2
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 1:
Line 1: − + − | image =[[Image:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|260px]]+ − + − | birth =December 18, 1878<br/>Gori, Tiflis Governorate ([[Republic of Georgia|Georgia]]), Russian Empire+ − | parents =Vissarion Dzhugashvili<br/>Catherine Dzhugashvili − | religion =Georgian Orthodoxy (rejected)<br/>[[Atheism]] − | education =Tiflis Theological Seminary, Georgia − | spouse =Ekaterina Svanidze (d. 1906-1907)<br/>Nadezhda Alliluyeva (d. 1919-1932) − | children =Yakov Dzhugashvili<br/>Vasily Dzhugashvili<br/>Svetlana Alliluyeva − | death =March 5, 1953<br/>Kuntsevo Dacha, Moscow − | deathmanner =Complications of a stroke − | burial =Near the Kremlin Wall, Moscow, Russia − | country =[[Soviet Union]] − | military =Soviet Armed Forces (1943–1953) − | rank =Marshal of the Soviet Union (1943–1945) (de jure) <br/>Generalissimus of the Soviet Union (1945–1953) (de facto) − | polbeliefs =[[Communism]] − | party =[[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] − | dictatordate =By 1929 − | war =[[Great Purge of the Soviet Union]]<br/>[[World War II]] − | deathnumber =20,000,000 is the average estimate while 66,000,000 is the high estimate − }} − − The son of a poor Georgian cobbler, Stalin was a former seminary student who joined the Communist Party when Georgia was still under the rule of the Russian Tsar. He became one of [[Lenin|Lenin's]] closest allies when the Kerensky regime was overthrown by Lenin's faction in 1917. 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 renamed Tsaritsen [[Stalingrad]] in honor of his victory; Stalingrad would be the site of [[Germany]]'s massive defeat in [[World War II]].+ − Stalin was affectionately known as "Uncle Joe"<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Joe-FDR-DEEP-STATE/dp/0692939784</ref> by [[Democrat]]s before [[Joseph Biden]] adopted the nickname.<ref>https://archive.is/XjGXa</ref>+ − ==Rise to Power==+ − − 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 1922, Lenin named Stalin General Secretary of the CPSU. In 1924 Stalin in turn created the "Secret Department," a unit of 94 of his personal functionaries that maintained special privileges as the ''[[nomenklatura]]'', or a list of trusted individuals. He also appointed regional party secretaries who all, of course, supported Stalin. Through the Secret Department Stalin gained control of the [[Red Army]] after removing [[Leon Trotsky]] in 1925 and the OGPU (later, [[KGB]]) when its leader [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]] died in 1926. Lenin had foreseen all of this and had warned in his last testament that Stalin should be removed from General Secretary because the position's power was unlimited.+ − [[Image:Stalin-Lenin.jpg|right|thumb|[[Lenin]] left, Stalin right]] − Stalin, however, did not allow this to happen. His most powerful rival, Leon Trotsky, who was the commander of the Red Army, was painted as a danger to the Revolution, because he continued to push the idea of international revolution; the "left opposition." Other Soviet leaders, like [[Zinoviev]], leader of the [[Comintern]], and [[Kaminev]], the head of the Communist Party in Moscow, were painted with the same brush because they supported Trotsky and did not wish to expel him from the CPSU in 1927. Later, he accused his ally [[Bukharin]] of being a member of the "right opposition," i.e. he was in favor of a more capitalistic economic system, as seen under the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP) of the early 1920s. Trotsky was murdered in Mexico in 1940 by [[Ramón Mercader]] in an extensive conspiracy that included underground operatives from the [[Communist Party of the United States]] (CPUSA). Zinoviev, Kaminev, and Bukharin were the center of the infamous "[[Great Purge|show trials]]" of the 1930s. All were put to death. − ==Objectives of the Comintern==+ − In 1932, [[Sergei Ivanovich Gussev]], who had served as [[Comintern]] agent and Stalin's personal representative in the United States, "commanded the [[Communist Party of the United States|Communists in the United States]] to take up four tasks. Two of them were the defence of the Soviet Union and the furtherance of Red conquest of [[China]]." In 1933 the notorious [[Gerhart Eisler]] "was secretly sent into the United States by Moscow to make sure these orders were carried out."<ref>[[Louis F. Budenz]], ''The Techniques of Communism'', (Chicago: Henry Regnery and Company, 1954), pp. 162-163.</ref> [[Edgar Snow]] wrote in his 1937 book, ''Red Star Over China,'' "The political ideology, tactical line and theoretical leadership of the [[Chinese Communists]] have been under the close guidance, if not positive direction, of the Communist International, which during the last decade has become virtually a bureau of the [[Russian Communist Party]]. In the final analysis this means that for better or worse, the policies of the Chinese Communists, like the Communists in every other country, have had to fall in line with, and usually subordinate themselves to, the broad strategic requirements of [[Soviet Russia]], under the dictatorship of Stalin."<ref>''Red Star Over China'' by Edgar Snow, New York, 1937, pg. 374.</ref>+ + − ==Catch and Overtake==+ − In 1928 Stalin decided that the Soviet Union was not properly industrialized to enjoy a communist future, so he initiated the First Five Year Plan and the campaign to collectivize agriculture in order to "build socialism," and to "catch and overtake" the capitalist world. Stalin fanned the fires of collectivization, claiming that peasants had been hoarding grain and that they needed to be controlled. Under this program, rich peasants (kulaks), were exiled or killed for being enemies of the people, and peasants' land was taken in order to introduce collective farming to expedite grain appropriations. Many were called kulaks by jealous neighbors, while the peasants who remained were often the laziest and most ill-suited to producing enough grain. Collectivization caused massive famine in Russia, particularly in [[Ukraine]] (see [[Holodomor]]), where Stalin ordered the Red Army to blockade certain regions and take grain by force. It is estimated that the famine of 1931-33 killed 6-7 million people, while 20 million starved. − The First Five Year Plan was a program of crash-industrialization. After [[World War I]] and the Russian Civil War Russia had an industrial capacity equal to that of its 1861 capacity. The only way for Russia to be able to break the "capitalist encirclement," Stalin declared, was to industrialize. Brigades of shock workers were formed to work faster and harder than the world had ever seen. Most of this, however, was pure propaganda, although the shock workers did set the record for concrete poured in a single shift. Compared to the capitalist world which was experiencing the Great Depression, Soviet growth was impressive. Between 1929 and 1937, 8,000 factories were constructed, average GDP growth was around 10%, and the official unemployment statistics, which included gulag detainees, was 0. In 1936, after the Second Five Year Plan, Stalin declared socialism "built." Nevertheless, the capitalist world lived better than the Soviet Union, despite the Great Depression. [[John Scott]], an American CPUSA member and Comintern operative who was living in the Soviet Union during the Five Year Plans, notes this in his memoirs of that period ''Behind the Urals.'' The legacy of the Five Year Plans (most of which Stalin declared "completed" in 4 years) injured the Soviet's production models, because the encouraged quantity and speed over quality. However, the planning of the 1930s enabled the Russians to defeat the Nazis in the 1940s.<ref>Suvorov, Viktor. ''Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?// (Viking Press/Hamish Hamilton; 1990) ISBN 0241126223.