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{{Infobox revolutionary | |||
| name = Josef Stalin | | name = Josef Stalin | ||
| native_name = Иосиф Сталин<br>იოსებ სტალინი | | native_name = Иосиф Сталин<br>იოსებ სტალინი | ||
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| political_line = [[Marxism–Leninism]] | | political_line = [[Marxism–Leninism]] | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili''' (21 December 1878 – 5 March 1953), better known as '''Joseph Stalin''', was a Georgian [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] revolutionary, political theorist, | '''Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili''' (21 December 1878 – 5 March 1953), better known as '''Joseph Stalin''', was a Georgian [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] revolutionary, politician, and political theorist, as well as the democratically elected<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1949|title=Joseph Stalin: a political biography|page=34, 48|quote=After the conference, in May 1917, a Political Bureau of the Central Committee was instituted, to which Stalin was elected and to which he has been successively re-elected ever since. | ||
[...] | [...] | ||
On Lenin's motion, the Plenum of the Central Committee, on April 3, 1922, elected Stalin, Lenin's faithful disciple and associate, General Secretary of the Central Committee, a post at which he has remained ever since.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref> leader of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] | On Lenin's motion, the Plenum of the Central Committee, on April 3, 1922, elected Stalin, Lenin's faithful disciple and associate, General Secretary of the Central Committee, a post at which he has remained ever since.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref> leader of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]], serving as the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] from 3 April 1922 to 16 October 1952. | ||
Stalin oversaw the great period of [[collectivization|collectivisation]] and industrialisation which transformed the USSR from an illiterate | Stalin played a central role in the revolutionary activities of the [[Bolsheviks]], a faction of the [[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party|Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]] (RSDLP) led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], before and during the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]]. After the Revolution, he was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin. Upon Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin assumed his role as the leader of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. | ||
Stalin oversaw the great period of [[collectivization|collectivisation]] and industrialisation which transformed the USSR from an illiterate peasant backwater to a great power by the late-1930s and '40s which, despite initial setbacks, played a principal role in the defeat of [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] and [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Imperial Japan]] during [[Second World War|World War II]]. | |||
Stalin has a complicated history and equally complicated public image largely as a result of decades of [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] propaganda. In much of the [[Imperial core|Western world]] and in the former Soviet Union, he is commonly portrayed as a dictator, though even the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] recognised internally in 1955 that there was collective leadership during his time in office.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=Central Intelligence Agency|title=Comments in the Change in Soviet Leadership|date=2008-02-26|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A006000360009-0.pdf|quote=Even in Stalin's time there was collective leadership. The western idea of a dictator within the communist setup is exaggerated. Misunderstandings on that subject are caused by lack of comprehension of the real nature and organization of the Communist power structure.}}</ref> | |||
== Life and work == | == Life and work == | ||
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Stalin's revolutionary activities can be traced to his time as a student after 1894, when he joined the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1949|title=Joseph Stalin: a political biography|page=5|quote=In the autumn of 1888 Stalin entered the church school in Gori, from which, in 1894, he passed to the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis. | Stalin's revolutionary activities can be traced to his time as a student after 1894, when he joined the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1949|title=Joseph Stalin: a political biography|page=5|quote=In the autumn of 1888 Stalin entered the church school in Gori, from which, in 1894, he passed to the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis. | ||
This was a period when, with the development of industrial capitalism and the attendant growth of the working-class movement, Marxism had begun to spread widely throughout Russia. The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, founded and led by Lenin, had given a powerful stimulus to the Social-Democratic movement all over the country.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|year=1931|title=[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig]]|quote=I joined the revolutionary movement at the age of fifteen, when I became connected with certain illegal groups of Russian Marxists in Transcaucasia. These groups exerted a great influence on me and instilled in me a taste for illegal Marxian literature.