Joseph stalin who is he

After the war in Europe ended, Stalin continued his brutal purges, killing anyone he perceived as an opponent, both in Russia and Eastern Europe.

He precipitated the beginning of the Cold War, which would last until the s. Stalin died of natural causes in Skip to main content. You are here Home » Biographies. Joseph V. It is easy to forget, but on the eve of the Russian Revolution, Stalin was in his late 30s and had nothing to show for his life.

He certainly had no training in statecraft, and no experience managing anything at all. More to the point, it brought them personal security, fame, and power they had never before known. As a result, most Bolshevik leaders continued to seek guidance in this ideology, and Stalin was no exception. In later years, outsiders would listen incredulously to the wooden pronouncements of the Soviet leadership and ask whether they could possibly be sincere.

It is a mistake not to take this language seriously, for it proves an excellent guide to his thinking. More often than not, he did exactly what he said he would do. Certainly this was true in the realm of economics. Although some of these policies, including forced grain requisitions, were temporarily abandoned in the s, Stalin brought them back at the end of the decade, eventually enlarging upon them.

And no wonder: they were the logical consequence of every book he had read and every political argument he had ever had. Stalin, as Kotkin reveals him, was neither a dull bureaucrat nor an outlaw but a man shaped by rigid adherence to a puritanical doctrine. His violence was not the product of his subconscious but of the Bolshevik engagement with Marxist-Leninist ideology. Stalin's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian , wanted him to become a priest.

In , she managed to enroll him in church school in Gori. Stalin did well in school, and his efforts gained him a scholarship to Tiflis Theological Seminary in A year later, Stalin came in contact with Messame Dassy, a secret organization that supported Georgian independence from Russia. Some of the members were socialists who introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Stalin joined the group in Though he excelled in seminary school, Stalin left in Accounts differ as to the reason; official school records state he was unable to pay the tuition and withdrew.

It's also speculated he was asked to leave due to his political views challenging the tsarist regime of Nicholas II. Stalin chose not to return home, but stayed in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary movement. For a time, he found work as a tutor and later as a clerk at the Tiflis Observatory. In , he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement. In , he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Revolution.

It was during this time that he adopted the name Stalin, meaning "steel" in Russian. Though never a strong orator like Vladimir Lenin or an intellectual like Leon Trotsky , Stalin excelled in the mundane operations of the revolution, calling meetings, publishing leaflets and organizing strikes and demonstrations.

After escaping from exile, he was marked by the Okhranka, the tsar's secret police as an outlaw and continued his work in hiding, raising money through robberies, kidnappings and extortion. In February , the Russian Revolution began. By March, the tsar had abdicated the throne and was placed under house arrest. For a time, the revolutionaries supported a provisional government, believing a smooth transition of power was possible.

But in April , Bolshevik leader Lenin denounced the provisional government, arguing that the people should rise up and take control by seizing land from the rich and factories from the industrialists. By October, the revolution was complete and the Bolsheviks were in control. The fledgling Soviet government went through a violent period after the revolution as various individuals vied for position and control.

In , Stalin was appointed to the newly created office of general secretary of the Communist Party. Though not a significant post at the time, it gave Stalin control over all party member appointments, which allowed him to build his base. He made shrewd appointments and consolidated his power so that eventually nearly all members of the central command owed their position to him.

By the time anyone realized what he had done, it was too late. Even Lenin, who was gravely ill, was helpless to regain control from Stalin. This including attaching his name to many cities, buildings, and monuments. Stalin was keenly focused on the expansion of Soviet ideals around the world. He envisioned a Soviet Union that had the military capability to expand far beyond Russia. As such, he was eager to pursue any possible military development that could give the USSR an edge over other world powers.

Through these channels, Stalin became aware of the beginnings of a bomb program in Britain by , with knowledge of the upcoming American program soon to follow. After receiving notices from Soviet spies and Soviet physicists who were cognizant of the direction of their field, Stalin began taking steps to creating a Soviet nuclear program. Despite this, he was still skeptical of much of the intelligence he was receiving that directed him to that conclusion, particularly that which would lead him to pricey investments in nuclear physics.