</ref>+ − ==Stalin's Terror==+ − Between 1936 and 1938, Joseph Stalin launched his purges to rid the Soviet Union of "fifth columnists," or spies who were loyal to the [[capitalist]] world. During the Terror 3 million people were arrested on various and often made-up charges, while 750,000 were executed. Due to the interrogation techniques of the NKVD (later, KGB), which often were torturous, most of those arrested confessed and were sent to work camps, called the [[Gulag]] for 10 years and sometimes even 25. Here, prisoners were forced to labor in mines, to log forests, or to do construction. Few lived through their sentences. − + − Stein took the file to a close friend, the head of the OGPU in the Ukraine, who went over it carefully with his trusted deputy, Zinovy Katsnelson, a cousin and close friend of Alexander Orlov. Convinced of its authenticity, they shared it with Jonah Yakir, commander of the Red Army in the Ukraine, and Stanislav Kossior, secretary of the Communist Party in the Ukraine. Alarmed by the file's revelations, Yakir flew to Moscow and revealed its contents to [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], Supreme Commander of the Red Army. They brought his deputy, Yan Gamarnik, into their confidence and decided to overthrow Stalin in a coup d'état, denounce him and execute him.+ − As the coup plan was being developed, Katsnelson traveled to Paris and informed Orlov. The plot was foiled and Orlov's fate was sealed.+ + + − The infamous show trials of former leaders of the Soviet Union occurred during this period, where they were accused of working with Trotsky or sabotaging the Soviet Union. Stalin also eviscerated the high command of the Red Army, killing 90% of the leadership. The minions of oppression were not spared either; of the NKVD's 809 officials, 43 lived through the purges. The leadership of the communist party was persecuted as well. For example, in 1934 130 members of the 139-member Central Committee were arrested. The Terror forever made Russians afraid to speak out against the government, and also made sure that no one but Stalin could ever rule the Soviet Union as effectively. This also ensured that the Red Army could not fight effectively when Nazi Germany invaded the USSR during Operation Barbarossa.+ + − ==Famine of 1933==+ − {{main|Holodomor}} − * "This famine was deliberately engineered by the regime of Joseph Stalin {{years since|1933}} years ago claimed millions of lives, mostly in [[Ukraine]] but also in some other parts of the [[Soviet Union]]. It is today considered one of the worst [[atrocities]] of the Soviet regime and a terrifying act of [[genocide]]. Even so, the famine of 1933 is relatively unknown. ... Estimates of how many people died in Stalin's engineered [[famine]] of 1933 vary. But they are staggering in their scale -- between seven and 11 million people."<ref>[http://www.ukemonde.com/news/rferl.html Stalin's Starvation of Ukraine – Seventy Years Later, World Still Largely Unaware Of Tragedy], By Askold Krushelnycky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, 8 April 2003.</ref> − Besides Ukraine, the Northern Caucasus, Volga Region and Kazakhstan, the South Urals, and West Siberia were also affected.<ref>[https://www.philosophy.nsc.ru/sites/default/files/journals-old/humscience/2_98/15-MAL.HTM] (Russian)</ref><ref>http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2003/0101/analit02.php (Russian)</ref>+ − ==Censorship and propaganda policies==+ − {{Main|Atheism and historical revisionism}} − During Stalin's time in power, Stalin often altered various newspapers to push his agenda, and even edited out anyone who displeased him, which was most infamously evident with former NKVD head [[Nikolai Yezhov]] subsequent to his death in 1940 via execution, where a photograph of him walking with Stalin near the Moscow-Volga Canal had Yezhov airbrushed out. Ironically, after his death and Khrushchev's secret speech, Stalin himself would end up falling victim to the very same censorship policies he himself had used against his enemies, with footage of him in Soviet propaganda films depicting Lenin's rise to power often adding in a silhouette of a soldier conveniently placed in where Stalin was in the original footage.+ + + − ==World War II==+ − To avoid war with [[Germany]], Stalin ordered the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, [[Molotov]], to sign a non-aggression pact with [[Adolf Hitler]], named the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]], on August 19, 1939. The treaty detailed the agreement to split up [[Poland]] between Germany and the Soviet Union, give Stalin the Baltic Republics of [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Estonia]], and to allow the Soviets to wage war on [[Finland]], a war that ended in a humiliating Soviet defeat. Part of the reason why Stalin arranged for the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was so he would use Nazi Germany and have them fight a prolonged front against France and Britain so as to weaken Europe enough to have Communism spread quickly through the continent, largely because he realized war would have benefitted Communism's spread better than peace. Both sides, however, knew that they would eventually engage in hostilities.<ref>Albert L. Weeks: Stalin`s Other War. Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941 Rowman & Littlefield, USA 2002<br />'''STALIN:''' ''"The question of war or peace has entered a critical phase for us. If we conclude a mutual assistance treaty with France and Great Britain, Germany will back off of Poland and seek a modus vivendi with the Western Powers. War would thus be prevented but future events could take a serious turn for the USSR.''<br />''"If we accept Germany’s proposal to conclude with it a non-aggression pact, Germany will then attack Poland and Europe will be thrown into serious acts of unrest and disorder. Under these circumstances we will have many chances of remaining out of the conflict while being able to hope for our own timely entrance into war.''<br />''"The experience of the past 20 years shows that in peacetime it is impossible to maintain a Communist movement throughout Europe that would be strong enough so that a Bolshevik party could seize power. A dictatorship by this party becomes possible only as a result of a big war. We are making our choice and it is clear. We must accept the German proposal and politely send the Anglo-French delegations back home. The first advantage we will get will be the destruction of Poland up to the very approaches to Warsaw, including Ukrainian Galicia.''<br />''"Germany has given us full leeway in the Baltic countries and has no objection to returning Bessarabia to the USSR. Germany is also prepared to yield on giving us a sphere of influence in Rumania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The question of Yugoslavia still remains open.''<br />''"At the same time we must anticipate what will ensue from the destruction of Germany in war as well as from a German victory. If it is destroyed, the sovietization of Germany follows inevitably and a Communist government will be established. We must not forget that a sovietized Germany would face great danger if such sovietization occurred after the defeat of Germany in a short war. England and France would be powerful enough to seize Berlin and destroy a Soviet Germany. We would not be able to come to the aid of our Bolshevik comrades in Germany.''<br />''"Therefore, our task consists in helping Germany wage war for as long as possible with the aim in view that England and France would be in no condition to defeat a sovietized Germany. While hewing to a policy of neutrality and while waiting for its hour to come, the USSR will lend aid to today’s Germany and supply it with raw materials and foodstuff. Of course, it follows that we will not allow such shipments to jeopardize our economy or weaken our armed might."''<br />''"At the same time we must conduct active Communist propaganda especially as directed at the Anglo-French bloc and primarily in France. We must be prepared for the fact that in France in wartime the Communist Party there must abandon legal activities and go underground. We realize that such work will require an enormous sacrifice in lives. However, we have no doubts about our French comrades. Above all, their task will be to break up and demoralize the French army and police. If this preparatory work is completed in a satisfactory way, the security of Soviet Germany is assured. This will likewise ensure the sovietization of France.''