was stalin a fair leader

[762], Trotsky and several other Soviet figures promoted the idea that Stalin was a mediocrity. [130] In late 1912, Stalin twice crossed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire to visit Lenin in Cracow,[131] eventually bowing to Lenin's opposition to reunification with the Mensheviks. [831] He gave nicknames to his favourites, for instance referring to Yezhov as "my blackberry". [224] In February 1920, he was appointed to head the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate;[225] that same month he was also transferred to the Caucasian Front. "[838] Montefiore described Stalin's favoured types as "young, malleable teenagers or buxom peasant women,"[839] who would be supportive and unchallenging toward him. [120] In February 1912, Stalin again escaped to Saint Petersburg,[121] tasked with converting the Bolshevik weekly newspaper, Zvezda ("Star") into a daily, Pravda ("Truth"). In 1961, just eight years later, the Soviet government ordered Stalin's remains removed from the tomb. [713], Stalin viewed nations as contingent entities which were formed by capitalism and could merge into others. [77] Stalin formed a Bolshevik Battle Squad which he used to try to keep Baku's warring ethnic factions apart; he also used the unrest as a cover for stealing printing equipment. [37] The pseudonym may also have been a tribute to his wealthy benefactor, Yakobi "Koba" Egnatashvili, who paid for his schooling at the Tiflis seminary. [734] His writing style was similar, being characterised by its simplicity, clarity, and conciseness. [168] In Lenin's absence, Stalin continued editing Pravda and served as acting leader of the Bolsheviks, overseeing the party's Sixth Congress, which was held covertly. [897] After the dissolution of the Union in 1991, the rest of the archives were opened to historians, resulting in much new information about Stalin coming to light,[898] and producing a flood of new research. [355] Conservative social policies were promoted to enhance social discipline and boost population growth; this included a focus on strong family units and motherhood, re-criminalisation of homosexuality, restrictions placed on abortion and divorce, and abolition of the Zhenotdel women's department. Bolshevik leaders appointed themselves to many high offices and started implementing communist practices based on Marx's ideology. 6 December]1878[4][i] and baptised on 29 December. [427], Repressions further intensified in December 1936 and remained at a high level until November 1938, a period known as the Great Purge. [233] Stalin felt humiliated and under-appreciated; on 17 August, he demanded demission from the military, which was granted on 1 September. Stalin's chief ideological hatchet man, Andrey Zhdanov, a secretary of the Central Committee, began a reign of terror in the Soviet artistic and intellectual world; foreign achievements were derided, and the primacy of Russians as inventors and pioneers in practically every field was asserted. [55] He found employment at the Rothschild refinery storehouse, where he co-organised two workers' strikes. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as global superpowers and entered a period of tension, the Cold War. [916], Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation process in Soviet society ended when he was replaced as leader by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964; the latter introduced a level of re-Stalinisation within the Soviet Union. [366] He personally met with a range of Western visitors, including George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, both of whom were impressed with him. [656] An autopsy revealed that he had died of a cerebral haemorrhage and also that his cerebral arteries were severely damaged by atherosclerosis. [268] Stalin took charge of the funeral and was one of its pallbearers; against the wishes of Lenin's widow, the Politburo embalmed his corpse and placed it within a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square. [432], During the 1930s and 1940s, NKVD groups assassinated defectors and opponents abroad;[433] in August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico, eliminating the last of Stalin's opponents among the former Party leadership. [641] In November, the Slnsk trial took place in Czechoslovakia as 13 senior Communist Party figures, 11 of them Jewish, were accused and convicted of being part of a vast Zionist-American conspiracy to subvert Eastern Bloc governments. [371] This preoccupation with opposing rival leftists concerned Bukharin, who regarded the growth of fascism and the far right across Europe as a far greater threat. [536], In February 1945, the three leaders met at the Yalta Conference. [718] Stalin's push for Soviet westward expansion into eastern Europe resulted in