Joseph Stalin

Early Life From a young age Stalin was involved in rebelious activity, such as organising strikes. He was always politically minded, and had a talent for writing and poetry. He was expelled from a Georgian seminary and discovered Lenin, which inflenced to join the Bolsehviks, of which he organised Bolshevik militias across Georgia following the 1905 revolution. He was also involed in the assasination’s extortion, bank robberies and hold ups.

What formed the basis of his popularity? Stalin often worked behind the scenes in the Bolshevik party. He was an editor of a Bolshevik newspaper called Pravda. His position as secretary general of the party’s Central Committee, from 1922 until his death, provided the power base for his dictatorship. Stalin was the successor of Lenin. Karl Marx, father of communist thought, inspired many of his works.

Influence on the Revolution After returning from exile to Saint Petersburg he took a position in favour of supporting Alexander Kerensky's provisional government. However, after Lenin prevailed at the April 1917 Party conference, Stalin and Pravda supported overthrowing the provisional government. He smuggled Lenin to Finland and assumed leadership of the Bolsheviks. Upon seizing Petrograd, Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs. Stalin challenged many of the decisions of Trotsky, ordered the killings of many former Tsarist officers in the Red Army and counter-revolutionaries and burned villages in order to intimidate the peasantry into submission and discourage food bandit raids.

Rise to Power Stalin rose to power when he played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia. Lenin and Lev Kamenev helped Stalin rise to power by appointing him General Secretary in 1922 to help fight against Trotsky. Lenin criticized Stalin's rude manners, excessive power, ambition and politics, and suggested that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary Stalin forged an alliance with Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky so that Lenin’s Testament wouldn’t be shown. Later he exiled Trotsky and his disputes with Kameney and Zinoviev increased.

Cult of Personality Stalin used mass media involving unquestionable flattery and praise, helping to create a favourable public image, increasing trust in the leaders, and their following. This is referred to as creating a ‘cult of personality’ and are common in societies going through revolutionary changes

The Great Purge Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in 1936–1938. It is often referred to as the ‘Soviet Holocaust’ in conjunction with Soviet Famine of , in which 6-11 million peasants and kulaks were starved or executed. it involved the purge of the Communist Party and Government officials, repression of peasants, Red Army leadership, and the persecution of unaffiliated persons, characterized by widespread police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and executions 681,692 were sentenced to death and many more died in GULAG labour camps.

The Tyrant Stalin's son Yakov, whom he had with his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze, shot himself because of Stalin's harshness toward him, but survived. After this, Stalin said "He can't even shoot straight" His second wife either committed suicide or he killed her after an argument. 25,700 Polish POWs were executed on 5 March 1940, pursuant to a note from to Stalin from Lavrenty Beria, the members of the Soviet Politburo. Stalin also conducted a purge of several military commanders that were shot for "cowardice" without a trial. Deaths under Stalin's regime is estimated to be up to 60 million.