<br />''"To realize these plans it is necessary that war last as long as possible and that all efforts should be made, whether in Western Europe or the Balkans, to see that this happens.''<br />''"Let us look now at the second possibility – namely, that Germany becomes the victor. Some propose that this turn of events would present us with a serious danger. There is some truth in this notion. But it would be erroneous to believe that such a danger is as near and as great as they assume. If Germany achieves victory in the war, it will emerge from it in such a depleted state that to start a conflict with the USSR will take at least 10 years.''<br />''"Germany’s main task would be then to keep watch on the defeated England and France to prevent their restoration. On the other hand, a victorious Germany would have at its disposal a large territory. Over the course of many years, Germany would be preoccupied with the exploitation of these territories and establishing in them the German order. Obviously, Germany would be too preoccupied to move against us.''<br />''"There is still another factor that enhances our security. In the defeated France, the French Communist Party would be very strong. A Communist revolution would follow inevitably. We would exploit this in order to come to the aid of France and to win it over as an ally. Later these peoples who fell under the “protection” of a victorious Germany likewise would become our allies. We would have a large arena in which to develop the world revolution.''<br />''Comrades! It is in the interests of the USSR, the Land of the Toilers, that war breaks out between the Reich and the capitalist Anglo-French bloc. Everything must be done so that the war lasts as long as possible in order that both sides become exhausted. Namely for this reason we must agree to the pact proposed by Germany and use it so that once this war is declared, it will last for a maximum amount of time. We must step up our propaganda within the combatant countries so that they are prepared for that time when the war ends."''</ref> − It seems that Stalin anticipated this less than Hitler, who, in June 1941 invaded the Soviet Union with the largest land army ever assembled. It consisted of 170 divisions, or 3.5 million troops. Stalin was caught off guard, and the [[Nazis]] blazed a path through the Ukraine and European Russia. Reaching [[Moscow]] in October 1941, the Nazis threatened Stalin and the entire Soviet Union with defeat. In only 6 months, the Nazis controlled one third of the Soviet economy, a total of 5% of the Earth's surface. Hitler's troops were defeated at Moscow during the winter of 1941-42 after Stalin appointed [[Yorky Zhukov]] as commander of the Red Army. A spy in the German embassy in Tokyo, [[Richard Sorge]], informed Stalin that Japan was not going to attack [[Siberia]], freeing thousands of winter ski-troops to move to Moscow to defeat the Nazis. It was during this time that Stalin famously invoked the name of [[God]] and allowed religious services to be conducted after 20 plus years of repression. Also, 1500 factories were evacuated and restored in Siberia and 12-15 million workers were moved east of the [[Urals]], where Soviet production was higher than Germany's in 1942, despite Germany holding some 50% of Soviet industry.+ − The Red Army went on the offensive after the defense of Moscow, but soon the Nazis gained the advantage and pushed to Stalingrad. More than one million troops fought on each side in urban combat. Hitler refused to allow surrender, and eventually the Nazis were encircled and routed. After turning the tide of war in Stalingrad, the 1943 [[Kursk]] tank battle was decisive in pushing the Nazis from European Russia. In two years, the Red Army pushed the Nazis all the way back to [[Berlin]]. Stalin used his control of Eastern Europe to extract concessions from [[President Roosevelt]] at Allied conferences, including control over the region. [[Winston Churchill]] warned against this very control, for he greatly feared Soviet hegemony in Europe. Victorious, Stalin named himself Generalissimo and became more popular than ever in the Soviet Union and more dangerous than ever to the capitalist world.+ − Over the course of World War II, around 25 million Russians died. Twenty million were in the armed services. The total number of 25 million reflects half of the worldwide losses of human life during World War II. The population did not recover until 1956. Many Soviet POWs, like famous writer [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], were sent to the Gulag after the war because they had fallen into German hands, and were accused of being spies. This swelled the prison camps by the thousands.+ − + − Similar to the 1930s, Stalin undertook a harsh campaign of industrialization, which hurt the Soviets as much as it helped them rebuild. Money was devalued to one-tenth of its previous value, 2 million German and Japanese POWs were forced to stay in the Soviet Union and rebuild the country, and 10% of investment from 1945-46 was from looted machinery. The crops produced by household plots were collected by the government to sell, and a famine in 1947 caused by drought and Soviet single-crop farming killed 2 million. The recovery was built on the Soviet subjects. − [[Image:Stalinfuneral.jpg|250px|right|thumb|''Right to left:'' Lavrenti Beria, Georgi Malenkov, Vassily Stalin, V.M. Molotov, Nikolai Bulganin]] − − + − ==Quotes==+ − * "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." ~ to Churchill, 1945. − * "Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem"+ + − * "Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"+ + − * "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything"+ + + + − * "The only real power comes out of a long rifle."+ − * "When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use."+ + − * [[C.S. Lewis]] wrote:+ − :Of all tyrannies, a [[tyranny]] sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most [[oppression|oppressive]]. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral [[busybody|busybodies]]. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own [[conscience]]. [http://www.tsowell.com/quotes.html]+ − * "The one aim of these [[banker|financiers]] is [[New World Order|world control]] by the creation of inextinguishable [[debt]]." - [[Henry Ford]]+ − * "Educate and inform the whole mass of [[citizen|the people]]... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our [[liberty]]." -- [[Thomas Jefferson]]+ − ==See also==+ − * [[Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism]] − * [[Stalinism]] − * [[Darwin-Stalin connection]] − * [[List of dictators]] − * [[Dictatorship of the proletariat]] − * [[List of Communist States]] − * [[List of Socialist States]] − * [[Death toll of communism]] − * [[Liberal totalitarianism]] − *[[The Gulag Archipelago]] − + − {{reflist|2}}+ + + + + + − + − − − *Hosking, Geoffrey. ''The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. − − *Kotkin, Stephen. ''Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as Civilization.'' Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1995. − − *Scott, John. ''Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia’s City of Steel''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1989. − − *Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]], 1918-1956''; an experiment in literary investigation'', Translated from the Russian by Thomas P. Whitney, Publisher New York, Harper & Row (1974–78), 1st Edition, pg. 67n. − − {{Communism}} − − {{DEFAULTSORT:Stalin, Joseph}} − [[Category:Communists]] − [[Category:Mass Murderers]] − [[Category:Dictators]] − [[Category:Totalitarianism]] − [[Category:Cold War]] − [[Category:New Deal]] − [[Category:Soviet Union]] − [[Category:Russian History]] − [[Category:Marxism]] − [[Category:Soviet Leaders]] − [[Category:Atheists]] − [[Category:Police State]] − [[Category:Anti Second Amendment]] − [[Category:Terrorists]]
no edit summary
{{Dictator bio
{{More citations needed}}
{{Stub}}
| name =Joseph Stalin
[[File:Stalin portrait.png|thumb|Chinese portrait of Josef Stalin.]]