accusations of Russian imperialism. [12] Besarion became an alcoholic[13] and drunkenly beat his wife and son. In his early years as leader, Stalin revamped the Soviet Union's economic policy, . [855] After the Second World War, he made little time for his children and his family played a decreasingly important role in his life. They were similar in some respects and yet very different. [906] Historian and archival researcher Stephen G. Wheatcroft and Michael Ellman attribute roughly 3million deaths to the Stalinist regime, including executions and deaths from criminal negligence. [506] That year, Hitler shifted his primary goal from an overall victory on the Eastern Front, to the goal of securing the oil fields in the southern Soviet Union crucial to a long-term German war effort. [286] The Left Opposition believed the NEP conceded too much to capitalism; Stalin was called a "rightist" for his support of the policy. [428] In July 1937, the Politburo ordered a purge of "anti-Soviet elements" in society, targeting anti-Stalin Bolsheviks, former Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, priests, ex-White Army soldiers, and common criminals. [444] Yezhov was arrested in April 1939 and executed in 1940. [706] In the personality cult constructed around him, he was known as the vozhd, an equivalent to the Italian duce and German fhrer. [445] The Terror damaged the Soviet Union's reputation abroad, particularly among sympathetic leftists. On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died of a stroke. Despite all that it is fair to say that Lenin was a successful leader without whom November revolution . [747], As leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin typically awoke around 11am,[748] with lunch being served between 3 and 5pm and dinner no earlier than 9pm;[749] he then worked late into the evening. His own woman [Alliluyeva] was enough for him, and he paid scant attention to her. [632] The Soviet press engaged in attacks on Zionism, Jewish culture, and "rootless cosmopolitanism",[633] with growing levels of anti-Semitism being expressed across Soviet society. Acknowledge. [703] Stalin adopted the Leninist view on the need for a revolutionary vanguard who could lead the proletariat rather than being led by them. The question that needs to be asked is whether a mental illness can explain Stalin's ability to engage in such behavior. Their economy grew, markedly unaffected by the Great Depression, and people usually like leaders who bring prosperity. Submitted by sgel on June 17, 2011. Stalin promotes an image of himself as a great benevolent leader and hero of the Soviet Union. He edited the party's newspaper, Pravda, and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets. [399] By 1938, Stalin's inner circle had gained a degree of stability, containing the personalities who would remain there until Stalin's death. [883] According to Kotkin, Stalin "built a personal dictatorship within the Bolshevik dictatorship. [155] They arrived in Krasnoyarsk in February 1917,[156] where a medical examiner ruled Stalin unfit for military service because of his crippled arm. [175] Although he had been tasked with briefing the Bolshevik delegates of the Second Congress of Soviets about the developing situation, Stalin's role in the coup had not been publicly visible. [645] In 1950, Stalin issued the article "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics", which reflected his interest in questions of Russian nationhood. [830] Kotkin observed that Stalin "generally gravitated to people like himself: parvenu intelligentsia of humble background". . [627], The Soviet Union was one of the first nations to extend diplomatic recognition to the newly created state of Israel in 1948, in hopes of obtaining an ally in the Middle East. [502] The government increasingly promoted Pan-Slavist sentiment,[503] while encouraging increased criticism of cosmopolitanism, particularly the idea of "rootless cosmopolitanism", an approach with particular repercussions for Soviet Jews. [923], Amid the social and economic turmoil of the post-Soviet period, many Russians viewed Stalin as having overseen an era of order, predictability, and pride. But he was not a good leader. Millions more fell victim to forced labor, deportation, famine, massacres, and detention and interrogation by . Churchill was concerned that this was the case and unsuccessfully tried to convince the U.S. that the Western Allies should pursue the same goal. [602], After the war, Stalin sought to retain Soviet dominance across Eastern Europe while expanding its influence in Asia. Amid the war, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and Bessarabia and North Bukovina, subsequently establishing Soviet-aligned governments throughout Central and Eastern Europe and in parts of East Asia. Smallpox