone, and along with her, all my feelings for humanity."
- He would marry again to a woman called Nadezhda Alliluyeva in 1919, however his relationship with her was abusive, and she committed suicide in 1932. Stalin never married again.
- In the Tsarist Russian Empire, Stalin, along with other future members of the party, would rob bourgeois banks to donate to the Communist Party prior to the Revolution.
- In his personal life, Stalin was known for having a strained relationship with his eldest son, Yakov, due to their heated relationship Yakov once tried in vain to commit suicide, when Stalin was informed of this he replied "He couldn't even do that right." However, when Yakov actually died, Stalin was actually filled with sorrow, saying "He died like a man."
- Yakov's son, Galina is an admirer of his Grandfather, a neo-Stalinist and currently resides in his Grandfather's homeland of Georgia.
- Stalin was awarded the title “Man of Steel.” It fit perfectly with his stern image as leader of the industrial-powerhouse of the USSR.
- When being interviewed by HG Wells in 1934, Stalin explained his communist ideologies in detail. In the interview, he explained the faults of capitalism, stating "There is much we Bolsheviks can learn from the capitalist".
- While visiting Moscow in 1934, Stalin granted the famed journalist an interview.
- Stalin's final speech, October 14, 1952; less than five months prior to his death.
- There are rumors that Stalin did not die from a stroke, but that he was actually poisoned by Josip Broz Tito, dictator of Yugoslavia.
- According to Watchmojo's 10 Most EVIL Men in History video, Joseph Stalin is the second most evil man in the history of mankind.