Biography:
Joseph Stalin is an outstanding revolutionary politician in the history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The personality and biography of the head of the USSR are still loudly discussed in society: some consider him a great ruler who led the country to victory in the Great Patriotic War, others accuse him of genocide of the people and famine, terror and violence against people.
Childhood and youth:
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (real name Dzhugashvili) was born on December 21, 1879 in the Georgian town of Gori in a family belonging to the lower class. According to another version, the future leader’s birthday fell on December 18, 1878.
He was the third but only surviving child in the family – his older brother and sister died in infancy. Soso, as the mother of the future ruler of the USSR called him, was not born a completely healthy child; he had congenital defects of the limbs – he had two fused toes on his left foot, as well as pockmarked skin on his face and back. In early childhood, the boy had an accident – he was hit by a phaeton, as a result of which the function of his left hand was impaired.
Joseph’s father, a shoemaker by profession, drank, so it is believed that he beat his son and wife. But in an interview with Emil Ludwig, Stalin noted that his parents treated him “not bad.” When the future ruler was still a child, the head of the family died, and his further upbringing was carried out by his mother, who surrounded her son with endless love.
Exhausted from difficult work, wanting to earn as much money as possible to raise the boy, Ekaterina Georgievna tried to raise a worthy man who was to become a priest. For this purpose, she sent her son to the Gori Orthodox School, and then to the Tiflis Theological Seminary.
But the mother’s hopes were not crowned with success – the young man was dissatisfied with the mocking methods of education at the seminary, where they tried to deprive students of their freedom, constantly monitored them and practiced searches. This, according to Stalin himself, pushed him to begin revolutionary activities.
Despite his protest against the system, Joseph showed himself to be a gifted and talented student, as he was easily given all subjects without exception. The young man devoted a lot of time to self-education. Later, the education, literacy and erudition of the Soviet leader were noted by both contemporaries and researchers, who recognized the superiority of his intellect over many foreign politicians, including Winston Churchill .
Stalin failed to receive a spiritual education, since before the exams he was expelled from the educational institution for absenteeism. During this period, he was the leader of an illegal circle of Marxists, in which he was engaged in propaganda.
Nevertheless, Joseph was given a certificate of completion of 4 classes of seminary, which allowed him to be a teacher in primary schools. At first he made his living as a tutor, and then got a job at the Tiflis Physical Observatory as a computer-observer.
Path to power:
In his youth, Joseph participated in rallies, which most often ended in arrests, and worked on the creation of the illegal newspaper “Brdzola” (“Struggle”), published in a Baku printing house. In 1906–1907, Dzhugashvili led robbery attacks on banks in Transcaucasia to replenish the party treasury.
The revolutionary traveled to Finland and Sweden, where conferences and congresses of the RSDLP were held. At the same time, he met the future head of the Soviet government, Vladimir Lenin, and the famous revolutionaries Georgy Plekhanov , Leon Trotsky , Anatoly Lunacharsky and others.
In 1912, the young man finally decided to change his surname Dzhugashvili to the pseudonym Stalin. Soon after this, he became the Central Committee’s representative for the Caucasus. The revolutionary received the position of editor-in-chief of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda, where Vladimir Lenin became his colleague, who saw him as his assistant in resolving revolutionary issues. As a result of this, Joseph Vissarionovich became his right hand.
Stalin’s path to power was filled with repeated exiles and imprisonments, from which he managed to escape. He spent 2 years in Solvychegodsk, then was sent to the city of Narym, and from 1913 for 3 years he was kept in the village of Kureika. Being away from the party leaders, Joseph Vissarionovich was able to maintain contact with them through secret correspondence.
Before the October Revolution, Stalin supported Lenin’s plans; at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee, he condemned the position of Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev , who were against the uprising. In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich appointed a colleague as People’s Commissar for Nationalities in the Council of People’s Commissars.
The next stage of the career of the future ruler of the USSR is associated with the Civil War, in which the revolutionary showed determination and leadership qualities. He took part in a number of military operations, including the defense of Tsaritsyn and Petrograd, and opposed the armies of Anton Denikin and Peter Wrangel .
At the end of the war, when Lenin was already mortally ill, Stalin began to take control of the country into his own hands, while eliminating opponents among the opposition and contenders for the post of chairman of the government of the Soviet Union along his way.
Joseph Vissarionovich showed persistence in monotonous work, which was required by the post of chief of staff. To strengthen his own authority as a theorist, Stalin published 2 books: “On the Foundations of Leninism” and “On Questions of Leninism.” In these works, he relied on the principles of building socialism in a single country, not excluding the world revolution.
Head of the USSR:
In 1930, most of the power was concentrated in the hands of Stalin, and therefore reforms began in the USSR. This period was marked by the beginning of collectivization, when the country’s rural population was herded into collective farms.
The introduction of a tax on the peasantry was a severe shock for the Soviet people. Grain was taken from the peasants, which was subsequently sold abroad, and the proceeds went to the needs of industrialization, which was proceeding at an accelerated pace. Researchers admit that Joseph Vissarionovich managed to achieve progress in this and raise the economy of the USSR. But the price turned out to be high.