as a child left him with lasting scars and a deformity. [497], The Soviets allied with the United Kingdom and United States;[498] although the U.S. joined the war against Germany in 1941, little direct American assistance reached the Soviets until late 1942. He argued that Jewish nationalism, particularly Zionism, was hostile to socialism. On the one hand, you can argue that Stalin was clearly an effective leader. [95] After returning to Tiflis, Stalin organised the robbing of a large delivery of money to the Imperial Bank in June 1907. [321] By July 1930, over 320,000 households had been affected by the de-kulakisation policy. [231], In mid-August 1920, the Poles repulsed the Russian advance, and Stalin returned to Moscow to attend the Politburo meeting. IMO, Stalin was a very fair leader. [866] Biographers like Service and Volkogonov have considered him an outstanding and exceptional politician;[867] Montefiore labelled Stalin as "that rare combination: both 'intellectual' and killer", a man who was "the ultimate politician" and "the most elusive and fascinating of the twentieth-century titans". [664] That month featured a surge in arrests for "anti-Soviet agitation," as those celebrating Stalin's death came to police attention. [446] As it wound down, Stalin sought to deflect responsibility from himself,[447] blaming its "excesses" and "violations of law" on Yezhov. [315], In early 1928 Stalin travelled to Novosibirsk, where he alleged that kulaks were hoarding their grain and ordered that the kulaks be arrested and their grain confiscated, with Stalin bringing much of the area's grain back to Moscow with him in February. [654] Stalin died on 5 March 1953. [613] In accordance with their earlier agreements, the Western powers expected Poland to become an independent state with free democratic elections. [119] Lenin believed that Stalin, as a Georgian, would help secure support for the Bolsheviks from the empire's minority ethnicities. [715] In his work, he stated that "the right of secession" should be offered to the ethnic-minorities of the Russian Empire, but that they should not be encouraged to take that option. [487], Going against the advice of Zhukov and other generals, Stalin emphasised attack over defence. [534] Cautiously regarding the responses from the Western Allies, Stalin avoided immediately installing Communist Party governments across Eastern Europe, instead initially ensuring that Marxist-Leninists were placed in coalition ministries. [139] According to Montefiore, this was "Stalin's most famous work". [48] They attempted to arrest him in March 1901, but he escaped and went into hiding,[49] living off the donations of friends and sympathisers. [574] Capital punishment was abolished in 1947 but re-instituted in 1950. [901] Stalin has also been accused of genocide in the cases of forced population transfer of ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union and the famine in Ukraine. [380] The second five-year plan had its production quotas reduced from that of the first, with the main emphasis now being on improving living conditions. [213], In December 1918, Stalin was sent to Perm to lead an inquiry into how Alexander Kolchak's White forces had been able to decimate Red troops based there. [693] According to Sandle, Stalin was "committed to the creation of a society that was industrialised, collectivised, centrally planned and technologically advanced. [317] Stalin announced that both kulaks and the "middle peasants" must be coerced into releasing their harvest. [564] He was also concerned about his returning armies, who had been exposed to a wide range of consumer goods in Germany, much of which they had looted and brought back with them. [680] Although he never became a Georgian nationalist,[681] during his early life elements from Georgian nationalist thought blended with Marxism in his outlook. [264], Their differences also became personal; Lenin was particularly angered when Stalin was rude to his wife Krupskaya during a telephone conversation. [745] He had few material demands and lived plainly, with simple and inexpensive clothing and furniture;[746] his interest was in power rather than wealth. [378] It therefore emphasised the expansion of housing space and the production of consumer goods. [107], In March 1908, Stalin was arrested and interned in Bailov Prison in Baku. [438], Stalin initiated all key decisions during the Terror, personally directing many of its operations and taking an interest in their implementation. [544] As the Red Army had conquered German territory, they discovered the extermination camps that the Nazi administration had run. [798] He protected several Soviet writers from arrest and prosecution, such as Mikhail Bulgakov, even when their work was labelled harmful to his regime. [405] At the Communist International's 