Back Сталин, Иосиф Виссарион-иԥа Abkhazian Josef Stalin Afrikaans Josef Stalin ALS ጆሴፍ ስታሊን Amharic Josef Stalin AN Iosep Stalin ANG जोसेफ़ स्टालिन ANP يوسف ستالين Arabic ܝܘܣܦ ܣܛܐܠܝܢ ARC جوزيف سطالين ARY
Joseph Stalin | |
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 Stalin in 1943 | |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 3 April 1922 – 16 October 1952[a] | |
| Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov (as Responsible Secretary) |
| Succeeded by | Nikita Khrushchev (as First Secretary) |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union[b] | |
| In office 6 May 1941 – 5 March 1953 | |
| First Deputy |
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| Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov |
| Succeeded by | Georgy Malenkov |
| Minister of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union[c] | |
| In office 19 July 1941 – 3 March 1947 | |
| Premier | Himself |
| Preceded by | Semyon Timoshenko |
| Succeeded by | Nikolai Bulganin |
| People's Commissar for Nationalities of the Russian SFSR | |
| In office 8 November 1917 – 7 July 1923 | |
| Premier | Vladimir Lenin |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 5 March 1953 (aged 74) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting place |
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| Political party | |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Tiflis Theological Seminary |
| Awards | Full list |
| Signature |  |
| Nicknames |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | Red Army |
| Years of service | 1918–1920 |
| Rank | Generalissimus (from 1945) |
| Commands | Soviet Armed Forces (from 1941) |
| Battles/wars | |
Central institution membership Other offices held
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| Leader of the Soviet Union | |
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin[f] (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili;[g] 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and communist revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1941 until his death. Stalin consolidated power to become dictator by the 1930s; he formalized his Leninist interpretation of Marxism as Marxism-Leninism, while the totalitarian political system he established became known as Stalinism.
Born into a poor Georgian family in Gori, Russian Empire, Stalin attended the Tiflis Spiritual Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He edited the party's newspaper, Pravda and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction through robberies and protection rackets. Repeatedly arrested, he underwent internal exiles to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution and created a one-party state under the Communist Party, Stalin joined its governing Politburo. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin assumed leadership of the country. His Five-Year Plans led to agricultural collectivisation and rapid industrialisation, creating a centralised command economy. Severe disruptions to food production contributed to the famine of 1930–33. Stalin's Great Purge used the Gulag system of forced labour camps to eliminate those deemed "enemies of the working class".
Stalin promoted Marxism–Leninism abroad through the Communist International and supported European anti-fascist movements, especially during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, his regime signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, enabling the Soviet invasion of Poland. Germany broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union in 1941, leading Stalin to join the Allies as one of the "Big Three". Despite huge losses, the Soviet Red Army repelled the German invasion and captured Berlin in 1945, ending World War II in Europe. The Soviet Union, which had annexed the Baltic states and other territories during the war, established Soviet-aligned governments in Central and Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as global superpowers, leading to the Cold War. Stalin presided over post-war reconstruction and the first Soviet atomic bomb test in 1949. During these years, the country experienced another famine and a state-sponsored antisemitic campaign, culminating in the "doctors' plot". Stalin's rule was marked by forced transfers of populations. Before, during, and after World War II, various social classes and ethnic groups were accused of being anti-Soviet and deported to remote parts of the country as collective punishment. After Stalin's death in 1953, he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1956 denounced Stalin's rule and initiated the "de-Stalinisation" of Soviet society.
Stalin remains a significant figure, with his personality cult enduring among Marxist–Leninist movements. Despite his popularity in Russia and Georgia for his wartime leadership, Stalin's government is widely condemned for mass repressions, ethnic cleansing, executions, and famines that caused millions of deaths. In Poland and the Baltic states, Stalinism and Nazism are often equated in their inhumanity, and their victims are commemorated together on Black Ribbon Day.
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