Joseph Stalin

Stalin is famous for

• being the leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953
• Collectivization of farming and the resulting Holodomor
• Five Year Plans
• The Great Purge
• Control through use of force
• Revitalization of Russian nationalism
• Rise of Socialist Realist art and architecture
• Creation of the Iron Curtain

Famous Statements

• The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.

• It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.

• Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.

• When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope.

Famous Works

• None

Interesting Trivia

Stalin was born in a small town in Georgia. As a child he was scarred by smallpox and broke his arm twice, leading to lasting damage. As a teenager, he received a scholarship to a religious seminary where he rebelled against the rules, struggled to pay his school fees, and was eventually expelled after missing his final exams. He discovered the ideas of Lenin and joined the Bolsheviks, under whom he became a revolutionary who stirred up strikes with labourers, spread propaganda, and conducted bank robberies,acts of extortion and counterfeiting, and kidnapping. He was captured and sent to Siberia seven times, but escaped. Although he was conscripted to fight in World War One, he was considered unfit for service due to his childhood arm injuries.

When Lenin took part in a failed attempt at a revolution, Stalin helped him escape to Finland. Lenin later returned and Stalin became one of the key figures in the Communist Party. After Lenin's stroke, Stalin effectively took command, although Lenin did not like him or his rude manners or thirst for power,and suggested that Stalin should be removed from his powerful position.

His first son tried to kill himself because of Stalin's constant criticism, but survived, after which Stalin said "he couldn't even shoot straight." He later killed himself by running into an electric fence at the concentration camp in which he was imprisoned. After having cigarettes repeatedly flicked at her at a dinner party, his second wife is thought to have killed herself. He owned many different residences, travelling only by train or automobile. He only flew in a plane once, when he went to the Tehran Conference of 1943.

He created a personality cult around himself, having statues erected and many towns and buildings named after himself. Through the Soviet control of the media, he rewrote the history books to give himself a larger role in the communist revolution. He gave himself many fancy titles, including "Father of Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," and "Gardener of Human Happiness."

There is some speculation that Stalin was assassinated by his own doctor, and died of warfarin, a rat poison.

It is estimated that as many as ten million people died as a direct result of Stalin's rule, not counting those who died in famines.