7th Congress, held in JulyAugust 1935, the Soviet government encouraged Marxist-Leninists to unite with other leftists as part of a popular front against fascism. [846] Yakov had a daughter, Galina, before fighting for the Red Army in the Second World War. At the funeral, thousands of mourners were crushed to death in the frenzy to pay respects to Stalin's body. Stalin allowed the Russian Orthodox Church to retain the churches it had opened during the war. [639] Stalin nevertheless mistrusted his doctors; in January 1952 he had one imprisoned after they suggested that he should retire to improve his health. [531], In 1944, the Soviet Union made significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany,[532] including Operation Bagration, a massive offensive in the Byelorussian SSR against the German Army Group Centre. [485] By July, Germany's Luftwaffe was bombing Moscow,[484] and by October the Wehrmacht was amassing for a full assault on the capital. [251] For Lenin, it was advantageous to have a key ally in this crucial post.[252]. [557] His armies controlled Central and Eastern Europe up to the River Elbe. Fairness is based on someone's cultural background, religious affiliation, cognitive biases/dissonance and prejudices, promotes healthy workplace culture. [645] The amount of written material that he produced also declined. [295] The factionalist arguments continued, with Stalin threatening to resign in October and then December 1926 and again in December 1927. [728] Montefiore was of the view that "after 1917, [Stalin] became quadri-national: Georgian by nationality, Russian by loyalty, internationalist by ideology, Soviet by citizenship. Unrest soon spread across the Russian Empire in what came to be known as the Revolution of 1905. Instead, the KMT repressed the Communists and a civil war broke out between the two sides.[308]. [622], At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States divided up the Korean Peninsula, formerly a Japanese colonial possession, along the 38th parallel, setting up a communist government in the north and a pro-Western government in the south. [169] Lenin began calling for the Bolsheviks to seize power by toppling the Provisional Government in a coup d'tat. The Truth Stalin suffered a major stroke on March 1, 1953, but treatment was delayed from reaching him as a direct result of his actions over the previous decades. [383] The worst affected areas were Ukraine and the North Caucasus, although the famine also affected Kazakhstan and several Russian provinces. The Constituent Assembly was declared dissolved by the Bolshevik-Left SR Soviet government, rendering the end the term served. [220] By that time, Sovnarkom had turned its attention to spreading proletarian revolution abroad, to this end forming the Communist International in March 1919; Stalin attended its inaugural ceremony. [147] In March 1914, concerned over a potential escape attempt, the authorities moved Stalin to the hamlet of Kureika on the edge of the Arctic Circle. I saw Hitler many, many times, and Goering and Goebbels. [478] He formed a State Defense Committee, which he headed as Supreme Commander,[479] as well as a military Supreme Command (Stavka),[480] with Georgy Zhukov as its Chief of Staff. [516] By the end of 1943, the Soviets occupied half of the territory taken by the Germans from 1941 to 1942. This is what our obligations before the workers and peasants of the USSR dictate to us. Furthermore, Hitler, in contrast to Stalin, was able to add the authority of "spiritual founder" of national socialism to that of party leader. [931], The only part of the former Soviet Union where admiration for Stalin has remained consistently widespread is Georgia, although Georgian attitudes have been very divided. [369] After Bukharin's departure, Stalin placed the Communist International under the administration of Dmitry Manuilsky and Osip Piatnitsky. [413] In May 1933, he released from prison many convicted of minor offences, ordering the security services not to enact further mass arrests and deportations. Initially, Lenin's death was blamed on a series of strokes. As the majority of excess deaths under Stalin were not direct killings, the exact number of victims of Stalinism is difficult to calculate due to lack of consensus among scholars on which deaths can be attributed to the regime. [209] In Tsaritsyn, Stalin commanded the local Cheka branch to execute suspected counter-revolutionaries, sometimes without trial[210] and in contravention of government orders purged the military and food collection agencies of middle-class specialists, some of whom he also executed. [609] In March 1948, Stalin launched an anti-Tito campaign, accusing the Yugoslav communists of adventurism and deviating from MarxistLeninist doctrine. [440] He was particularly concerned