'''Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin''' (born '''Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili''' and also often referred to in English as '''Joseph Stalin''' or '''Josef Stalin''') was a Georgian revolutionary, Marxist theoretician<ref>Stalin, J., 1938. Dialectical And Historical Materialism. Retrieved October 15 2020 from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/09.htm</ref>, and statesman who was the General Secretary of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] from 1922 to 1953, and the Premier of the [[Soviet Union]] from 1941 to 1953. He synthesized the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin into an official state ideology known as [[Marxism-Leninism]]. He is commonly credited as being partially accountable for defeat of the [[German Reich]] during [[World War II]]. Stalin oversaw the mass industrialisation of the USSR and creation of arguably the world's first long-lasting socialist state, which assisted in the liberation of workers all across the world, although not without a fair share of Authoritarianism in his own country. Stalin's rule is subject to extreme amounts of controversy, as Marxist-Leninists and others assert Stalin was a Hero of the Workers who oversaw the construction of the first example of real existing Socialism and the defeat of Fascism during the Second World War. On the other hand, Anarchists, Trotskyists and others, claim Stalin was a "red fascist", no better than the Tsar he replaced.
'''Joseph (or Josef) Stalin''' (born '''Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili '''; Russian: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Джугашви́ли) (1878 - 1953) was the dictator of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Soviet Union]] ([[CPSU]]) from 1922 until his death from a stroke.<ref name="BBC Stalin">https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stalin_joseph.shtml</ref> Joseph Stalin, who was a brutal proponent of [[atheism|atheistic]] [[Communism]], was greatly influenced by the work of the [[evolution|neo-Lamarckian]] [[Trofim Denisovich Lysenko]] as were other Communist leaders.<ref>https://creation.com/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism</ref><ref>https://creation.com/stalins-ape-man-superwarriors</ref><ref>https://creation.com/a-tale-of-four-countries</ref><ref>https://creation.com/darwin-trotsky-connection</ref> During 1942 - 1943, knowing that few people were inspired by Communism, Stalin reinstated the Russian Orthodox Church in order to boost morale while Russia was at war with Nazi Germany.<ref>http://faroutliers.blogspot.com/2008/08/stalin-reinstates-church-1942-43.html</ref><ref>http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/frroman1.aspx</ref> When the war ended, many Red Army soldiers and Christians who defeated [[fascism]] were shipped off to Soviet [[concentration camp]]s - the [[gulag]].
== Life ==
=== Early life ===
Stalin (Meaning Man of Steel) was born in Gori on 18 December 1878, a small mining town in modern day [[Georgia (Country)|Georgia]], at the time a part of the [[Russian Empire]]. His father (Besarion) was a shoemaker and his mother (Ekater) was a laundress. He was his parent's fourth child, and the only one to survive infancy. At the age of three, he almost died to a case of Smallpox, which left him with facial scarring for the rest of his life. When he was 12, he was run down by a carriage, severely damaging his right arm, which left it all but useless for the rest of his life. Although his father's business initially did well, the business eventually fell on hard times, and his father became an abusive alcoholic. Stalin and his mother ran away from home to live with a family friend, who was a priest.
Stalin 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 democracy|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.
Stalin's mother was determined to have her child go to [[School|school]], which he did, at the age of 12. He was noted as the "brightest but naughtiest student in class", excelling academically, but stagnating by the time he left school. When he was 15, he joined a Banned Books club in school, where he read texts forbidden by the [[Tsarist Russia|Tsarist regime]] at the time, including [[Karl Marx|Karl Marx's]] ''[[Das Kapital]]'' and other revolutionary texts. When he left school, Stalin studied priesthood in the [[Orthodox Christianity|Georgian Orthodox Church]] in the city of Tblisi, although he eventually became disillusioned with [[Religion|religion]], once stating to a classmate "You know, there is no [[God|god]]." In 1899, at the age of 21, Stalin began giving lectures on [[Marxism]] at an Observatory, where he began a career of essentially acting as a Slavic [[Robin Hood]]. Stalin was frequently arrested for leftist activities, several times being sent to the [[Katorga]] - or Tsarist [[GULAG|Gulag]]. He escaped numerous times and eventually he joined the All-[[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]]. After the RSDLP split, he became a member of the [[Bolshevik party|Bolshevik faction]].<ref>Baggins, B. and Blunden, A., n.d. Glossary Of People: St. Retrieved October 15 2020 from https://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/s/t.htm</ref>
=== Rise to power ===
He took part in increasingly radical activities, taking on the name "Koba", named after a Georgian Robin Hood-type character. During the [[1905 Revolution]], he organised [[Worker's militias|worker's militias]] and assisted in Setting up what became the short-lived [[Moscow Soviet]], where he narrowly escaped the Tsarist officers. Unfortunately, his wife died of what is assumed to be tuberculosis because of this.
