Josef -||- Lenin's Death -||- party politics- left vs. right-||- Stalin & Stalinism -||- World War II
Stalin & Stalinism
He was born Josef Visarionovitc Djugashvili
in Georgia. He was the only son of a drunk shoemaker father
who continuously beat both Josef and his wife. Much of
Josefs childhood was spent trying to protect his mother
from an enraged drunk of a father. His love and care for
his mother would continue until the end of her life, even through
his terror days. After his first wife died, and his
daughter Svetlana grew up, Stalins mother was the only
person he loved his entire life.
Josefs mother was determined that her son would make a life
for himself- as a priest. This was because being a holy-man
was one of the only ways to get an education in those days.
Josef was not happy at school either. There was much abuse
and unfair treatment to the students, but he endured. In
the end however, he would not be as educated as his future
colleagues: Trotsky, Zinoview, Kamenev, and the others.
His love and care for his mother would continue until the end of
her life, even through his terror days. After his first
wife died, and his daughter Svetlana grew up, Stalins
mother was the only person he loved his entire life. The
other person he loved was a woman called Ekaterina, his first
wife whom he knew from Georgia. He had one son with her,
before she died of an illness. He said then that any
remaining of his kindness disappeared that day. The third
was his only daughter, Svetlana, of his second wife who was about
10-20 years younger than him. She was a daughter of a
political colleague and her death would be of mysterious
circumstances. No one knows if she shot herself or if
Stalin killed her.
Svetlana Alliluyeva (she took her mothers name) was spoilt
silly by her father. She was the only one who never really
disappointed him, except in her adult life. She believed
her father a good man, turned insane through party politics.
She blamed the Bolshevik party and what it became for the terrors
that her father placed on Russia, not her father himself. When
she asked him permission to marry a Jewish doctor, his only reply
was Go do whatever you want, I no longer care.
As for Stalins sons, both disappointed him. His first
son he considered a coward and allowed him to die in a prison
camp during World War II. His second son was a drunkard and
never did anything successfully.
Stalin joined the Bolshevik party as a minor member, and robbing
banks to keep the party sustained. Later on though, his
tenacity made him recognized, and he climbed up the ranks of the
politburo. Eventually, he was General Secretary of the
Communist Party, a member of the Party Ogburo (ran organizational
matters) and the head of the Control Commission. That
position allowed him to control party membership. He took
the jobs that no one else wanted basically, and it made him very
powerful. As Lenin said in his Testament; Comrade
Stalin, havingbecome Secretary has unlimited authority
concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will
always be capable of using that authority with sufficient
caution.
Many psychologists and historians blame Josef Djugashvilis
unfortunate childhood for the formation of Stalin. His
later actions against the people of Russia were probably outlets
of his anger, and an opportunity for him to prove his own
strength to himself, after feeling weak under his father.
Stalins impact on Russia was both positive and negative.
The negative ones are obvious. His discrimination against
the Kulaks (or the rich peasants) were probably in
memory of his own poor past, when he must have been envious of
the others more fortunate than he. His disposal of his
colleagues was part of his rise to power. They were also
the educated ones that looked down on him as the poor one. Before
Stalins death, he ran a campaign against Jewish doctors, in
response to his children marrying Jews (his son married one as
well). The near genocide of a people by their own ruler is
hard enough to imagine. What is even harder is that there
are some today who wish for a return to those days. These
people have formed supports for Stalins great-grandson.
His positive impacts included the industrialization of Russia, and the transformation of a formerly backward European nation into a world power. The numerous five- year plans led to the death of many, but enabled Russia to hold their own against the Germans in the Second World War. This was especially valuable at the Battle of Stalingrad. These progressions had the other nations recognize Russia as a power. The title still exists to this day.