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Josef Stalin Иосиф Сталин იოსებ სტალინი | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of comrade Stalin | |
| Born | Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili December 21, 1878 Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Georgia) |
| Died | March 5, 1953 (aged 74) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Cause of death | Cerebral hemorrhage |
| Nationality | Georgian |
| Political orientation | Marxism-Leninism |
Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili (December 21st, 1878 — March 5th, 1953), more popularly known as Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Soviet Union from 3 April 1922 to 16 October 1952.
Early life
Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili was born on 21 December, 1878[a] in Gori[b] a city of the Russian Empire. Like his parents, Stalin was an ethnic Georgian, and he grew up speaking the Georgian language. Both his father and his mother came from a family of serfs.[1]
Stalin's revolutionary activities can be traced to his time as a student in the Orthodox Spiritual Seminary in Tiflis, beginning in 1894. An avid reader, he read the seminal Capital written by Karl Marx, subsequently taking a profound interest in Marxism.
Post-Revolution
Joseph Stalin became Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars in 1941, a position he would hold until his death.[2] Although he is often portrayed as a dictator in the West, the CIA admitted that there was collective leadership during his time in office.[3]
World War 2
During the course of World War 2, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, Stalin gave weekly addresses to the Soviet people while his Red Army, lead by Georgy Zhukov, freed Europe from the Nazis.
False claims of antisemitism
Despite right wingers and fascists spreading rumours of Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy theories, some historians have made baseless claims that Stalin was an anti-semite. For refutation please see the below letter from Stalin.
In answer to your inquiry :
National and racial chauvinism is a vestige of the misanthropic customs characteristic of the period of cannibalism. Anti-semitism, as an extreme form of racial chauvinism, is the most dangerous vestige of cannibalism.
Anti-semitism is of advantage to the exploiters as a lightning conductor that deflects the blows aimed by the working people at capitalism. Anti-semitism is dangerous for the working people as being a false path that leads them off the right road and lands them in the jungle. Hence Communists, as consistent internationalists, cannot but be irreconcilable, sworn enemies of anti-semitism.
In the U.S.S.R. anti-semitism is punishable with the utmost severity of the law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Under U.S.S.R. law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty.
— J. Stalin, Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States [4]
References
- ↑ “Vissarion, his father, came from the village of Didi-Lilo, near Tiflis, where his parents, like their forebears, had been peasant serfs. For Vissarion emancipation meant that he was free to fol low his trade as a cobbler. Around 1870 he moved to Gori, where in 1874 he married Ekaterina Georgievna Geladze, daughter of a serf family from a nearby village. She was about eighteen years of age, some five years younger than her husband. They were humble working people, poor and illiterate.”
Ian Grey (1979). Stalin, man of history (p. 9). [LG] - ↑ Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A–L. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313346422
- ↑ "Comments on the Change in Soviet Leadership" (2008-02-26). Central Intelligence Agency.
- ↑ Stalin: Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States MIA link
Notes
- ↑ Although some historians claim he was born in 18th December, his birthday was officially celebrated on 21st December.
- ↑ The city of Gori was part of the Tiflis Governorate, which was one of the administrative divisions of the Russian Empire.