NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Josef Stalin

Josef Stalin (help· info) (Russian, in full: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин [Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin]; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878^[1] – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a position which had later become that of party leader. Image File history File linksMetadata Stalin3. ... The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Lenins death in 1924. ... Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР) (1946-1991), who... Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: ) (March 9 [O.S. February 25] 1890 â€“November 8, 1986), Soviet politician and diplomat, was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protege of Joseph Stalin, to the 1950s, when he was dismissed from... Georgy (Georgii) Maximilianovich Malenkov (Russian: , his first name then surname pronounced GHYOR-ghee mah-leen-KOF; January 8 [O.S. December 26, 1901] 1902 â€“ January 14, 1988) was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. ... (Russian: ; surname commonly anglicized as Khrushchev, IPA: ; April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Gori Fortress as of 1642, by an Italian missionary Cristoforo di Castelli Gori is an industrial city in the Shida Kartli province of Georgia. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... Moscow (Russian: ÐœÐ¾ÑÐºÐ²Ð°Ì, Moskva, IPA: ) is the capital of Russia and the countrys principal political, economic, financial, educational and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¼ÑƒÐ½Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÌÑ‚ÑÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð¡Ð¾ÑŽÌÐ·Ð° = ÐšÐŸÐ¡Ð¡) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All... Image File history File links Ru-Stalin. ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... The term General Secretary (alternatively First Secretary) denotes a leader of various unions, parties or associations. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¼ÑƒÐ½Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÌÑ‚ÑÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð¡Ð¾ÑŽÌÐ·Ð° = ÐšÐŸÐ¡Ð¡) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Born Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили [Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili]), Stalin became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1922. Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, he prevailed over Leon Trotsky in a power struggle during the 1920s. In the 1930s Stalin initiated the Great Purge, a campaign of political repression and persecution that reached its peak in 1937. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenins death in 1924. ... (Russian: Ð’Ð»Ð°Ð´Ð¸ÌÐ¼Ð¸Ñ€ Ð˜ÌÐ»ÑŒÐ¸Ñ‡ Ð›ÐµÌÐ½Ð¸Ð½, IPA:, born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 â€“ January 21, 1924), was a Communist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of what has come to be called Leninism, which is described... (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¢Ñ€Ð¾Ñ†ÐºÐ¸Ð¹; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 â€“ August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘Ñ€Ð¾Ð½ÑˆÑ‚ÐµÐ¹Ð½), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... The Great Purge (Russian: ) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. ...

Stalin's rule had long lasting effects on the features that characterized the Soviet regime from the era of his rule to its collapse in 1991 — though Maoists, anti-revisionists and some others say he was actually the last legitimate socialist leader in the Soviet Union's history. Stalin's policies were based on Marxism-Leninism but are now often considered to represent a political and economic system called Stalinism. Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛澤東思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), also called Marxism-Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), is a variant of communism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893–1976). ... In the Marxist-Leninist communist movement, an anti-revisionist is a communist who favors a stricter interpretation of the ideology in accordance with the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. ... Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system named after Josef Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union. ...

Stalin replaced the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the 1920s with Five-Year Plans in 1928 and collective farming at roughly the same time. The Soviet Union was transformed from a predominantly peasant society to a major world industrial power by the end of the 1930s. ^[2] ^[3] ^[4]. Stalin's executions of the most experienced military officers and his denial of the intelligence warning of the German attack helped cause the enormous initial military defeats.[2][3][4] Confiscations of grain and other food by the Soviet authorities under his orders may have contributed to a famine between 1932 and 1934, especially in Ukraine (see Holodomor), Kazakhstan and North Caucasus that may have resulted in millions of deaths. Many peasants resisted collectivization and grain confiscations, but were repressed, most notably peasants deemed "kulaks."[5] The New Economic Policy (NEP; in Russian ÐÐ¾Ð²Ð°Ñ ÑÐºÐ¾Ð½Ð¾Ð¼Ð¸Ñ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð¸ÐºÐ° - Novaya Ekonomicheskaiya Politika or ÐÐÐŸ) was officially decided in the course of the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. ... Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the USSR or Piatiletkas (Ð¿ÑÑ‚Ð¸Ð»ÐµÑ‚ÐºÐ°) were a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union. ... The economy of the Soviet Union was based on a system of state ownership and administrative planning. ... Child victim of the Holodomor The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Ð“Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ð´Ð¾Ð¼Ð¾Ñ€) was a famine in the territory of Soviet Ukraine in the years 1932â€“1933. ... The North Caucasus, also called Ciscaucasus, Forecaucasus, or Front Caucasus (Russian: ), is the northern part of the Caucasus region. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

A hard-won victory in World War II against fascism (the Great Patriotic War, 1941–45) was made possible in part through the capacity for production that was the outcome of industrialization. ^[5]. ^[6] ^[7]. ^[8]. Stalin laid the groundwork for the formation of the Warsaw Pact and established the USSR as one of the two major world powers, a position it maintained for nearly four decades following his death in 1953. The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Unofficial Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability. ...