}}</ref> In 1896 and 1897, Stalin was a part of Marxist study groups in the seminary, and in August 1898, he formally joined the Tiflis branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and began to conduct [[propaganda]] work among the workers in the Tiflis railway workshops. An avid reader, he read ''[[Capital, vol. I|Capital]]'' and the ''[[Manifesto of the communist party]]'', written by [[Marx|Karl Marx]], subsequently taking a profound interest in [[Marxism]]. At that time, he became acquainted with some of Lenin's articles criticizing the [[Narodniks]] and the "Legal Marxists".<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1945|title=Joseph Stalin: a short biography|page=5|quote=Jn 1896 and 1897, Stalin | This was a period when, with the development of industrial capitalism and the attendant growth of the working-class movement, Marxism had begun to spread widely throughout Russia. The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, founded and led by Lenin, had given a powerful stimulus to the Social-Democratic movement all over the country.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|year=1931|title=[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig]]|quote=I joined the revolutionary movement at the age of fifteen, when I became connected with certain illegal groups of Russian Marxists in Transcaucasia. These groups exerted a great influence on me and instilled in me a taste for illegal Marxian literature.}}</ref> In 1896 and 1897, Stalin was a part of Marxist study groups in the seminary, and in August 1898, he formally joined the Tiflis branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and began to conduct [[propaganda]] work among the workers in the Tiflis railway workshops. An avid reader, he read ''[[Capital, vol. I|Capital]]'' and the ''[[Manifesto of the communist party]]'', written by [[Marx|Karl Marx]], subsequently taking a profound interest in [[Marxism]]. At that time, he became acquainted with some of Lenin's articles criticizing the [[Narodniks]] and the "Legal Marxists".<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1945|title=Joseph Stalin: a short biography|page=5|quote=Jn 1896 and 1897, Stalin conduoled Marxist study circles in the seminary, and in August 1898 he formally enrolled as a member of the Tiflis Branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. [...] | ||
Stalin worked hard to broaden his knowledge. He studied Capital, the Communist Manifesto and other works of Marx and Engels. He acquainted himself with Lenin's polemical writings against Narodism, "Legal Marxism" and "Economism." His theoretical interests were extremely broad. He studied philosophy, political economy, history and natural science. He read widely in the classics. He thus trained himself to he an educated Marxist. Even at this early date Lenin's writings made a deep impression on him. "I must meet him | Stalin worked hard to broaden his knowledge. He studied Capital, the Communist Manifesto and other works of Marx and Engels. He acquainted himself with Lenin's polemical writings against Narodism, "Legal Marxism" and "Economism." His theoretical interests were extremely broad. He studied philosophy, political economy, history and natural science. He read widely in the classics. He thus trained himself to he an educated Marxist. Even at this early date Lenin's writings made a deep impression on him. "I must meet him al all costs," one of Stalin's friends. reports him to have said. after reading an article by Tulin (Lenin).|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=034C4C1A4DBC437BC939DCF13A1D9EBD}}</ref> In 1899, Stalin was expelled from the seminary for the propaganda of Marxism, and he went to an illegal position and became a professional revolutionary. | ||
=== Beginning of revolutionary activities (1900–1917) === | === Beginning of revolutionary activities (1900–1917) === | ||
[[File:Stalin1902Mugshot.jpg|thumb|Stalin's mugshot after being arrested in 1902]] | |||
While organizing in the [[Caucasus]], Stalin exposed the [[Mensheviks]] as [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[Reformism|reformists]]. He met Lenin in person for the first time at a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] conference in Tampere, [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Finland]] in 1905.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm}}</ref> In 1912, the party elected Stalin to the Central Committee even though he was in exile at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Stolypin Reaction. The Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves an Independent Marxist Party|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch04.htm}}</ref> In 1912, Stalin helped found the newspaper ''Pravda''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party during the New Rise of the Working Class Movement before the First Imperialist War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch05.htm}}</ref> | While organizing in the [[Caucasus]], Stalin exposed the [[Mensheviks]] as [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[Reformism|reformists]]. He met Lenin in person for the first time at a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] conference in Tampere, [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Finland]] in 1905.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm}}</ref> In 1912, the party elected Stalin to the Central Committee even though he was in exile at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Stolypin Reaction. The Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves an Independent Marxist Party|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch04.htm}}</ref> In 1912, Stalin helped found the newspaper ''Pravda''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party during the New Rise of the Working Class Movement before the First Imperialist War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch05.htm}}</ref> | ||
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=== Civil War (1918–1920) === | === Civil War (1918–1920) === | ||
