Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953, when he died. He was responsible for one of the most notable and devastating genocides, the Great Purge. His vicious reign took the lives of around 20-60 million people by his rigid and cruel treatment. Through his exploitation of the lower class and his manipulative abuse of power, Stalin created one of the worst examples of leadership in history. It takes an interesting character to be able to execute the cruelties displayed in his regime and the traits that Stalin developed into his cult of personality were likely acquired as a child and adolescent.
This paper will discuss how Stalin’s background helped build the qualities of a ruthless leader and how he displayed them
…show more content…
Stalin had two wives; Ekaterina Svanidze (m. 1906–1907) and Nadezhda Alliluyeva (m. 1919–1932). He had three children with his first wife; Vasily Dzhugashvili, Svetlana Alliluyeva, and Yakov Dzhugashvili. He adopted a fourth son, Artem Sergeev.
Stalin had an incredibly similar attitude to Vissorian as a child. He had a very cold personality and lacked a sense of empathy, especially towards his peers. One of his classmates reported that he had never seen him cry and that he greeted his peers with a snide chuckle instead of showing sympathy or compassion when he saw they were suffering. He was top and center in his school portrait. (This bared an unusual similarity to Adolf Hitler who took the same position in his school portrait). Stalin was born into poverty and suffered a series of health complications growing up. He suffered from small pox at a young age and his face was left permanently marked, resulting in nicknames like ‘pocky’ and ‘pock-marked-joe’. He was born with his second and third toe conjoined and due to blood poisoning; his right arm was made shortened and stiff. Stalin was abused by both his parents, his father in particular, although his mother claimed he had a wonderful childhood and home life.
Stalin and Marxism
Stalin learned about Marxism at a young age. He even studied and wrote about it prior to the revolution. However, once he was tasked with preserving it as a power in the USSR, he quickly demonstrated that
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.
Between 1924 and 1945, Joseph Stalin was able to emerge as the leader of the USSR and maintain what Kruchev described as “the accumulation of immense and limitless power”. Stalin's rise to power was a combination of his ability to manipulate situations and the failure of others to prevent him from taking power, especially Leon Trotsky. Stalin ruled the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953. His rule was one of tyranny, a great change from the society that his predecessor, Lenin, had envisioned. During his time of reign, Stalin put into effect two self-proclaimed "five-year
Joseph Stalin, from the time that he was a low level revolutionary to the years that he spent as the dictator of the Soviet Union, always knew what he needed to do to achieve his goals. His organized rise to power allowed him to gain a steady flow of followers who would support him for decades to come. Stalin received a minor government position in 1917, but by the time a new leader was needed in 1924, he “had turned the largely routine post of Party general secretary into the most powerful office in the Soviet Union” (“Joseph Stalin) and “had built a personal empire for himself through his control over committee appointments at all levels . . . expand[ing] the leading Party organs with his supporters, who then voted against his rivals”
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
Joseph Stalin was born in Djugashvili in the middle of December in 1878. Not much is known about his younger years as a child. He was an only child and it is said that he grew up in a very poor house hold. Stalin’s remorseless attitude can be credited to his father actions since he was beaten as a child. Due to this Stalin dedicated his life to his studies which in turn lead to him getting a scholarship. He then used this scholarship at a catholic school in hopes of becoming a priest. While studying to become, a priest he also began indulging in the readings of Karl Marx. This influenced him to practice Marxism and got him kicked out of school for it.
Throughout historical times, the rule of Josef Stalin has been questioned due to his position as being one of the most popular and contentious leaders. Through the evaluation of his ruling within the Soviet Union, he can be seen as both a positive and negative ruler. His methods of changing the country following World War I were sudden, causing a complete change in societal ways of life in controversial ways. While his changes created one of the most powerful countries the world had ever seen at its’ time, they also caused for massive discontent within the citizens of Soviet Russia.
Why was Joseph Stalin a dictator? If he wasn't a dictator, nobody has ever been. He had total control of the country, where people worked, where they lived, even what crops were planted and what was sold, and anybody who spoke out against the Communist party, or Stalin could be imprisoned or killed. Millions were killed under Stalin, some say even more than under Hitler, mainly because the Soviet Union was such a vast country. So, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. Born into poverty, Stalin became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man."( Robert Service, A History of 20th Century Russia (1997))"
Joseph Stalin or Losib was born December 18, 1878, into a household of poverty. Loseb had his name changed too Joseph Stalin meaning man of steel and as well he idolized Vladimir Lenin.In 1924 Lenin a.k.a the Bolshevik leader died. Joseph Stalin who was in politics despite being arrested 8 times by the secret Russian police outmaneuvered his opposition and became the dictator for the USSR(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)thus beginning his reign
Joseph Stalin was the political leader of the Soviet Union during the twentieth century. Stalin’s leadership style was most commonly defined as brutal due to him abolishing private ownership, as well as his numerous political purges that resulted in the deaths of thousands of officials within the communist party. While in the end Stalin did lead the Soviets to win World War II, a large number of lives were lost in the process.
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
“Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.” This is a direct quote from one of the most notorious men in history, Joseph Stalin. Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid 1920’s until his death. The period in which he ruled over the Soviet Union was known as the Reign of Terror because he was a malicious leader who was ready to do anything to maintain the level of power he achieved. He will forever be remembered as a cold blooded and heartless leader, who took the lives of millions without remorse. This research paper will cover this notorious and deceitful dictator and his early life, rise to power, his reign of terror, and the aftermath of his actions.
Joseph Stalin’s three decade long dictatorship rule that ended in 1953, left a lasting, yet damaging imprint on the Soviet Union in political, economic and social terms. “Under his inspiration Russia has modernised her society and educated her masses…Stalin found Russia working with a wooden plough and left her equipped with nuclear power” (Jamieson, 1971). Although his policies of collectivisation and industrialisation placed the nation as a leading superpower on the global stage and significantly ahead of its economic position during the Romanov rule, this was not without huge sacrifices. Devastating living and working standards for the proletariat, widespread famine, the Purges, and labour camps had crippling impacts on Russia’s social