Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin, real name Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (1879-1953). Russian dictator. The son of a poor cobbler, he trained as a priest but was expelled for his revolutionary views. Owing to his political activities, he was arrested seven times between 1902 and 1917. He returned from banishment during the Russian Revolution and in 1922 he became general secretary of the Communist party. Lenin, suspicious of Stalin’s aims and methods, tried to have him removed but died before achieving his purpose. Following Lenin’s death (1924) Stalin shared the leadership of the party until Trotsky, his chief rival, was ousted. Stalin is believed to have been responsible for Trotsky’s assassination in 1940. As dictator of the Soviet Union, Stalin eliminated all opposition through a series of purges in the 1930s during which millions were executed. He also launched a programme of intensive industrialization to be carried out through five-year plans. Agriculture was forcibly collectivized and peasants who did not co-operate were executed or put into concentration camps. During World War II he took command of the armed forces. After the war he maintained Soviet dominance in eastern Europe and regarded the West, particularly the US, as the enemy. Stalin’s tyrannical methods were denounced by Khrushchev after his death.