In summer 1919, the Central Committee sent Stalin, [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]], [[Sergo Orjonikidze|Orjonikidze]], and [[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] to the southern front, where he organized an attack against [[Anton Denikin]] from the [[Donbass]]. The [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] defeated Denikin in October 1919 and liberated all of [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukraine]] by early 1920.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter= | In summer 1919, the Central Committee sent Stalin, [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]], [[Sergo Orjonikidze|Orjonikidze]], and [[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] to the southern front, where he organized an attack against [[Anton Denikin]] from the [[Donbass]]. The [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] defeated Denikin in October 1919 and liberated all of [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukraine]] by early 1920.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Foreign Military Intervention and Civil War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch08.htm}}</ref> | ||
=== Establishment of the | === Establishment of the U.S.S.R. (1921–1924) === | ||
After the defeat of the interventionists and the [[Russian Civil War|civil war]], when in connection with the transition to a peaceful economic construction of the anti-party groups launched a struggle against the party line developed by Lenin, Stalin defended the [[Leninist]] line and fought against anti-party groups and factions ([[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]], "workers' opposition"). At the 10th Congress of the Party (1921) Stalin presented "The Report on the next tasks of the Party in the [[national question]]". After the 11th Party Congress (1922) the Plenum of the Party Central Committee elected Joseph Stalin as the Secretary General of the Central Committee. | |||
After the defeat of the interventionists and the [[Russian Civil War| | |||
Under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, the Party during this period carried out extensive work on the creation of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. Lenin believed that the USSR should be a voluntary union of equal and sovereign [[Soviet republic|union republics]]. On this question, Stalin at first took the wrong stand, putting forward the project of so-called "autonomization", i.e., the entry into the RSFSR of other Soviet republics on the rights of autonomous units. V. I. Lenin strongly opposed this proposal, criticized Stalin's mistakes in conducting the national policy, his partiality to the manifestations of great-power [[chauvinism]]. The Leninist principles were accepted by the Central Committee and formed the basis of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The report on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922) was made at the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR by the order of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) by I.V. Stalin in view of Lenin's illness. | Under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, the Party during this period carried out extensive work on the creation of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. Lenin believed that the USSR should be a voluntary union of equal and sovereign [[Soviet republic|union republics]]. On this question, Stalin at first took the wrong stand, putting forward the project of so-called "autonomization", i.e., the entry into the RSFSR of other Soviet republics on the rights of autonomous units. V. I. Lenin strongly opposed this proposal, criticized Stalin's mistakes in conducting the national policy, his partiality to the manifestations of great-power [[chauvinism]]. The Leninist principles were accepted by the Central Committee and formed the basis of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The report on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922) was made at the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR by the order of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) by I.V. Stalin in view of Lenin's illness. | ||
After Lenin's death, the Communist Party, under the leadership of the Central Committee, firmly and confidently led the Soviet people along the path of implementation of Lenin's precepts, on the path of building socialism. At this time, Stalin made a number of works that were of great importance in the protection and propaganda of Leninism and in the ideological defeat of the currents hostile to Leninism. In this respect, a great role was played by Stalin's work "On the Foundations of Leninism" (1924), which set forth the basic issues of Leninism and disclosed the new things that Lenin contributed to Marxism. The defense by I. V. Stalin, together with other leaders of the Party, of the Leninist theory of the possibility of the victory of socialism initially [[Socialism in one country|in one country]], and of the possibility of the victory of socialism in the USSR in the capitalist encirclement, was of particular importance in the struggle against the Trotskyists.{{Citation needed}} | After Lenin's death, the Communist Party, under the leadership of the Central Committee, firmly and confidently led the Soviet people along the path of implementation of Lenin's precepts, on the path of building socialism. At this time, Stalin made a number of works that were of great importance in the protection and propaganda of Leninism and in the ideological defeat of the currents hostile to Leninism. In this respect, a great role was played by Stalin's work "On the Foundations of Leninism" (1924), which set forth the basic issues of Leninism and disclosed the new things that Lenin contributed to Marxism. The defense by I. V. Stalin, together with other leaders of the Party, of the Leninist theory of the possibility of the victory of socialism initially [[Socialism in one country|in one, separate country]], and of the possibility of the victory of socialism in the USSR in the capitalist encirclement, was of particular importance in the struggle against the Trotskyists.{{Citation needed}} | ||