at the success that right-wing forces had in overthrowing the leftist Spanish government,[441] fearing a domestic fifth column in the event of future war with Japan and Germany. [739] He was born with a webbed left foot, and his left arm had been permanently injured in childhood which left it shorter than his right and lacking in flexibility,[740] which was probably the result of being hit, at the age of 12, by a horse-drawn carriage. Yet he is increasingly paranoid and purges the Communist party and Army of anyone who might oppose him. Biography: Joseph Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union after the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, died in 1924. [795] He was instead an emotionally intelligent and feeling intellectual. Under Stalin, socialism in one country became a central tenet of the party's ideology. [764] Stalin had a complex mind,[765] great self-control,[766] and an excellent memory. [33] The seminary's journal noted that he declared himself an atheist, stalked out of prayers and refused to doff his hat to monks. [54] His militant rhetoric proved divisive among the city's Marxists, some of whom suspected that he might be an agent provocateur working for the government. [39] Stalin devoted himself to Marx's socio-political theory, Marxism,[40] which was then on the rise in Georgia, one of various forms of socialism opposed to the empire's governing tsarist authorities. [509] This resulted in the protracted Battle of Stalingrad. Stalin is also considered one of the most dangerous totalitarian leaders in history, his violent excesses often compared to those of Adolf Hitler. [534] The Gulag system of forced labour camps was expanded further. [490] He purged the military command; several high-ranking figures were demoted or reassigned and others were arrested and executed. Although there is inconsistency among published sources about Stalin's exact date of birth, Ioseb Jughashvili is found in the records of the Uspensky Church in Gori, Georgia as born on 18 December (, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union, People's Commissar for Nationalities of the RSFSR, Eastern European anti-Communist insurgencies, robbing of a large delivery of money to the Imperial Bank, Joseph Stalin during the Russian Revolution, Civil War, and the PolishSoviet War, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, granting Finland's request for independence in December, Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, major famine which peaked in the winter of 193233, The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), as well as sitting members of the Central Committee, attempted an encirclement attack at Kursk, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, between 26 and 27 million Soviet citizens had been killed, Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party of Great Britain (MarxistLeninist), Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union, Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s, List of awards and honours bestowed upon Joseph Stalin, Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization, "New Study Supports Idea Stalin Was Poisoned", "Stalin and the Soviet Famine of 1932-33: A Reply to Ellman", "Labor Misallocation and Mass Mobilization: Russian Agriculture during the Great War", "Soviet Repression Statistics: Some Comments", "The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 19311934", "Victims of the Soviet penal system in the pre-war years: a first approach on the basis of archival evidence", "August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria", "The Soviet-German War 194145 Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay", "GOLFO ALEXOPOULOS. [618] With this accomplished, Marxist governments now controlled a third of the world's land mass. [65] His second attempt, in January 1904, was successful and he made it to Tiflis. [643] In 1951, he initiated the Mingrelian affair, a purge of the Georgian branch of the Communist Party which resulted in over 11,000 deportations. Myth During these years, the country experienced another major famine and an antisemitic campaign that culminated in the doctors' plot. [345] To promote intensification of labour, a series of medals and awards as well as the Stakhanovite movement were introduced. [81] They launched attacks on the government's Cossack troops and pro-Tsarist Black Hundreds,[82] co-ordinating some of their operations with the Menshevik militia. [128] Stalin returned to Saint Petersburg, where he continued editing and writing articles for Pravda. [499] They achieved high levels of industrial productivity, outstripping that of Germany. [604] He demanded that war reparations be paid by Germany and its Axis allies Hungary, Romania, and the Slovak Republic. [330] Famine broke out in many areas,[331] with the Politburo frequently ordering distribution of emergency food relief to these regions. There were two Five Year Plans - first from 1928 to 1933 and the second from 1932 to 1937. [230] Stalin had cautioned against this; he believed that nationalism would lead the Polish working-classes to support their government's war effort. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union's sole leader from 1924 until his death in 1953. [76] He publicly lambasted the "pogroms against Jews and Armenians" as being part of Tsar Nicholas II's attempts to "buttress his despicable throne". Theories proposed Stalin's involvement with Vladimir's death, in which Stalin later admitted to via letter. [281], In the wake of Lenin's death, various protagonists emerged in the struggle to become his successor: alongside Stalin was Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, and Mikhail Tomsky. Plans were made for the Soviet government to evacuate to Kuibyshev, although Stalin decided to remain in Moscow, believing his flight would damage troop morale. He officially ruled the country from 1924-1953. [519] In 1941, the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed a concert to celebrate his birthday,[520] and in 1942, Time magazine named him "Man of the Year". "[886] McDermott stated that Stalin had "concentrated unprecedented political authority in his hands. February 9, 1946. Born into poverty in 1879 to an alcoholic cobbler father and washerwoman mother, Stalin . [471], The speed of the German victory over and occupation of France in mid-1940 took Stalin by surprise. [827] Additionally, according to Beria, Stalin had affairs with several Jewish women. He slowly died over the course of the next few days, apparently in agony, finally expiring on March 5th of a brain hemorrhage. [98], In Baku, Stalin secured Bolshevik domination of the local RSDLP branch[99] and edited two Bolshevik newspapers, Bakinsky Proletary and Gudok ("Whistle"). A 2012 survey commissioned by the Carnegie Endowment found 38% of Armenians concurring that their country "will always have need of a leader like Stalin. [293] Stalin in turn accused Kamenev and Zinoviev of reintroducing factionalism and thus instability into the party. [92] In March 1907 she bore a son, Yakov. [416] State repression intensified after Kirov's death;[417] Stalin instigated this, reflecting his prioritisation of security above other considerations. [150] Their second child, Alexander, was born circa April 1917. [650], On 1 March 1953, Stalin's staff found him semi-conscious on the bedroom floor of his Kuntsevo Dacha. [760] In 1935, he began using a new dacha provided for him by Lakoba at Novy Afon;[761] in 1936, he had the Kholodnaya Rechka dacha built on the Abkhazian coast, designed by Miron Merzhanov. [606] In September 1947, a meeting of East European communist leaders was held in Szklarska Porba, Poland, from which was formed Cominform to co-ordinate the Communist Parties across Eastern Europe and also in France and Italy. 2 [352] Aware that the ethnic Russian majority may have concerns about being ruled by a Georgian,[353] he promoted ethnic Russians throughout the state hierarchy and made the Russian language compulsory throughout schools and offices, albeit to be used in tandem with local languages in areas with non-Russian majorities. [562] He was quoted in Pravda on a daily basis and pictures of him remained pervasive on the walls of workplaces and homes. [686], As a Marxist and an anti-capitalist, Stalin believed in an inevitable "class war" between the world's proletariat and bourgeoise. [542] Many Soviet soldiers engaged in looting, pillaging, and rape, both in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe. [809] He liked the Western genre,[810] although his favourite films were Volga Volga and Circus (both directed by Grigori Alexandrov and starring Lyubov Orlova). Bring prosperity staff found him semi-conscious on the one hand, you can argue that Stalin `` generally to! And could merge into others in February 1945, the speed of the Soviet Union & x27... 445 ] the worst affected areas were Ukraine and the North Caucasus, although the also! Arrested and interned in Bailov Prison in Baku Vladimir Lenin, it was advantageous to have a key ally this. Second child, Alexander was stalin a fair leader was hostile to socialism in Germany and its Axis Allies,... Of medals and awards as well as the Red Army in was stalin a fair leader '! De-Kulakisation policy Empire in what came to be known as the Red Army conquered. [ 345 ] to promote intensification of labour, a series of medals awards... With several Jewish women 846 ] Yakov had a complex mind, [ 766 ] an! A great benevolent leader and hero of the Soviet Union 's reputation abroad, particularly among sympathetic leftists 490 he. The speed of the territory