Stalin met [[Vladimir Lenin]] in 1907, after Lenin's wife, [[Nadezha Krupskaya]], introduced him at a leftist meeting in [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]], then also apart of the [[Russian Empire]]. The two immediately took a liking to each other, and Lenin taught Stalin everything he knew. Although the Bolsheviks disapproved of Stalin's criminal activities in stealing from rich [[Capitalist|capitalists]] and giving back to the [[Poor|poor]], Lenin secretly requested Stalin steal printing equipment to further the party's reach. In 1912 Stalin became the editor-in-chief of ''[[Pravda]],'' the newspaper of the Bolshevik Faction of the RSDLP, oftentimes publishing articles he'd written himself. Stalin's 1915 article, ''[[Marxism and the National Question]],'' which addressed the issue of [[Nationalities|nationalities]], [[Nationalism|nationalism]] and how one is to organise a multi-ethnic society on racial and cultural grounds, greatly impressed Lenin.
By the time of the [[Russian Revolution|1917 Revolution]], Stalin had become Lenin's second-in-command, and stayed back at Party headquarters during the revolution, informing other party officials of what was happening. In the [[Russian Civil War|subsequent civil war]], Stalin became a General and took part in the [[Battle of Tsaritsyn]], a crippling defeat for [[White Army]] forces. The city was later renamed [[Stalingrad]] in his honour.
After the civil war, Stalin's work in ''Marxism and the National Question'' became the basis for the founding of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. The [[Constitution of the USSR|constitution of the USSR]] was signed into effect on 31 January 1922, and the All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolshevik) was renamed the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], with Stalin as it's General Secretary and Lenin as premier. Stalin continued to be Lenin's right hand man, alongside former [[Mensheviks|Menshevik]] [[Leon Trotsky]], who had been the [[Commissar for War]] during the revolution. Stalin and Trotsky already hated each other for personal reasons, but they tolerated each other. Stalin and Trotsky were the only two people that could enter Lenin's office without an appointment, and after Lenin died in 1924, a power struggle began between Stalin, Trotsky, and the "[[Left opposition (USSR)|left opposition]]", comprised of other party officials such as [[Grigory Zinoviev]]. Although Stalin had explicitly banned [[Factionalism]] within the CPSU, citing Lenin's worry that either Stalin or Trotsky would cause a party split, this did not stop the power struggle. The Left Opposition first targeted Trotsky, while Stalin remained a neutral party - even though Stalin requested to resign numerous times between 1924 and 1927, these requests were rejected, even by Trotsky and the Left Opposition, who perceived each other to be a more dangerous threat than Stalin. However, by 1927, the left opposition realized that Stalin was the main threat they should worry about — but, by that time, their fighting each other had disqualified support for themselves and allowed Stalin to gain support for himself. In 1929, Trotsky and the left opposition were expelled from the CPSU. Stalin had cemented himself as the [[Leaders of the USSR|Leader of the USSR]].
=== Government policies ===
Under Stalin's rule, the USSR prospered. Drives to eliminate [[Illiteracy]], which previously stood as high as 80% for men and 60% for women, were a massive success, resulting in a 99% literacy rate in the USSR by 1940. Women were allowed to go to [[School|school]] for the first time, as Tsarist ethnic restrictions on who could and couldn't work or go to school were abolished. In addition, the mass openings of [[Kindergarten|Kindergartens]] and [[Day-care centres]] allowed Women to enter the workforce as well. Industrial production increased 800%, and the 1936 "[[Stalin Constitution of the USSR|Stalin Constitution]]" outlawed [[Discrimination|discrimination]] or favouritism on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion or other demographics. The workday was shortened to 7 hours a day, with guaranteed holidays and [[Maternity leave|maternity leave]] for all [[Proletariat|workers]]. The wages for the average worker were tripled than compared to that in the Tsarist era, and quality of life improved massively. [[Collectivization]] efforts also ended the chronic problem of [[Famine]] in the USSR as well, though not without cost.
In early 1937, a senior officer of the OGPU (KGB) stumbled upon a highly classified file in the old archives of the Tsarist secret police, the Okhrana. It detailed the work of one J. V. Djugashvili as an informant and agent provocateur for the Okhrana inside the Bolshevik Party before the Russian Revolution. The OGPU officer, Stein, was shocked. Djugashvili was the true name of Stalin who was now purging the Old Bolsheviks on charges of being foreign spies and counter-revolutionaries.
In 1922, at the founding of the USSR, Lenin instituted a policy of [[State Capitalism]] known as the "[[New Economic Policy]]," which was designed to build up productive forces in the economically backward USSR. Lenin had intended for this policy to continue for around 30 years or so, but, by 1927, Stalin began to slowly abolish this policy and begin a process of Collectivization as the USSR transitioned towards [[Socialism]]. Part of this process was the replacement of Privately owned farms owned by [[Kulak|Kulaks]] (Rich Peasants) with State owned ''[[Sovkhozy]]'' and collectively peasant owned ''[[Kolkhozy]]'' farms. This policy was effective and helped end famines, though Kulaks resisted State collectivization efforts as much as possible, often intentionally burning grain or slaughtering livestock to prevent it from being collectivized. This, combined with superstitions and misinformation of what collectivization actually meant among the general populace, led to numerous problems. Grain stores slowly depleted, and, as weather worsened, harvests decreased as well. Stalin's drive for "[[Dekulakization]]" and [[Collectivization]] culminated in the [[Holodomor|Famine of Winter 1932-33]], also known as the "Holodomor" (Ukrainian for death by hunger). The famine killed an estimated 3-5 million people across the [[Ukrainian SSR]], [[Russian SSR|Russia]] and [[Belorussian SSR|Belarus]]. The famine was largely caused by Kulaks and bad weather resulting in decreased grain harvests of the previous years, thus leaving the Soviet State unable to properly respond to such a famine. Around 18 million tons of food were exported to the affected SSRs during the famine, though it still resulted in the deaths of millions. The famine also gave Stalin an excuse to crush the Kulaks once and for all, and many were deported to various areas within the USSR or sent to the [[GULAG|Gulag]]. This was the last naturally-occurring famine in [[Eastern Europe]].
