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| deathnumber  =20,000,000 is the average estimate while 66,000,000 is the high estimate

| deathnumber  =20,000,000 is the average estimate while 66,000,000 is the high estimate

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'''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]].

'''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]].

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]].

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>

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==

==Rise to Power==

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.  

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|Lev 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.

 

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|Lev 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]]

[[Image:Stalin-Lenin.jpg|right|thumb|[[Lenin]] left, Stalin right]]

Stalin, however, did not allow this to happen. His most powerful rival, Lev 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.

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==

==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>

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==

==Catch and Overtake==

*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.

*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.

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