Changes

'''Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin''' (born Dzhugashvili) (December 6th, 1878 (Julian: December 18th)-March 5, 1953) was the [[communist]] [[atheist]] General Secretary of the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Soviet Union]] (CPSU) from 1922 until his death. He was the son of a poor Georgian cobbler and a former seminary student who became a Bolshevik and one of [[Lenin|Lenin's]] closest allies during the their take-over of the Kerensky regime. During the [[Russian Civil War]] Stalin, who chose his name from the Russian word for steel,  held the city of Tsaritsen on the Volga from counter-revolutionary forces. Stalin later re-named [[Stalingrad]] in honor of his victory, and was the same city of [[Germany's]] massive defeat in [[World War II]].  

'''Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin''' (Ru: Иосиф Сталин) (December 6th, 1878 (Julian: December 18th)-March 5, 1953) was the General Secretary of the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Soviet Union]] (CPSU) from 1922 until his death. He was the son of a poor Georgian cobbler and a former seminary student who became a Bolshevik and one of [[Lenin|Lenin's]] closest allies during the their take-over of the Kerensky regime. During the [[Russian Civil War]] Stalin, who chose his name from the Russian word for steel,  held the city of Tsaritsen on the Volga from counter-revolutionary forces. Stalin later re-named [[Stalingrad]] in honor of his victory, and was the same city of [[Germany's]] massive defeat in [[World War II]].  

<br/>

<br/>

<br/>

<br/>

==Rise to Power==

==Rise to Power==

Stain was tapped by the Okhrana, the Tsarist secret police, as a low-level informer shortly after he was expelled from the Tiflis seminary in 1899.  Stalin then began to systematically inform on revolutionary comrades in party organizations in Tiflis, Baku, and Batum over the next few years. He acquired a highly unsavory reputation among the [[Social Democrats]] of these cities and was finally arrested for cover purposes in 1902 when suspicions about him were about to boil over.  It was the Okhrana taht furnished the invisible means of support for the family he acquired after 1904.  

Stain was tapped by the Okhrana, the Tsarist secret police, as a low-level informer shortly after he was expelled from the Tiflis seminary in 1899.  Stalin then began to systematically inform on revolutionary comrades in party organizations in Tiflis, Baku, and Batum over the next few years. He acquired a highly unsavory reputation among the [[Social Democrats]] of these cities and was finally arrested for cover purposes in 1902 when suspicions about him were about to boil over.  It was the Okhrana that furnished the invisible means of support for the family he acquired after 1904.  

In 1917, the Commissariat of Nationalities was formed with Stalin as its Commissar (Minister). The Commissariat addressed the question of the nationalities of the Russian Empire, and helped integrate them into the [[Soviet Union]].  From 1919-1922 he was also the People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection (Rabkrin, from the Russian), which was founded to be a check on the burgeoning Soviet bureaucracy.

In 1917, the Commissariat of Nationalities was formed with Stalin as its Commissar (Minister). The Commissariat addressed the question of the nationalities of the Russian Empire, and helped integrate them into the [[Soviet Union]].  From 1919-1922 he was also the People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection (Rabkrin, from the Russian), which was founded to be a check on the burgeoning Soviet bureaucracy.