=== Relations with Nazi Germany ===
Stalin read and studied Mein Kampf, taking note of Nazi plans for Russia,<ref>''Stalin: Triumph and Tragedy'', Dimitri Volkogonov</ref> though never met with [[Hitler]] himself. Interviewer Felix Chuev asked Molotov in retirement, "What did Stalin think of Hitler as a personality? How did he evaluate him?", to which Molotov replied:
{{quote|He saw that Hitler had organized Germany in a short period of time. There had been a huge Communist party and it had disappeared, wiped out! And Hitler led the people and the Germans fought hard during the war. Stalin, as a cool-headed man, took these facts seriously when discussing grand strategy.|''Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics''|page 61}}
Thus it seems that Stalin didn't think much about Hitler as a person, just as a figure of Nazi policy.
[[Khrushchev]], [[Bukharin]], and many others in the Soviet leadership were with Stalin in that they all knew of Germany's intentions for their country, so from the start harbored no illusions about their fascist neighbor. Starting in 1933, with the rise of the [[NSDAP|Nazi party]] in [[Weimar Republic|Germany]], Stalin thus began to [[Industrialization|industrialize]] the USSR for [[War|war]]. Being aware of Germany's plans, he also spent most of the 1930s repeatedly petitioning the French, British and Polish Governments to form an [[Anti-Fascism|Anti-Fascist]] alliance and preemptively destroy the Nazi threat before it became too powerful. Hitler and Stalin denounced each other throughout the 1930s, as each built up their respective nations for War. During the [[Munich Crisis of 1937]], Stalin threatened to Invade Germany if Hitler invaded [[Czechoslovakia]], and likewise, Hitler formalized the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] between Various nations throughout Europe to specifically spite Stalin's antifascist efforts. Nevertheless, Stalin's repeated petitions to the [[League of Nations]] and Western Europe proved fruitless. And, a few days before [[Invasion of Poland (WWII)|Germany invaded Poland]], Stalin sent a mission to Germany to formalize [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact|a non-aggression pact with Germany]], much like the one they'd made with Japan. The infamous [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] assured that neither Germany nor the USSR would attack each other for a period of ten years (which both sides knew was not going to last) but also contained numerous secret clauses: The USSR would not interfere with Germany's conquest of Europe, and Germany would not interfere with the USSR if they were to retake numerous territories lost to them in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War — particularly Karelia, near Finland, the Baltic States of [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]] and [[Estonia]], [[Bessabarabia]] (Moldova) in [[Romania]]; and the territories of Brest and Grodno (occupied by [[Poland]] but historically a part of Belarus) and numerous territories claimed by Western Ukraine but occupied by Poland. When [[World War II]] started, both sides adhered to the treaty, and two weeks after the [[Invasion of Poland (WWII)|Invasion of Poland]] the USSR occupied their claimed territories. In the same month Stalin said the following to Georgi Dimitrov:
{{quote|A war is on between two groups of capitalist countries—(poor and rich as regards colonies, raw materials, and so forth)—for the re-division of the world, for the domination of the world! We see nothing wrong in their having a good hard fight and weakening each other. It would be fine if at the hands of Germany the position of the richest capitalist countries (especially England) were shaken. Hitler, without understanding it or desiring it, is shaking and undermining the capitalist system. We can maneuver, pit one side against the other to set them fighting with each other as fiercely as possible. The nonaggression pact is to a certain degree helping Germany. Next time, we'll urge on the other side.|''The Diary of Georgi Dimitrov''|page 115}}
In 1940 the Soviets annexed the [[Baltics]] and occupied Bessabarabia (Moldova) and went to war with Finland over Karelia in what became the rather disastrous [[Winter War of 1939-40]]. The time bought by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact served valuable for the USSR, allowing it to complete the construction of the Stalin line and move precious industry to the [[Ural Mountains]], far out of reach from the Germans. Soviet generals estimated the USSR would be ready for war with Germany by October 1942, but, they were not granted this luxury and Germany invaded on 21 June 1941. Historian Alfred J. Rieber noted, in his essay contained in ''Stalin: A New History'', that Stalin seemed to have made a pretty big miscalculation, thinking that fighting between Nazi Germany and France would be prolonged and lead to a stalemate, whereas in practice the Nazis easily overcame the French defenses and Hitler thus felt himself perfectly capable of waging a two-front war against the British Isles and the Soviet Union.
=== World War II ===
Originally, the USSR was totally unprepared for the German Invasion — Stalin reportedly ignored reports of German military buildup at the border and refused to allow Soviet forces to mass at the border as well. [[Georgy Zhukov]] later wrote in his memoirs in 1957 that Stalin was right — if they had massed their forces then they would've been destroyed then and there. In the initial six months of the war, Germany performed extremely well, making rapid advances deep into Soviet territory, occupying all of Belarus, the Baltics, Ukraine and surrounding the city of [[Leningrad]], besieging the city. The Germans took hundreds of thousands of prisoners and [[SS-Ostgruppen]] troops committed unspeakable horrors against the Slavic people living there, whom they considered "[[Untermenschen]]". Yet, by December 1941, four months after the campaign was supposed to have ended, the Nazis had, by their count, defeated the Red Army three times over. Not only that, but there was the worry that the Soviets could potentially be much stronger and more advanced than they had initially assumed — when the Nazis had invaded, the Soviets were going through a major update of their equipment. Sightings of [[T-34]] and [[KV-1]] tanks were rare, but there were several recorded instances where a single example of those tanks inflicted massive casualties on the Germans. In 1941, at Raseinai, a small town in Lithuania, a lone KV-2 (or KV-1) heavy tank decimated the [[6th Panzer division]] and held the entire town by itself for a whole day before running out of ammunition and being destroyed. Similarly, [[Army Group Center]] reported a lone T-34 tank having ripped through 13 divisions by itself before getting knocked out. By December the Russian winter (which was relatively mild by Russian standards) decimated the Germans, who did not expect the campaign to have lasted this long. German vehicles sank into the mud and snow and equipment froze up, allowing the Red Army time to prepare their defenses and rebuild their disorganized army.
[[Great Purge|The Great Purge]] had a massive impact on the [[Red Army|Red Army's]] fighting capacity and many slots for officers were filled with inexperienced soldiers who were just there to replaced those that'd been purged. Over the course of the war this effect was gradually made negligible, but not before a massive amount of Red Army soldiers were taken prisoner or killed and the Nazis had penetrated deep into Soviet territory.