Grain was confiscated from the peasants in such volumes that they themselves often had nothing left. Mass famine began, as a result of which people died in the millions. Historians called this terrible period the Holodomor and genocide of the population. The Soviet leader himself called what happened the consequences of local excesses among officials who wanted to curry favor with the top leadership. As a result, a decree was issued to slow down the pace of industrialization, but the delay cost many lives.
Stalin’s reign is also associated with a period of mass repressions, which reached their peak in 1937–1938. According to some researchers, they affected millions of people in the USSR, not only ordinary citizens, but also officials. For example, 56 of the 73 party members who spoke at the February-March plenum of the Central Committee were shot. Later, the leader of the action, the head of the NKVD Nikolai Yezhov , was killed , whose place was taken by Lavrentiy Beria , who was part of Joseph Vissarionovich’s inner circle.
Some experts believe that Stalin suffered from bouts of sadism and paranoia and sought to eliminate those who were distrustful and undesirable. Others believe that the Soviet leader primarily got rid of opponents of the regime, suspected spies, corrupt, ineffective leaders whose actions impeded overall progress and sometimes threatened the well-being of the Soviet Union.
Some historians consider the number of victims of Stalin’s terror to be overestimated in order to create a negative image of the leader, who was portrayed as a “bloody tyrant” during the Khrushchev period. One of the arguments is that at that time there were not enough employees in the penitentiary system to allow such large-scale repressions to be carried out.
By 1940, Joseph Vissarionovich became the sole ruler of the USSR. He was a strong leader of the country, had an extraordinary capacity for work, and at the same time was able to direct people to solve necessary problems. Stalin’s advantage was his ability to make immediate decisions on the issues under discussion and find time to monitor all processes taking place in the country.
The achievements of Joseph Vissarionovich are still highly valued by experts. Thanks to him, the USSR won the Great Patriotic War, agriculture was mechanized in the country, the Union turned into a nuclear superpower with geopolitical influence throughout the world.
Along with its achievements, Stalin’s reign is called a period of increased cruelty. Some historians believe that victory in the war could have been achieved with fewer casualties, calling into question the Soviet leader’s strategy and competence in military matters. He is also accused of suppressing entire scientific areas of the country, accompanied by persecution of doctors and engineers, which caused disproportionate harm to the development of Soviet culture and science.
Foreign policy:
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Joseph Vissarionovich was forced to change the course of foreign policy. If earlier he built relations with Germany, then later he turned his attention to the former Entente countries. In the person of England and France, the Soviet leader sought support against the aggression of fascism.
After the war, he met with many foreign leaders. As a gift from King George VI of Great Britain , Stalin received from the hands of Winston Churchill a sword glorifying the heroism of the inhabitants of Stalingrad. There is also a photo of the meeting between the Soviet leader and Mao Zedong
Personal life:
Stalin first married in 1906 to Ekaterina Svanidze , who gave birth to his first child, Yakov. After a year of family life, the wife died of typhus. After this, the stern revolutionary devoted himself to serving the country and only 14 years later he decided on a second marriage.
Yakov Dzhugashvili died during the Second World War. There is a legend that the leader’s son was captured by the Germans, but Joseph Vissarionovich refused to exchange him for Hitler’s military leader. As an argument, he cited the fact that he could not exchange a soldier for a fascist field marshal.
According to another version, Stalin’s heir died in battle, and information about his capture is nothing more than part of German propaganda. Historian Yuri Mukhin argued that the fascists used fake photos of the leader’s son for propaganda leaflets.
Death:
Stalin died on March 5, 1953. According to the official conclusion of doctors, the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. After an autopsy, it was determined that he had suffered several ischemic strokes on his legs during his life, which led to serious heart problems and mental disorders.
Stalin’s embalmed body was placed in the Mausoleum next to Lenin, but 8 years later at the CPSU Congress it was decided to rebury the revolutionary in a grave near the Kremlin wall. During the funeral, a stampede occurred in a crowd of thousands of people wishing to say goodbye to the leader of the nation. According to unconfirmed information, 400 people died on Trubnaya Square.
There is an opinion that his ill-wishers, who considered the leader’s policies unacceptable, were involved in Stalin’s death. Researchers are confident that the ruler’s “comrades-in-arms” deliberately did not allow doctors to approach him, who could put Joseph Vissarionovich back on his feet and prevent his death.
After Stalin’s death, disputes arose repeatedly about the height of the head of the USSR. Some researchers attributed short stature to the leader – 160 cm, but others believe that Joseph Vissarionovich had an average height – about 169-174 cm.
Memory:
Tributes to the Soviet leader began to be paid during his lifetime. Tanks, enterprises, organizations, streets, and the city of Stalingrad were named in his honor. Later, museums and monuments dedicated to the leader were opened.
Throughout history, attitudes towards Stalin’s personality have been repeatedly revised, and if during the Thaw his name was banned, later documentaries and feature films, books and articles appeared that analyzed the activities of the ruler. Repeatedly, the head of state became the main character of films such as “The Inner Circle”, “The Promised Land”, “Kill Stalin” and others.