Joseph Stalin

By, Jared TateMr. Mooney

Per. 1

Thesis

• Joseph Stalin was an interesting man with an unusual childhood, long trek to fame and power, and an infamous rule.

Early Childhood• Joseph Stalin was born on December 21 1879, in Gori,

Georgia. • Stalin was raised by Vissarion and Yekaterina

Dzhugashvili. However, it is unknown whether Vissarion was his real father.

• Some believe that his real father was an elite prince, who impregnated a lowly surf. It could also be Egnatashvili, or Nikolai Przhevalsky.

• Stalin was raised by a lowly family of emancipated surfs.

• Although his family was extremely poor, his parents saved up money to put him through school.

Birthplace• Georgia was a small empire

bordering Russia.• At the time of Stalin’s birth,

Georgia had only been part of the Russian empire two generations.

• Although many czars had tried Russification on Georgia, Georgia remained very unique in its standing as part of Russia, but separated by language, and ethnicity.

• Stalin was born at 10 sobornaya (Cathedral) Street

Family Life

• Joseph’s father, Vissarion, often chastised Stalin with physical force. This made Stalin grow to hate his father, and love his mother who tried to protect him.

• Joseph’s family was extremely poor, which caused many problems for young Stalin.

Joseph• Having fought small box as a boy,

Joseph was permanently scarred. Along with his scarred face, Joseph was knocked of a carriage, crippling his left arm.

• Joseph was a handsome man, of great stature, he had a good voice which he used in choir.

• Joseph is described as being physically fit, to spite Joseph’s handicapped left arm.

• To spite his poverty, Joseph was well groomed.

“I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.”

Hobbies/Interests

• Joseph was a great lover of nature. He also adored reading.

• Joseph was also a daring young boy. He enjoined mountain climbing, and exploring. Whether it be the forests, or the caves, Joseph loved it all.

• One of Joseph’s friends, Iremashvili, stated that even as a boy, Stalin “was incapable of feeling pity for man.” (15 Conquest) He also said that he never, not once saw Joseph cry.

Education• Having been raised by a family solely speaking Georgian,

Joseph did not learn Russian until the age of eight or nine.• Stalin’s first school was Gori Church school, although he

always did well, he stayed in school for six years, when the average student was finished in four.

• After a short break of working with his father for a year, Joseph’s mother put him back into school.

• During his education, Tsar Alexander II imposed his Russification plan. Like many of his schoolmates, Joseph incurred punishments for fighting against the new Russian teachers.

• Joseph eccelled in school, especially in the subjects of history and geography. Joseph left his Gori school at the top of his class in July 1894.

Underground• Stalin, or under his first political pseudonym, “Koba,” soon joined

into the Marxists ranks. He was present in the ‘First Congress’ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Part, held in Minsk.

• By 1900, ‘Koba’ was officially in charge of Marxist propaganda among the railway workers, who he had met through seminary.

• In 1901, Stalin wrote his first revolutionary work, Brdzola, or ‘The Struggle.’

• Stalin’s Social Democrats were annoyed with Stalin because they “…appointed him to conduct propaganda adainst the government and capitalists, but as it turned out he was conducting propaganda against us.” (28 Conquest)

• His acts led Stalin to be expelled from the Tiflis branch of the Social Democratic organization.

Marxists• Stalin moved, and joined new groups

of revolutionaries. He no longer worked for pay, his employment was as a revolutionary. He was part of numerous demonstrations, riots, and meetings.

• In 1912, at a conference in Prague, the Social Democratic Party, which Stalin was a member of, split into the Bolsheviks, Majority, and the Mencheviks, Minority. Stalin joined up with Lenin in the Bolshevik party.

“The Pope? How many divisions has he got?”

Stalin’s Attitudes

• While Stalin was a professional Social Democratic revolutionary, there were many in this party that did not like him.

• Like when he was first expelled, many revolutionaries did not like the fact that he constantly attacked everyone that was not part of his immediate circle, whether they were part of the party or not.

• Stalin even criticized their leader Lenin. He stated that Lenin was “the most ordinary-looking man, below middle height, distinguished from ordinary mortals by nothing, literally nothing.” (37 Conquest)

Bolshevik Revolution• In 1915 Stalin became part of the new ‘presidium’ of

the Bureau, along with Muranov, Shlyapnikov and Zalutsky. Soon after, Stalin became a delegate to the Executive Committee of Petrograd Soviet.

• As time passed, Stalin grew in the ranks, and became more than a blip on the radar. He worked directly with Lenin.

• In October 1917, the Bolsheviks led a coup on the provisional government. Trotsky and Sverdlov were the key players in this, Stalin waited on the sidelines.

• When the Bolshevik party took control of Russia, Stalin was listed last as People’s Commissar for Nationalities.