Life of Joseph Stalin

"Kill one and you are a murderer, kill thousands and you are a legend".

This is true for many mass murderers in history like Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Idi Amin and of course, Joseph Stalin, to name a few. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee - a post newly created in 1922. In 1924, Lenin died. From then on till his death in 1953, Stalin was the head of the Soviet Union. By 1928, he became the undisputed leader of the USSR. He launched rapid industrialization, forced collective agriculture and five-year plans for economic development. However, Stalin is remembered most for the means he used for coming into and holding on to power; murders were committed using the secret police and intelligence agencies, deportations to slave labor camps and imprisonments were organized through mock trials or no trials at all.

Joseph Stalin: Early Life and Politics

Stalin was born as Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in Gori, Georgia, on 21st December 1878, in the family of a violent and alcoholic cobbler. During his early childhood, a bout of smallpox scarred his face permanently; besides this, two accidents permanently damaged his left hand. He won a scholarship to a Georgian Orthodox Seminary, but was expelled because he was unable to pay his fees. After the expulsion, he was influenced by writings of Vladimir Lenin among others. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1903 and became a Marxist revolutionary, organizing strikes and militias, arranging guerrilla attacks and collecting funds through bank robberies and extortion. During this phase, he was imprisoned many times and also lived in exile. He married Ekaterina Svanidze and his first son Yakov was born. During his exile in Baku, Ekaterina died. Later, he had a couple of liaisons resulting in the birth of three children, one of whom died during infancy. During this period, Stalin started a newspaper Pravda and edited it.

Joseph Stalin: Rise to Power and Policies before World War II

Stalin played an important role in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War 1917-1919, both ending in victory for the Bolsheviks. In fact, during the revolution, he helped Lenin escape; the latter was later instrumental in ensuring Stalin's rise to power. Stalin was elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee, and after his crucial role in the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921 was appointed General Secretary. In 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke and retired. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin assumed the leadership in his place. He eliminated his former allies to become the unchallenged leader by 1928. A close rival of Stalin in this period was Leon Trotsky. Stalin allied himself with different influential people against Trotsky, and finally had the secret police murder Trotsky in Mexico, in 1940.

Stalin then launched five-year economic development plans under central control; agriculture was collectivized and plans for rapid industrial development were launched. The agricultural experiment that introduced drastic social changes, including alienation of peasants from land and produce, was met with resistance from the peasantry. The experiment failed and led to many famines and starvation deaths in the USSR. Capital was made available to the industry by restricting consumption by people and nationalizing the wealth of the rich peasants or kulaks. Prisoners were forced to undertake unpaid labor. Rapid industrial progress was made during the first two plan periods.

Stalin greatly increased the powers of the NKVD (Soviet secret police), and used it to eliminate his rivals in the Communist Party and non-conformists in the Red Army. This was to be his modus operandi throughout his career. The same was done with the intelligence agency, which then went on to subordinate other Communist governments and establish spy networks in many countries. He also deported many ethnic groups to Siberia and Central Asian Republics viz. Jews, Turks, Finns, Ukrainians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Chechens, Tartars, etc.

Joseph Stalin: World War II and Cold War

In 1939, the USSR and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact that divided Eastern Europe in spheres of Soviet and German influence - to be conquered by the respective powers. Hitler violated the pact in 1941 by attacking USSR, making the country join the war on the side of the Allies. USSR suffered the single largest human casualties in the war, but managed to defeat the Axis powers by 1945 with assistance from USA, Britain and others. However, USA and other Allied nations deliberately delayed the opening of the Western Front against Germany, leading to the start of a Cold War between USA and USSR, after the Second World War ended. Cold War meant that an actual war was never fought directly, but a state of tension always prevailed and wars were indirectly fought later in Korea, Vietnam, etc. Both blocks tried to expand their spheres of influence. Thus, USSR tried and succeeded, to some extent, in bringing Eastern Europe under its domination; while USA did the same in Western Europe and later in Latin America. This also led to the partition of Germany into West Germany and East Germany.

Joseph Stalin: Equal Rights for Women

The positive side of Stalin's policies included universal access to quality education and health care. Technical education was promoted and transport links across the Soviet Union were improved. Industrialization created many job opportunities. Women were given equal treatment in education and employment.

Joseph Stalin: Death and de-Stalinization

Stalin died in 1953 due to cerebral hemorrhage. Conspiracy theorists believe he was poisoned. The new leader Nikita Khrushchev launched a phase of de-Stalinization, during which many policies of Stalin were publicly disowned.

Recent opinion polls (2006, 2008) in Russia have indicated a preference for Stalin. However, these polls are controversial as they did not include the opinion of the people of the countries that were once part of the USSR and the primary victims of Moscow's aggression - an aggression in which Stalin played a substantial role. Therefore, notwithstanding the poll results, Stalin remains a polarizing figure.