Stalin and Purges
Stalin Biography
Stalin was born in Georgia, in the far west of Russian Empire. He was a Bolshevik leader; however there were only a few. Stalin is also from a very average working-class background. His father was a shoemaker and gave him the name “Josif Dzhugashvili” but Stalin used many false names because of his revolutionary career. His finally settled with the name “Stalin”.
Stalin Early Life
As a young man, Stalin trained as a priest at the college of Tbilisi, but he was expelled as the college found out he was part of a local revolutionaries. In his later years of his teenage life he joined the Social Democratic Party and then dedicated himself to revolutionary activities, which all lead him up to taking over from Lenin. While belonging to the Social Democratic Party, Stalin was arrested many times and once exiled to Serbia. When Stalin wasn’t being arrested he was constantly being sorted out by the NKVD (the secret police). All of this led to Stalin having a very secretive way of life because he couldn’t constantly get in trouble. This way of life helped Stalin in the future realise how to use conspiracies and tricks to have power.
Stalin activities
Stalin started to become well known in the Bolshevik Party by playing a little part in the 1905 revolution. Stalin started to get closer to Lenin which would be essential if he was to become the Bolshevik leader and run the country. Lenin than trusted Stalin and gave him the role of editor in the Pravda newspaper which was biased towards the Bolshevik Party. He was than imprisoned during the First World War and was only able to return to Petrograd from Serbia in February 1917. By then he was one of the leaders of the party and he was well-known in organising the Bolsheviks during 1917. Once the Bolsheviks took power, he held a succession of posts that allowed him to build himself a strong position in the Party. By the time of Lenin’s death, he was well placed to deal with his rivals in the struggle of leadership.
Stalin Quotes:
“I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.”
“In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.”