The Nazis continued to advance throughout 1942, albeit at a much slower pace. The Soviet strategy of "defence in depth" was working, the City of Leningrad was holding out, and the Nazis were forced to, at times, fight for strategic points several times to wrestle it from control of stubborn Soviet defenders (See [[Battles of Kharkov]]). Additionally, Soviet resistance behind enemy lines was overwhelming, and continued to be a constant thorn in the German's side for the rest of the war.
In November 1942 Significant portion of Wehrmacht [[Army Group South]] under General [[Friedrich Paulus]] began an assault on the City of Stalingrad, along [[Volga river|the river Volga]], and eventually succeeded in doing so — only to be immediately cut off and surrounded by the Red Army's Stalingrad Front, Don Front and Red Army South. The Battle of Stalingrad continued into February 1943 and resulted in overwhelming victory for the Red Army. The 6th Army had been utterly destroyed and a significant portion of Army Group South was crippled. Around a million or so Germans in the battle were either captured or killed, effectively halting any ability the Germans had to advance into Soviet territory, bringing the invasion to a standstill. This caused a panic amongst the German ranks, who quickly organised a new attack along the Kursk salient in an attempt to restart the push forward. Initially starting with a skirmish at Prokhorovka, the larger [[Battle of Kursk]] was one of the largest tank battles to ever take place, and resulted, again, with a tactical victory for the USSR, thus ending the German's ability to stage offensives in any capacity.
The Germans continued on the offensive regardless, despite Soviet Counterattack being much more strong than German attempts at Advances. By January 1944, the Siege of Leningrad was lifted, and one year later to the day (25 January) Red Army soldiers of the 244th Rifle division discovered [[Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp]], subsequently [[Liberation of Auschwitz|liberating the 8,000 or so prisoners still detained there]]. In April 1945 the [[Battle of Berlin]] began, as the crumbling and shattered [[German Reich]] made one last stubborn defence against the so-called "asiatic hordes". Hitler killed himself in his Bunker on 1 May 1945, the same day the Soviet Flag was raised above the [[Reichstag]]. A few days later, it was hung there permanently, and on 9 May 1945, the remnants of the German Government led by Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] unconditionally surrendered to the [[Red Army|Worker's and Peasant's Red Army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]].
The USSR had borne the brunt of Nazi terror during the War, with some 89% of all Nazi war efforts being focused on the eastern front. Despite the [[Fascism|Fascist]] enemy being vanquished, the Soviets now had to face the pressure from [[Allies (WWII)|the Allies]]. Stalin had agreed with Churchill on the "Percentages agreement" which split up Europe into two spheres of influence: [[East Germany|the east]], controlled by the Soviets, and [[West Germany|the West]], controlled by the Allies. Stalin had hoped that the allies would leave Germany and allow the Kommunistche Partei Deutschland (KPD, [[Communist Party of Germany]]) to take control of the whole country, but this was not the case.
{{quote|Then came the problem of Peace. Hard as this was to Europe and America, it was far harder to Stalin and the Soviets. The conventional rulers of the world hated and feared them and would have been only too willing to see the utter failure of this attempt at socialism. At the same time the fear of Japan and Asia was also real. Diplomacy therefore took hold and Stalin was picked as the victim. He was called in conference with British imperialism represented by its trained and well-fed aristocracy; and with the vast wealth and potential power of America represented by its most liberal leader in half a century.
Here Stalin showed his real greatness. He neither cringed nor strutted. He never presumed, he never surrendered. He gained the friendship of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] and the respect of [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]]. He asked neither adulation nor vengeance. He was reasonable and conciliatory. But on what he deemed essential, he was inflexible. He was willing to resurrect the [[League of Nations]], which had insulted the Soviets. He was willing to fight Japan, even though Japan was then no menace to the Soviet Union, and might be death to the [[British Empire]] and to [[America|American]] trade. But on two points Stalin was adamant: Clemenceau’s “Cordon Sanitaire” must be returned to the Soviets, whence it had been stolen as a threat. The Balkans were not to be left helpless before Western exploitation for the benefit of land monopoly. The workers and peasants there must have their say.|[[W.E.B. Du Bois]]|}}
==Post-War Period and Death==
=== After the war ===
After World War II, Stalin's [[cult of personality]] emerged as the dominant force of Soviet life. He was credited as the savior of the Soviet Union and the architect of victory, though it was really General Zhukov who was responsible for most of this. The communist youth group, the [[Komsomol]], devoted songs to "the Father of All Nations" or "the Driver of the Locomotive of History." Party membership increased by one million people between 1945 and 1953. Books quoted Stalin as an expert in communism, while he was often photographed surrounded by children to make him seem friendlier. This all served to form a deep, personal connection with Stalin for many Soviets. Indeed, he was loved by the Soviets. Between 1949 and 1952 Stalin increasingly took vacations and met with the [[Politburo]] less and less.
The atheistic Stalin became increasingly paranoid as he grew older.<ref name="BBC Stalin"/> He eventually suffered from a stroke on March 1, 1953. Ironically, his own megalomaniacal nature beforehand ensured no one dared try to check up on him, as his own guards feared checking up on him lest they be executed due to his leaving explicit orders to not disturb him in his room. Following a stroke on March 1, 1953, Stalin died on March 5 after a period of declining performance. On his deathbed, he also glared at the attendees with disgust and wordlessly pointed at each of them before eventually pointing at a wall, with Svetlina, his daughter, recalling this event, indicating this was the most haunting event she ever experienced. When he died in 1953 an anxious mob at his viewing crushed and trampled some mourners to death. Dissidents like Sakharov, the man forced in a prison to build the Soviet atom bomb, cried upon hearing that Stalin had died, despite their intense hatred of him. Despite his terror, he had convinced millions that he was their father. When he died a short power struggle ensued, one which led to the execution of KGB head [[Beria]] as a spy. Eventually [[Khrushchev]] became the General Secretary of the CPSU and denounced Stalin's repressive tactics, his purges, gulags, and his cult of personality in the [[Secret Speech]] at the 20th Party Congress of 1956. Gulags were dismantled and the political climate was slightly less tense, but Soviet oppression still continued. The period following Stalin's rule is called the "thaw," the start of life again after a long winter.