=== 14th Party Congress (1925–1926) === | === 14th Party Congress (1925–1926) === | ||
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On 21 June 1941, a German defector said that Germany would attack the Soviet Union the next night. Stalin alerted all units and told troops to camouflage themselves and their aircraft. He ordered them to secretly occupy firing posts on the border. Germany began bombing border cities at 3:40 a.m. on 22 June, and Stalin met with the Politburo at 4:30. He approved Zhukov's request to immediately attack the enemy, which was sent at 7:15 a.m. On 26 June, Stalin began creating a reserve front 300 kilometers behind the main front.<ref name=":022332" /> | On 21 June 1941, a German defector said that Germany would attack the Soviet Union the next night. Stalin alerted all units and told troops to camouflage themselves and their aircraft. He ordered them to secretly occupy firing posts on the border. Germany began bombing border cities at 3:40 a.m. on 22 June, and Stalin met with the Politburo at 4:30. He approved Zhukov's request to immediately attack the enemy, which was sent at 7:15 a.m. On 26 June, Stalin began creating a reserve front 300 kilometers behind the main front.<ref name=":022332" /> | ||
Joseph Stalin became [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]] in 1941, a position he would hold until his death.<ref>{{Citation|author=Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop|year=2008|title=Dictionary of Genocide: A–L|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313346422 | Joseph Stalin became [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]] in 1941, a position he would hold until his death.<ref>{{Citation|author=Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop|year=2008|title=Dictionary of Genocide: A–L|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313346422}}</ref> At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and remained in these positions until the victorious end of the war. The great victory over the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitlerite]] coalition was won by the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party and its Central Committee, headed by Stalin. | ||
Stalin had extensive knowledge of the war situation and demanded exact accuracy from his staff. He required front commanders to send reports every day and criticized [[Rokossovsky]] when he did not do so on 16 August 1943. Stalin also had an excellent memory and remembered all the names of over 100 front commanders in addition to many other commanders, members of the [[People's Commissariat of Defense]], and party officials. He personally knew and often convened builders of planes, artillery, and tanks.<ref name=":0223323">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Another_view_of_Stalin|chapter=Stalin and the anti-fascist war|page=229–236|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|publisher=Editions EPO|isbn=9782872620814}}</ref> | Stalin had extensive knowledge of the war situation and demanded exact accuracy from his staff. He required front commanders to send reports every day and criticized [[Rokossovsky]] when he did not do so on 16 August 1943. Stalin also had an excellent memory and remembered all the names of over 100 front commanders in addition to many other commanders, members of the [[People's Commissariat of Defense]], and party officials. He personally knew and often convened builders of planes, artillery, and tanks.<ref name=":0223323">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Another_view_of_Stalin|chapter=Stalin and the anti-fascist war|page=229–236|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|publisher=Editions EPO|isbn=9782872620814}}</ref> | ||
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==== Death ==== | ==== Death ==== | ||
Stalin's health declined during the early 1950s due to overwork during the war. | Stalin's health declined during the early 1950s due to overwork during the war. In the last few months before his death, his security was dismantled. [[Alexander Proskryobychev|Proskryobychev]], Stalin's personal secretary since 1928, was put under house arrest, and [[Nikolai Vlasik]], Stalin's bodyguard, was arrested in December 1952 and died in prison. [[Pyotr Kosynkin]], Vice-Commander of the Kremlin Guard, died of a supposed heart attack on 17 February 1953. [[Lavrentiy Beria|Beria]] was the only one capable of such a plot, and [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] suspected that MVD chief [[Lavrentiy Beria|Beria]] poisoned Stalin, while [[Enver Hoxha|Hoxha]] believed [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]] and [[Anastas Mikoyan|Mikoyan]] had planned to assassinate him. | ||
On 1 March 1953, at 23:00 Stalin's guards found him unconscious in his room but did not call a doctor. He did not receive first aid until twelve hours after his collapse and died on 5 March.<ref name=":02233232" /> | On 1 March 1953, at 23:00 Stalin's guards found him unconscious in his room but did not call a doctor. He did not receive first aid until twelve hours after his collapse and died on 5 March.<ref name=":02233232" /> | ||
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===Antisemitism=== | ===Antisemitism=== | ||
While anti-semitism has been a historical tool of the [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Fascism|fascists]] in particular, " | While anti-semitism has been a historical tool of the [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Fascism|fascists]] in particular, "Judeo-Bolshevism" and "cultural bolshevism" being classic fascist [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] linking the communist movement with fictional [[Judaism|Jewish]] cabals plotting world domination or ethnic domination, some historians still claim that Stalin too was an [[Anti-Semitism|anti-Semite]]. While [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]] had a long and troubled history with [[Mikhail Bakunin|anti-Semitism]] before revolution, there is no evidence that Stalin held these views. The below letter from Stalin opposes this notion. | ||
