Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) custom research papers illustrate that Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s, following the death of Lenin, until his death. Born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugoslavia in Georgia, as a young man Stalin was enrolled in the Georgian Orthodox seminary where he first discovered the writings of V.I. Lenin and became a Marxist revolutionary. Paper Masters can compose a custom written research paper on Joseph Stalin that follows your guidelines.

Stalin's Revolutionary Activity

Joseph Stalin's revolutionary activity included:

• Organizing strikes
• Spreading propaganda
• Participating in a 1907 bank robbery, for which he was exiled to Siberia.

In 1917, he returned to Petrograd, and was elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee. When the revolution broke out, Stalin was appointed to the Politburo, where he frequently clashed with Leon Trotsky.

Following Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin emerged as leader of the USSR following a power struggle. He forced Trotsky into exile, and later had him assassinated. During the 1930s, Stalin initiated several purges of Soviet leadership that eliminated his rivals. Under his dictatorship, Stalin introduced a cult of personality around himself and Lenin while at the same time expanding the scope of the secret police.

Stalin's Economic Program

Part of Stalin's economic program was the introduction of radical collectivization of agriculture, which led to widespread famine and starvation in the USSR. The other half of Soviet economics included massive industrialization. In 1939, he signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany, which Hitler broke, aligning the USSR with the Allies during the war. Following World War II, Stalin created communist regimes in Eastern Europe, creating the "iron curtain" which characterized the Cold War.