Joseph Stalin -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
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10/4/2017 Joseph Stalin -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin, Russian in full Iosif Vissarionovich TABLE OF CONTENTS Stalin, original name Introduction (Georgian) Ioseb Dzhugashvili (born The young revolutionary December 18 [December Rise to power 6, Old Style], 1879, Gori, Lenin’s successor Georgia, Russian Empire The great purges [see Researcher’s Note]— Role in World War II died March 5, 1953, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Last years secretary-general of the Assessment Communist Party of the Major Works Soviet Union (1922–53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941–53), who for a quarter of a century dictatorially Joseph Stalin, 1950. ruled the Soviet Union and transformed it into a major world power. Sovfoto During the quarter of a century preceding his death, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin probably exercised greater political power than any other �gure in history. Stalin industrialized the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, forcibly collectivized its agriculture, consolidated his position by intensive police terror, helped to defeat Germany in 1941–45, and extended Soviet controls to include a belt of eastern European states. Chief architect of Soviet totalitarianism and a skilled but phenomenally ruthless organizer, he destroyed the remnants of individual freedom and failed to promote individual prosperity, yet he created a mighty military–industrial complex and led the Soviet Union into the nuclear age. Stalin’s biography was long obscured by a mendacious Soviet-propagated “legend” exaggerating his prowess as a heroic Bolshevik boy-conspirator and faithful follower of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. In his prime, Stalin was hailed as a universal genius, as a “shining sun,” or “the staff of life,” and also as a “great teacher and friend” (especially of those communities he most savagely persecuted); once he was even publicly invoked as “Our Monument of Joseph Stalin in front of the town hall in Gori, Georgia. Father” by a metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox https://www.britannica.com/print/article/562617 1/11 10/4/2017 Joseph Stalin -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia © Tomasz Parys/Shutterstock.com Church. Achieving wide visual promotion through busts, statues, and icons of himself, the dictator became the object of a fanatical cult that, in private, he probably regarded with cynicism. THE YOUNG REVOLUTIONARY Stalin was of Georgian—not Russian—origin, and persistent rumours claim that he was Ossetian on the paternal side. He was the son of a poor cobbler in the provincial Georgian town of Gori in the Caucasus, then an imperial Russian colony. The drunken father savagely beat his son. Speaking only Georgian at home, Joseph learned Russian—which he always spoke with a guttural Georgian accent—while attending the church school at Gori (1888–94). He then moved to the Ti�is Theological Seminary, where he secretly read Karl Marx, the chief theoretician of international Communism, and other forbidden texts, being expelled in 1899 for revolutionary activity, according to the “legend”—or leaving because of ill health, according to his doting mother. The mother, a devout washerwoman, had dreamed of her son becoming a priest, but Joseph Dzhugashvili was more ruf�anly than clerical in appearance and outlook. He was short, stocky, black-haired, �erce-eyed, with one arm longer than the other, his swarthy face scarred by smallpox contracted in infancy. Physically strong and endowed with prodigious willpower, he early learned to disguise his true feelings and to bide his time; in accordance with the Caucasian blood-feud tradition, he was implacable in plotting long-term revenge against those who offended him. In December 1899, Dzhugashvili became, brie�y, a clerk in the Ti�is Observatory, the only paid employment that he is recorded as having taken outside politics; there is no record of his ever having done manual labour. In 1900 he joined the political underground, fomenting labour demonstrations and strikes in the main industrial centres of the Caucasus, but his excessive zeal in pushing duped workers into bloody clashes with the police antagonized his fellow conspirators. After the Social Democrats (Marxist revolutionaries) of the Russian Empire had split into their two competing wings—Menshevik and Bolshevik—in 1903, Dzhugashvili joined the second, more militant, of these factions and became a disciple of its leader, Lenin. Between April 1902 and March 1913, Dzhugashvili was seven times arrested for revolutionary activity, undergoing repeated imprisonment and exile. The mildness of the sentences and the ease with which the young conspirator effected his frequent escapes lend colour to the unproved speculation that Dzhugashvili was for a time an agent provocateur in the pay of the imperial political police. RISE TO POWER Dzhugashvili made slow progress in the party hierarchy. He attended three policy-making conclaves of the Russian Social Democrats—in Tammerfors (now Tampere, Finland; 1905), Stockholm (1906), and London (1907)—without making