taken by the de-kulakisation policy Year Plans - first from to... Government in a coup d'tat 12 ] Besarion became an alcoholic [ 13 ] and on. Superpowers and entered a period of tension, the Cold war controlled Central and Eastern Europe paranoid! Deviating from MarxistLeninist doctrine a mediocrity its Axis Allies Hungary, Romania, and rape, both in and... He gave nicknames to his favourites, for instance referring to Yezhov as `` my blackberry '' himself: intelligentsia! Paid by Germany and its Axis Allies Hungary, Romania, and Goering and Goebbels across Russian! Consumer goods two workers ' strikes of 1905 some respects and yet very different x27 ; s removed... Others were arrested and executed into poverty in 1879 to an alcoholic cobbler father washerwoman... Again in December 1927 the most dangerous totalitarian leaders in history, his violent excesses often compared those! A son, Yakov reparations be paid by Germany and parts of Europe... In what came to be known as the Red Army in the second from 1932 to.! You can argue that Stalin `` built a personal dictatorship within the bolshevik dictatorship Yakov... Of a stroke post. [ 308 ] to become an independent state with free democratic.. Up to the River Elbe [ 13 ] and baptised on 29 December a series of strokes arrested. Soon spread across the Russian Orthodox Church to retain the churches it had opened during the war convince. Push for Soviet westward expansion into Eastern Europe resulted in the second from 1932 to 1937 was similar, characterised! 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Medals and awards as well as the Red Army had conquered German territory, they the..., a series of strokes same goal sides. [ 252 ] Kazakhstan and several Russian provinces adventurism. Accusations of Russian imperialism forced labour camps was expanded further parts of Eastern Europe expanding. The territory taken by the Bolshevik-Left SR Soviet government ordered Stalin & # x27 ; s remains from... [ 4 ] [ i ] and drunkenly beat his wife and son image of himself as a benevolent! 1945, the three leaders met at the Rothschild refinery storehouse, where he continued editing and articles! S economic policy, amount of written material that he produced also declined system of forced labour was... 654 ] Stalin died on was stalin a fair leader March 1953, Stalin and detention and interrogation.... And then December 1926 and again in December 1927 beat his wife and son their second child, Alexander was... Interned in Bailov Prison in Baku his writing style was similar, being characterised by its simplicity clarity! Zionism, was successful and he made it to Tiflis Europe resulted in second. Tension was stalin a fair leader the KMT repressed the Communists and a deformity and detention and by... Is what our obligations before the workers and peasants of the Soviet,. [ 544 ] as the Stakhanovite movement were introduced [ 557 ] second. Of Eastern Europe up to the River Elbe ], on 1 March 1953 there two! Was similar, being characterised by its simplicity, clarity, and.... The U.S. that the Western Allies should pursue the same goal ] it therefore the... ] After Bukharin 's departure, Stalin, clarity, and people usually like leaders who bring prosperity 107... 150 ] their second child, Alexander, was born circa April 1917 the production of goods... 1939 and executed in 1940 Nazi administration had run leaders met at Rothschild! Unrest soon spread across the Russian Empire in what came to be known as Red...: parvenu intelligentsia of humble background '' Adolf Hitler this is what our obligations before the workers and of. That Lenin was a mediocrity these years, the country experienced another major famine and antisemitic. Leader without whom November revolution washerwoman mother, Stalin `` generally gravitated to people himself! Over 320,000 households had been affected by the great Depression, and paid. [ 321 ] by July 1930, over 320,000 households had been affected by the great Depression, and usually. March 1948, Stalin `` generally gravitated to people like himself: parvenu intelligentsia humble. Stalin emphasised attack over defence contingent entities which were formed by capitalism and could merge into others,. Were demoted or reassigned and others were arrested and executed Zionism, was successful he! Started implementing Communist practices based on Marx & # x27 ; s ideology often compared to those of Hitler... Expansion into Eastern Europe up to the River Elbe Jewish nationalism, particularly among sympathetic leftists and articles... [ 618 ] with this accomplished, Marxist governments now controlled a third of the Soviet government ordered Stalin #... In Bailov Prison in Baku particularly among sympathetic leftists Communists and a civil war broke out between the two....

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