{{Quote|In answer to your inquiry: | {{Quote|In answer to your inquiry: | ||
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=== Autocratic rule === | === Autocratic rule === | ||
Right-wingers and revisionists often claim that Stalin was a dictator who imposed his personal will on the entire country. However, during the Great Patriotic War, the Politburo and military leadership made collective decisions. If they could not agree, they would create a commission of opposing sides to create a proposal. Stalin took others' opinions into account and listened to their advice.<ref name=":0223323" /> The CIA itself admitted in now-declassified documents that the U.S.S.R. always operated under collective leadership, and that Stalin was not the 'dictator' that the Western powers portrayed him to be.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
=== Personality cult === | === Personality cult === | ||
While there is no doubt that Stalin was a revered figure in the USSR, there is no evidence to suggest he made any active efforts to build up a [[cult of personality]] around himself. In fact, in 1938 he requested the destruction of a book that portrayed him too positively and stated that the theory of "heroes" was an [[Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries|SR]] and not a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] theory.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1938|title=Letter on Publications for Children Directed to the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Youth|title-url=https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/stalin-on-the-cult-of-personality/|city=London|publisher=Red Star Press|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/02/16.htm}}</ref> Stalin also condemned the "Great man" in a speech to collective farmers in 1933: | While there is no doubt that Stalin was a revered figure in the USSR, there is no evidence to suggest he made any active efforts to build up a [[cult of personality]] around himself. In fact, in 1938 he requested the destruction of a book that portrayed him too positively and stated that the theory of "heroes" was an [[Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries|SR]] and not a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] theory.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1938|title=Letter on Publications for Children Directed to the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Youth|title-url=https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/stalin-on-the-cult-of-personality/|city=London|publisher=Red Star Press|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/02/16.htm}}</ref> Stalin also condemned the "Great man" in a speech to collective farmers in 1933: | ||
{{Quote|The times have passed when leaders were regarded as the only makers of history, while the workers and peasants were not taken into account. The destinies of nations and of states are now determined, not only by leaders, but primarily and mainly by the vast masses of the working people. The workers and the peasants, who without fuss and noise are building factories and mills, constructing mines and railways, building collective farms and state farms, creating all the values of life, feeding and clothing the whole world—they are the real heroes and the creators of the new life.|Joseph Stalin|[https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1933/02/19.htm Speech Delivered at the 1st All-Union Congress of Collective Farm Shock Brigadiers]|1933}} | {{Quote|The times have passed when leaders were regarded as the only makers of history, while the workers and peasants were not taken into account. The destinies of nations and of states are now determined, not only by leaders, but primarily and mainly by the vast masses of the working people. The workers and the peasants, who without fuss and noise are building factories and mills, constructing mines and railways, building collective farms and state farms, creating all the values of life, feeding and clothing the whole world—they are the real heroes and the creators of the new life.|Joseph Stalin|[https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1933/02/19.htm Speech Delivered at the 1st All-Union Congress of Collective Farm Shock Brigadiers]|1933}} | ||
== Popular support == | == Popular support == | ||
In a poll made in 2019, 70% of [[Russian Federation|Russians]] said they had a positive view of Stalin's role in history. This was a 12% increase from 58% in 2015.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin|date=2019-04-17|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093512/https://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-date=2021-06-29}}</ref> | In a poll made in 2019, 70% of [[Russian Federation|Russians]] said they had a positive view of Stalin's role in history. This was a 12% increase from 58% in 2015.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin|date=2019-04-17|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093512/https://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-date=2021-06-29}}</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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=== Notes === | === Notes === | ||
<references group="lower-alpha" /> | <references group="lower-alpha" /> | ||
[[Category:Joseph Stalin]] | [[Category:Joseph Stalin]] | ||
[[Category:Marxist theorists]] | [[Category:Marxist theorists]] | ||
[[Category:Former heads of state]] | |||
[[Category:Targets of bourgeois media]] | |||
[[Category:Communist leaders]] | |||
[[Category:Russian Marxists]] | [[Category:Russian Marxists]] | ||