Joseph Stalin And His Quest For Power

1Joseph Stalin was born on December 18, 1878. His given name is Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili or Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин in Russian. He was born in what would now be Georgia in a place called Gori, Tiflis Governerate, Russian Empire. Stalin’s family lived in poverty all throughout his childhood. His father worked as a cobbler mending shoes and his mother was a maid. He was very violent towards his son and was an avid alcoholic. The family’s home was a small shack off of a dirt road. They had a serious problem with the home constantly being wet with sewage. Stalin had many issues with disease as a child. First he caught smallpox at the age of seven. As a result of the smallpox, scars were left on his face. This would become an area of embarrassment for Stalin throughout his childhood. Stalin also caught blood poisoning as a child. This was a result of one of the brutal beatings his father gave him while drunk. Because of this one of his arms became deformed and stopped growing causing him to lose use of the hand. Because of the intense beatings Stalins father gave him, he began to hate him. One Stalin became old enough he tried to fight back so his father would not beat his mother. Stalin received education at his local church school because of Czar Alexander III’s educational

The society and environment that he developed in as a child was a pivotal in the formation of his renowned, stern character. Joseph Stalin was born into a poor family in Georgia 1879. Throughout his childhood, Stalin and his mother were both subjugated to violence and domestic abuse from his alcoholic father. , this undeniably would have additionally lead to Stalin's tyrannical persona and totalitarian governance. Throughout Josephs life he was groomed to be a priest, he was enrolled in numerous church schools and was even indoctrinated into the Tiflis theological seminary school in Georgia's capital. During this period of history there was a rapid increase for the russification of neighbouring Slavic states, like Georgia under orders of the Russian czar, this in turn may have also lead to Stalin's hate towards the tsarist monarchy and participation in revolutionary groups during later years. For most life in the seminary school was a tedious, structured routine in which students were only allowed to read books approved by the schools authorities, this further sparked his hatred towards authority and continued through his own political thought. As well as

At the age of 10, Joseph “Stalin” Djugashvili attended Gori’s religious elementary school. His mother, Yekaterina, wanted him to be a priest and would usually beat her son if he son whenever he misbehaved. These beatings were never as bad as those

Myths, surrounding Stalin have played a major role in the construction of Stalin’s reputation, in both a positive and negative way. This essay will look at Plate 1.5.8 in the illustration book, and discuss how the myth of Stalin presented in this image differs from earlier and later mythic presentations of him.

"I believe in one thing only, the power of human will" said Stalin once. He certainly did have cause to believe in the power of a human's will as he experienced it in himself firsthand, having had extraordinary willpower and perseverance (He didn't call himself "Man of Steel" for nothing, folks), rising up from the lowly station of alcoholic's son in Georgia to one of the biggest monsters in human history, supposedly killing more than Hitler. Exactly how did he do this? Why? And how did his corruption reach such extents as to do all this for power?

For his role in leading the Soviet Union through WWII, one of the worst crises that the country has ever faced, Joseph Stalin is remembered as a leader who held his nation together. Stalin however, is also responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviet Union citizens, ranging in ethnicity from Polish to Russian to Ukrainian. Abuses of power such as the Great Famine of 1932-1933 resulted in the deaths of 7-8 million people, due to Stalin implementing policies of collectivism that fitted his view of an ideal communist society (Midlarsky 265). Many similar instances of massive abuses of power, from executing and exiling political opponents to ethnic cleansing to prevent nationalistic uprisings, mar the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. His extremist ideology that advocated violent revolution, as well as a childhood filled with abuse and violence and a chaotic environment influenced him, creating the man that would terrorize and murder millions of people. He would not however, been able to abuse his power without first obtaining the authority and capability to do as such. Stalin’s political manipulation and shrewdness were peerless, and they granted him positioning to take over and consolidate power within the communist party, as well as establish himself as the legitimate heir to Lenin. Stalin’s establishment of a cult of personality around his past actions helped to eliminated future opposition to his power, and provided stability against potential overthrowing of his

How does a leader gain and maintain the love of his people when he is killing them in mass numbers? Joseph Stalin was successful in this by following the political tactic of using fear to gain love. A tactic that was highly valued by Nicolo Machiavelli in his work The Prince. “In Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, the main character, and Old Bolshevik, Nikolaiz Rubashov, declares that “Number one” (Stalin) kept Machiavelli’s The Prince as his favorite night-table book” (Tisemanean). Stalin’s strategy of leadership can be closely compared to the strategies that Machiavelli describes in The Prince. A work that received much controversy over the lessons it preached to political leaders. It coined the phrase “the end justify the means” which follows as a consequence of considering vice a virtue. Stalin used many vices to gain and maintain his state till the day he died. Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn work, The First Circle, showcased how even on death’s door Stalin still used traits treasured in a Machiavellian prince. This paper will assess how Stalin follows Machiavelli’s guidelines for a prince in the areas of war, fear, crime, and in dealing with the people.

“Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at who it is aimed at.” (Joseph Stalin) Joseph Stalin was a notorious dictator of the Soviet Union who ruled with an iron fist and crushed any and all oppression. Despite his ruthless streak he modernized Russia more than any previous ruler has done. Joseph Stalin grew up in poverty and shame. During adolescence and young adult he learned how to question authority and to get what he wanted. Later on in life he he pursued his ambition of power and overthrew the Communist Party under the late Vladimir Lenin and established his own form of Communism.

Question: How far did Stalin achieve and maintain what Kruchev described as “the accumulation of immense and limitless power”, in the USSR between 1924 and 1945?

Prior to his rise to power, Joseph Stalin’s early life had a large impact on his future as a leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin was born into a dysfunctional family in Gori, Georgia on December 21, 1879 (Joseph Stalin pbs.org). His real name however, was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Then changed his last name to Stalin because he combined the Russian word stal, which means steel, and Lenin, the name of the Soviet Union leader at the time (jewishvituallibrary.org). In keeping with his strong name, Stalin contracted and even survived smallpox at a young age, but with the only remaining evidence being a facial scar from where the smallpox where it had formed at. Stalin was sent to a seminary in Tiflis, now known as Tbilisi, to become a priest. However, Stalin never completed his education and soon became involved in the city’s active revolutionary circle ,

Joseph Stalin greatly influenced Russia in the years 1924 through 1932. His rise to this power can be explained by the Russian Revolutionary experience that allowed him to gain authority in Russia. Although historians often refer to Stalin as a ruthless, mindless dictator, he redirected the Russian Revolution to major economic development. Stalin’s character in Russia during the Revolution catalyzed the many events that took place during the time period. Because of Stalin’s ability to both appeal to the masses, and take advantage of events, like Lenin’s death, Stalin was able to rise to power. Essentially, the Russian Revolution fostered the development of Stalin’s dictatorship leading the country into a state of economic growth and influence. The Revolution fostered Stalin’s ability to maintain a central leadership, use violence to gain control, and regenerate a previously disconnected economy.

Joseph Stalin grew up in a very strict household. His mother was very religious. His father was an alcoholic that was very abusive. Once Stalin even attempted to run away from his home and his father beat him so hard he went into a coma and almost died. This may explain why Stalin as an adult

It is plausible to suggest that Joseph Stalin was essentially a Red Tsar. Whilst Stalin was committed to communism, his ideology and authoritarian reign was reminiscent of the Tsarist autocratic rule that proceeded him. For nearly six centuries Russia was ruled under a Tsarist autocratic government until it was overthrown during the 1917 revolution that led to the introduction of the first communist government in Russia and the leadership of Joseph Stalin. During his reign, Stalin enacted a ‘cult of personality’ in which he was worshipped as a god-like being similar to that of the autocratic Tsars who ruled before him. Likewise, there were immense similarities in the social structures and quality of life for Russia’s people under the reign of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and Joseph Stalin. There is considerable evidence therefore to support the idea that Joseph Stalin was essentially a Red Tsar.

Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor on January 30, 1933. His regime brought citizens no guaranteed basic rights. In 1933, the first Nazi concentration camps were built. The initial camps imprisoned political opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, gypsies, and others classified as dangerous. During Hitler’s first six years, German Jews had more than 400 decrees and regulations. The first major law against the Jews was, the “Law for Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” of April 7, 1933. That law made Jews and “politically unreliable” employees excluded from state service. The laws began to go further by, restricting the numbers of Jews in schools and colleges, and taking business away from Jewish doctors and

     December 21, 1879 in Georgia, Joseph Stalin is born. Around the time of Stalin’s birth Georgia was not the best place to be. They were at a miserable level of poverty, there was no industry, and they had a 75% illiteracy rate and an increasing crime rate. Stalin was born to peasants. Both of his parents were illiterate and were born as serfs. His father was a rough, violent drunk who beat his wife and child, and found it hard to make a living. He