Joseph Stalin

Essay by wwybengaHigh School, 10th gradeA-, October 2014

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William Wybenga

Mrs. Nielson/Ms. Richardson

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was one of the greatest dictators ever to live. He was a cruel man while killing over 20 million men and women. His last name Stalin was derived from combining Russian stal, "steel" with "Lenin, who was the leader of the Soviet Union at the time. Stalin had a rough childhood but became a powerful dictator. During his rule he was one of the most ruthless leaders.

Joseph was born in Gori, Georgia on December 21, 1879. His childhood was marked by a lot of hardship and abuse. He got smallpox during his early childhood that scarred his face permanently. Joseph's father was a brutal man and worked as a boot maker. Born in a serf's family his mother was a very religious person. She sent Joseph to a church school when he was 9 years old. Stalin was expelled from the seminary and then came across Vladimir Lenin's literature.

He decided to become a Marxist revolutionary.

In 1922 Stalin was elected general secretary of the central committee of the party. Toward the end of Lenin's death he wrote a letter recommending that Stalin be removed, but before any action could be taken Lenin died. Stalin joined forces with Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev. Their goal was to take down one of the best leaders to replace Lenin. His name was Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was ousted as commissar of war. Then Stalin allied with Nikolai Bukharin. Kamenev and Zinoviev got together with Trotsky in an effort to take down Stalin. Their efforts failed and were forced to resign from the central committee of the Communist party. Stalin then decided to brake with Bukharin and engineered his rise to power.

While Stalin was in power his goal was to identify the totalitarian...