Joseph Stalin

JOSEPH STALIN

Have you ever heard of Joseph Stalin? This essay is about a man who rose to become the dictator of the Soviet Union, transformed it at a great cost, repelled Germany in WWII and killed millions.

Joseph Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili to a cobbler in Gori, Georgia on 18 December 1878. He grew up in a poor and dysfunctional family. He attended church school and later on attended a seminary, rebelling against his superiors and taking up revolutionary ideals. Expelled in 1899, he joined Lenin's Bolsheviks in 1903. For the next 15 years he was a fugitive, conducting revolutionary activities and raising money through criminal operations.

In the 1906, he married his first wife, who died the next year from typhoid fever. Exiled numerous times, he always escaped. In 1912, he was made the editor of the Bolshevik newspaper, adopting the pen name Stalin, which means man of steel in Russian.

In 1917, his last exile ended and he returned to politics. Later that year, in what is called the October Revolution, the capital Petrograd, was seized on 5 October (Julian calendar) by the Bolsheviks. Stalin was appointed positions, but he wasn’t instrumental in the revolution, instead working in the background. A coalition opposed to the Bolsheviks, the Whites, arose and the country plunged into civil war. By 1921 the Bolsheviks, now Soviets, had won. The rebuilding would begin.

Stalin’s brutality conflicted with Lenin, causing conflict between them. Still, he was appointed as General Secretary. With this post, he cleverly gained power. Lenin suffered a stroke in May 1922, forcing him into semi-retirement. Their relationships with each other deteriorated as they fought. March 1923, Lenin suffered a heart attack. Stalin created an alliance with two rivals during this time to fight off Trotsky (Lenin’s second-in-command). Lenin died on 24 January, 1924.

With Lenin dead, a power struggle ensued. Stalin got rid of Trotsky. With him gone, Stalin terminated his alliance, formed another one, and began attacking his former allies. His enemies were forced to unite against him in 1926. He had them silenced. Eventually, all his rivals would be either executed or suppressed. Stalin had now seized control of the Soviet Union.

Chaos had devastated the economy. Stalin needed his country to be competitive.  He started Five Year Plans and encouraged agricultural collectivisation (farms in control of multiple farmers) and rapid industrialisation. The first Five Year Plan (1928-1932) focused on industrial production, with pushes for production increases. Although industrial production increased phenomenally, agricultural production sunk due to instability caused by Stalin's cruel policies. The result would be famine from 1932-1933 which killed 4-10 million. Stalin blamed well-off peasants and accused them of sabotage.  Millions were sent into labour camps and died, others deported. The next year, the famine ended.

In 1932, his second wife committed suicide. Her death hurt him deeply.

Stalin is most infamous for his Great Purges. In 1934 a prominent politician was assassinated. Stalin used this as a pretext to launch a series of politically motivated campaigns of persecution aimed at eliminating all existing and potential opposition. A purge of the government, it later extended to the military and society as a whole. By 1936-1938, when the purges ceased, at least 700,000 were executed and a million imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Nazism was on the rise. Fearing the rising power of Germany under Adolf Hitler, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with him in September 1939. The next month WWII began when Hitler invaded Poland. Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. It managed to resist, forcing Hitler to move south in 1942. This was disastrous for him, and the Soviets began to push back. Thanks to Stalin's harsh industrialisation policies, his country survived heavy losses and gathered a massive army. The USSR would now steadily advance westwards. In May 1945, Germany surrendered. The USSR had sacrificed much, losing around 26 million people and playing a significant role in defeating Hitler.

Afterwards, Europe was being rebuilt. Contrary to his promises, Stalin deceptively maintained control of the countries he freed from Germany. Stalin forced communism on these countries, bringing them under his influence.  A division emerged between him and the western allies. With Europe now divided by an “iron curtain”, the Cold War had begun.

During his last years, he supported various communist movements around the world, such as Mao Zedong's in China. There was an assassination plot against him by a group of Jewish doctors. Numerous Jews were imprisoned.  After his death though, the doctors were freed. Supposedly, he fabricated the plot to persecute Jews.

The Man of Steel died on 5 March 1953. By now he was revered as a god in the USSR. The nation mourned his passing.  Officially, a cerebral haemorrhage killed him, though it’s been suggested that he was assassinated.
De-Stalinization later took place. Denounced for his crimes, Stalin's body was removed from the Red Square mausoleum and the cities named after him were renamed. The harshest of his policies were removed.

When Stalin took control, his country was wrecked. During his lifespan, he transformed it into a superpower and played an utterly significant part in defeating one of the world's vilest leaders. Though, the good he achieved is outweighed by bad. His actions set that stage for the Cold War. At least 20 million people died because of his brutality. 

Was such bloodshed necessary to transform Russia?