The United States dropped a [[Nuclear bomb|Nuke]] on [[Bombing of Hiroshima|Hiroshima]] exactly one day before the USSR was to declare war on Japan — and, ironically enough, the Japanese surrendered to the Soviets before the Americans. The Soviets continued to occupy Manchuria and [[North Korea|Northern Korea]], hosting the People's Republic of Korea government-in-exile in Pyongyang after American soldiers in the South expelled them from Seoul. The Red Army later assisted the People's Liberation Army in defeating the [[Kuomintang Nationalists]] in the [[Chinese Civil War]] (despite Stalin personally distrusting [[Mao Zedong|Mao]]) and assisted in setting up the [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] in 1946 after being convinced that [[Kim Il-Sung]] was the popular choice for head of state. On the onset of the [[Cold War]], Stalin continued to assert the stance that the USSR and other new Socialist states would not bow to [[America]] or [[NATO]], rather, they would continue to further the interests of the [[Proletariat|working class]] and further [[Communist revolution|communist revolution]].
As Stalin grew older, he grew more paranoid, and increasingly concentrated decisions concerning the USSR within a a small bureaucratic clique. Stalin asked to resign once more in October 1952, but was rejected, again. Joseph Stalin died in Moscow, April 1953 at the age of 73.
== Criticisms ==
Many people, including [[Political spectrum|Leftists]] have accused Stalin of being a dictator and committing human rights abuses such as the [[Gulag system]] and [[Holodomor]].
=== Holodomor ===
''See Main Article: [[Holodomor]]''
=== Totalitarianism ===
''Main Article: [[Totalitarianism in Stalin's Rule of the USSR]]''
=== GULAG System ===
''Main Article: [[GULAG]]''
The GULAG system was the system of prisons in both [[Russian Empire|Tsarist Russia]] and the [[USSR]] before they were closed in 1953 by [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]].
===The notion that Central Asian borders were intentionally drawn poorly in order to "divide and rule"===
As part of [[korenizatsiya]], Soviet authorities tried to enfranchise the different nations of the country so that they will feel secure enough to develop a socialist, supranational identity as well. In certain places such as Ukraine or the Baltics, there were distinct nationalities which could easily serve as the basis for viable constituent republics of the union. However, in Central Asia this is much harder to do because that region is less developed, and hence has not undergone the phase of history where various peoples naturally group together into nations as had happened in many regions of Europe after feudalism. Yet in Stalin's time, nationalist sentiments were beginning to arise in Central Asia and so he sought to accommodate this desire within the framework of the USSR; meaning, that the Central Asian tribes were to be grouped into viable national constituencies that would operate smoothly as political units, like other Soviet Republics. Thus tribes were grouped on the basis of similarity; where for instance the tribes that became Turkmenistan had a common language grouping which was most closely related to Azeri and Turkish, and Tajikistan was formed from Persian-speaking tribes. On the map, this looked rather sensible except around the Ferghana Valley, which is a geographically complex area. Therein were many different tribes arranged in an intricate manner, including several exclaves, however which by grouping truly did belong to their respective nation as closely as possible. Thus the odd borders of Central Asian nations were not a product of Stalin's supposed desire to "divide and rule" the region, but rather a result of the attempt to accommodate a region that had a highly mixed and diverse population, which had to deal with historical factors such as geography and the national groupings which arose from them, composed from peoples who often had a mixed identity in terms of matters such as culture and language. Besides, "divide and rule" goes against the principle of korenizatsiya — the Soviets sought to incorporate Central Asia and undo the alienation imposed by previous Russian regimes, where that region was the subject of Russification and national insecurity. By instead grouping those peoples as accurately as possible, the better they would come to support the greater union among them and the rest of the Soviet nation.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20200628195803/https://eurasianet.org/stalins-giant-pencil-debunking-a-myth-about-central-asias-borders Stalin’s Giant Pencil: Debunking a Myth About Central Asia’s Borders</ref>
===Doctors' plot===
The Doctors' plot was a supposed antisemitic campaign that was said to have been organized by Joseph Stalin between 1951-1953, as a pretext to dismiss and replace [[Lavrentiy Beria]], prosecute other Soviet leaders, to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party, and, according to Edvard Radzinsky, even to consolidate the country for a future World War III.<ref>[[Edvard Radzinsky]], ''[[Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives]]'', Anchor, (1997) {{ISBN|978-0-385-47954-7}}</ref><ref name="The Doctors' Plot">Encyclopedia Britannica, [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/167427/Doctors-Plot ''The Doctors' Plot''], 2008.</ref><ref name=Medvedev148>[[#Medvedev2003|Medvedev 2003]], p. 148.</ref> What is true of this is that Beria was indeed being targeted first and foremost. There were accusations around the same time that Beria was a Jew who was hiding his origins (which wasn't true). The whole supposed "plot" was also blamed on the negligence of the security services under Beria. There was a wider campaign, predating the "Doctors' Plot", against what was termed "cosmopolitanism". This wasn't inherently anti-Semitic; it referred to a tendency among the Soviet intelligentsia to exalt Western culture while pitying the "backward", "primitive" culture of the peoples of the USSR. However, anti-Semitism did become a part of this campaign. Stalin did in turn notice this in newspaper articles and criticized it:
<blockquote>"Why Mal'tsev, and then Rovinskii between brackets? What's the matter here? How long will this continue…? If a man chose a literary pseudonym for himself, it's his right…. But apparently someone is glad to emphasise that this person has a double surname, to emphasise that he is a Jew…. Why create anti-Semitism?"<ref>''The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin'' by Erik Van Ree, page 205</ref></blockquote>
At the same time, there was growing fear about Zionist intrigues, which led to unjustified repressions against Jewish public figures and Yiddish cultural establishments. Even Molotov's wife was imprisoned as a supposed Zionist spy and only released after Stalin's death. Despite all this, the so-called "Doctors' plot" was in the end largely a fabrication. According to Stalin's daughter, as well as historian Zhores Medvedev, Stalin himself didn't believe the charges and was going to stop the case till death intervened, whereupon the post-Soviet leaders stopped it in his absence, declaring it a fabrication. There was indeed an increase in anti-Semitic phenomena, as well as a general wave of repression and suspicion during the last years of Stalin's life (caused in large part by fears of Zionist influence among Soviet Jews), but Stalin himself did privately criticize instances of anti-Semitism during this time, and when Lev Mekhlis (the second most prominent Jewish official associated with Stalin) passed away a month before Stalin himself, an elaborate funeral was ordered.
The main consequence of the aforementioned repression and suspicion was the virtual shutting down of Yiddish cultural expression, which only partially revived after Stalin's death.
==References==
== Bibliography ==
* [[Foundations of Leninism]]
* [[Trotskyism or Leninism]]
* [[Marxism and the National Question]]
* [[The Road to Power]]
* [[Anarchy or Socialism?]]
* [[Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.]]
== References ==
==Sources==