15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
[[File: Stalin in exile 1915.jpg |thumbnail|left|275px|Stalin in Siberia]]
Joseph Stalin is remembered as one of the bloodiest tyrants in the history of the world. He was the absolute ruler of the Soviet Union and later of the Communist bloc in Easter Europe. He rose to this unprecedented level of power as a result of his own personal capabilities and his understanding of the workings of the Communist Power that had total control of the Soviet Union after the Russian Civil War (1917-1920). Stalin was not the natural successor of [[How did Vladimir LeninRise To Power?|Vladimir Lenin]], but he was able to use his position within the Soviet Communist Party to become the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union.<ref>Boobbyer, Phillip. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415182980/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0415182980&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=10976fbde66cefcc9a2808e5d094f993 The Stalin Era]'' (Routledge, London, 2000), p. 78</ref>
==Stalin’s Early Life==
Joseph Stalin, the future leader of the Soviet Union, often referred to as the ‘Red Tsar, was born on 18 December 1878 to a Georgian cobbler in Gori, Georgia and his wife in a small impoverished village. His real name was Josef Besarionis de Jughashvili. <ref> Boobyear, p. 111</ref> He was ethnically Georgian, but Georgia was part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. After leaving school, he was sent to a seminary. Instead of studying theology and the bible he embraced Marxism and became a follower of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik Party.<ref> Conquest, Robert. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140169539/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0140169539&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=78415985f069f734b98307b00183a2dd Stalin: Breaker of Nations]''. (Viking-Penguin, Hammondsworth, 1999), p. 112</ref> Stalin soon joined the Bolshevik movement and was very active in violent attacks on the Tsarist government. He was noted as a bank robber, these were undertaken in order to subvert the system and gain funds for the revolution. After being placed under surveillance by Russian secret police, the Ohrakan, for his activities, he went underground <ref>Conquest, p. 78</ref>. He became one of the Bolsheviks' leaders in the Caucasus, organizing paramilitaries, and helped to organize a terrorist campaign in the region. He was involved in the notorious Tiflis bank robbery, during which 40 people were killed. This led to him being rated very highly by the Bolshevik leadership.<ref>Conquest, p. 87 </ref> Stalin was captured and exiled to Siberia numerous times, but usually escaped. He eventually became one of Vladimir Lenin's closest associates, or so he was later to vigorously claim which helped him rise to the heights of power after the Russian Revolution. In 1910 he changed his name to Stalin, meaning in Russian ‘Man of Steel’ supposedly adopted in an effort to protect his real identity from the police and perhaps also to create a public image as a true revolutionary. <ref>Boobyear, p. 134</ref>
==October revolution and Russian Civil War==
[[File:Russian_Revolution_of_1917.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Bolshevik troops in red Square]]
By 1917, Stalin was in St. Petersburg, which was soon to be renamed Petrograd. This was the capital of the revolutionary government that had seized power from [[Why did the Russian Romanov Dynasty collapse in 1917?|the Tsar ]] and his government in February 1917. The Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky was becoming unpopular despite ending the rule of the Romanov’s. They had failed to end the war and to redistributed land to the Russian peasants. <ref> Montefiore, Simon Sebag. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400076781/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1400076781&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=8d302940930c5b356ba181d00bc19d29 Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar]''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003), p. 117</ref> Lenin had returned from exile in Switzerland to Russia, with the aid of the German secret service. He along with the other Bolsheviks began planning to overthrow the Provisional Government and install in its place the world’s first communist country.
The Bolsheviks skillfully adopted a policy of promising peace and land to the war weary and starving population. Their message made them very popular and in October 1917, they stormed the Winter Place and declared that the Russian Empire was now the Soviet Union.<ref>Montefiore, p. 111</ref> The exact role of Stalin in the Bolshevik Revolution is not known in any great detail. In later propaganda, Stalin was presented in posters and other images as being by Lenin’s side during the Revolution. In fact, it seemed that Stalin only played a minor role in the Revolution.<ref>Montefiore, p. 113</ref>
As the relationship between Lenin and Stalin deteriorated, Lenin dictated his testament. This was in effect his ideas analysis of the current Bolshevik Part, the future of the Revolution and especially on the character of Stalin. In the testament, Stalin was castigated and denounced as self-serving and seeking to amass personal power in the part. Lenin called for the removal of Stalin as General Secretary. Before Lenin could publish the testament, he suffered a heart attack and was paralyzed. Stalin received the testament from one of Lenin’s secretaries, who was actually his agent. Stalin repressed Lenin’s criticism of him if it had come to light Stalin’s career would have been finished.<ref>Read, p 234</ref> Late allies of Stalin colluded to repress all mention of the document. Lenin died of a suspected stroke on January 21st, 1924. Stalin was given the honor of organizing the official funeral. He organized the funeral and ignored Lenin’s final wishes. Stalin also gave an oration at the funeral, despite the opposition of Lenin’s window. Stalin under the rules of the Party was now the de-facto successor of Lenin. However, the party was not under his control, he had to share power with a collection of other Soviet leaders, including Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev.<ref>Read, p. 236</ref>
==Stalin’s rise to Power==