much impression. But he was active https://www.britannica.com/print/article/562617 2/11 10/4/2017 Joseph Stalin -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia 10/4/2017 Joseph Stalin -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia © Tomasz Parys/Shutterstock.com Church. Achieving wide visual promotion through busts, behind the scenes, helping to plot a spectacular holdup in Ti�is (now Tbilisi) on June 25 (June statues, and icons of himself, the dictator became the 12, Old Style), 1907, in order to “expropriate” funds for the party. His �rst big political promotion object of a fanatical cult that, in private, he probably regarded with cynicism. came in February (January, Old Style) 1912, when Lenin—now in emigration—co-opted him to serve on the �rst Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, which had �nally broken with the THE YOUNG REVOLUTIONARY other Social Democrats. In the following year, Dzhugashvili published, at Lenin’s behest, an important article on Marxism and the national question. By now he had adopted the name Stalin was of Georgian—not Russian—origin, and persistent rumours claim that he was Ossetian Stalin, deriving from Russian stal (“steel”); he also brie�y edited the newly founded Bolshevik on the paternal side. He was the son of a poor cobbler in the provincial Georgian town of Gori newspaper Pravda before undergoing his longest period of exile: in Siberia from July 1913 to in the Caucasus, then an imperial Russian colony. The drunken father savagely beat his son. March 1917. Speaking only Georgian at home, Joseph learned Russian—which he always spoke with a guttural Georgian accent—while attending the church school at Gori (1888–94). He then moved In about 1904 Stalin had married a pious Georgian girl, Ekaterina Svanidze. She died some to the Ti�is Theological Seminary, where he secretly read Karl Marx, the chief theoretician of three years later and left a son, Jacob, whom his father treated with contempt, calling him a international Communism, and other forbidden texts, being expelled in 1899 for revolutionary weakling after an unsuccessful suicide attempt in the late 1920s; when Jacob was taken activity, according to the “legend”—or leaving because of ill health, according to his doting prisoner by the Germans during World War II, Stalin refused a German offer to exchange his mother. The mother, a devout washerwoman, had dreamed of her son becoming a priest, but son. Joseph Dzhugashvili was more ruf�anly than clerical in appearance and outlook. He was short, Reaching Petrograd from Siberia on March 25 (March 12, stocky, black-haired, �erce-eyed, with one arm longer than the other, his swarthy face scarred Old Style), 1917, Stalin resumed editorship of Pravda. He by smallpox contracted in infancy. Physically strong and endowed with prodigious willpower, brie�y advocated Bolshevik cooperation with the he early learned to disguise his true feelings and to bide his time; in accordance with the provisional government of middle-class liberals that had Caucasian blood-feud tradition, he was implacable in plotting long-term revenge against those succeeded to uneasy power on the last tsar’s abdication who offended him. during the February Revolution. But under Lenin’s In December 1899, Dzhugashvili became, brie�y, a clerk in the Ti�is Observatory, the only paid in�uence, Stalin soon switched to the more-militant employment that he is recorded as having taken outside politics; there is no record of his ever policy of armed seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. When having done manual labour. In 1900 he joined the political underground, fomenting labour their coup d’état occurred in November (October, Old Leon Trotsky. demonstrations and strikes in the main industrial centres of the Caucasus, but his excessive Style) 1917, he played an important role, but one less zeal in pushing duped workers into bloody clashes with the police antagonized his fellow H. Roger-Viollet prominent than that of his chief rival, Leon Trotsky. conspirators. After the Social Democrats (Marxist revolutionaries) of the Russian Empire had Active as a politico-military leader on various fronts during split into their two competing wings—Menshevik and Bolshevik—in 1903, Dzhugashvili joined the Civil War of 1918–20, Stalin also held two ministerial posts in the new Bolshevik the second, more militant, of these factions and became a disciple of its leader, Lenin. Between government, being commissar for nationalities (1917–23) and for state control (or workers’ and April 1902 and March 1913, Dzhugashvili was seven times arrested for revolutionary activity, peasants’ inspection; 1919–23). But it was his position as secretary general of the party’s Central undergoing repeated imprisonment and exile. The mildness of the sentences and the ease Committee, from 1922 until his death, that provided the power base for his dictatorship. with which the young conspirator effected his frequent escapes lend colour to the unproved Besides heading the secretariat, he was also member of the powerful Politburo and of many speculation that Dzhugashvili was for a time an agent provocateur in the pay of the imperial other interlocking and overlapping committees—an arch-bureaucrat engaged in quietly political police.