Stalin's rule was characterized by a cult of personality, a concentration of power, and little concern for the lives of individual people. Stalin battled his opposition through use of a security apparatus that resulted in numerous deaths of Soviet citizens. Many died in the Gulags and in deportations. Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's eventual successor, denounced this and the cult of personality in 1956, initiating the process of "de-Stalinization" which later became part of the Sino-Soviet Split. A cult of personality is a political institution in which a countrys leader encourages praise of himself and his deeds to such a degree that this praise affects nearly every facet of the countrys culture. ... Gulag (from the Russian ГУЛАГ: Главное Управление Исправительно— Трудовых Лагерей, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps) was the branch of the Soviet internal police and security service that operated the penal system of forced labour camps and associated detention and transit camps... (Russian: ; surname commonly anglicized as Khrushchev, IPA: ; April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... // De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era For further details, see Nikita Khrushchev After Stalin had died in March 1953, he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Georgi Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union. ... The Sino-Soviet split was a major diplomatic conflict between the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), beginning in the late 1950s, reaching a peak in 1969 and continuing in various ways until the late 1980s. ...

Childhood and early years

Reliable sources about Stalin's youth are few; most were subject to censorship as was common during Stalin's reign. Some consider the writings of Svetlana Alliluyeva (Stalin's daughter) the most reliable sources since they were not censored. Image File history File links Young Joseph Stalin This work is copyrighted. ... Image File history File links Young Joseph Stalin This work is copyrighted. ...

Josef Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in Gori, Georgia, Russian Empire to a cobbler, Vissarion Dzhugashvili and Ekaterina Geladze, but adopted the name Stalin, which is derived from the Russian phrase for "man of steel", in 1913. His mother was born a serf. Their other three children died young; "Soso" (the Georgian pet name for Josef), was effectively the only child. Vissarion was a cobbler. He opened his own shop, but quickly went bankrupt, forcing him to work in a shoe factory in Tiflis. (Archer 11) Gori may refer to: Gori - city in Georgia (country) Gori - District in Georgia (country) Gori Province, Ottoman Empire Gori, Chad Gori River (India) Pietro Gori Giuseppe Gori Kathy Gori also: Gory Guerrero This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... Vissarion (Beso) Ivanovich Jugashvili (Ð’Ð¸ÑÑÐ°Ñ€Ð¸Ð¾Ð½ (Ð‘ÐµÑÐ¾) Ð˜Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð”Ð¶ÑƒÐ³Ð°ÑˆÐ²Ð¸Ð»Ð¸ in Russian; áƒ‘áƒ”áƒ¡áƒáƒ áƒ˜áƒáƒœ áƒ¯áƒ£áƒ¦áƒáƒ¨áƒ•áƒ˜áƒšáƒ˜ Besarion Jughashvili in Georgian) (c. ... Ekaterina Geladze (familiarly known as Keke ) was the mother of Joseph Stalin. ... Costumes of Slaves or Serfs, from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel, from original Documents in the great Libraries of Europe. ...

Rarely seeing his family and drinking heavily, Vissarion often beat his wife and small son. One of Stalin's friends from childhood wrote, "Those undeserved and fearful beatings made the boy as hard and heartless as his father." The same friend also wrote that he never saw him cry. (Hoober 15)

Another of his childhood friends, Iremashvili, felt that the beatings by Stalin's father gave him a hatred of authority. He also said that anyone with power over others reminded Stalin of his father's cruelty.

One of the people for whom Ekaterina did laundry and housecleaning was a Gori Jew, David Papismedov. Papismedov gave Joseph, who would help out his mother, money and books to read, and encouraged him. Decades later, Papismedov came to the Kremlin to learn what had become of little Soso. Stalin surprised his colleagues by not only receiving the elderly man, but happily chatting with him in public places.

In 1888, Stalin's father left to live in Tiflis, leaving the family without support. Rumors said he died in a drunken bar fight; however, others said they had seen him in Georgia as late as 1931. At the age of eight, Soso began his education at the Gori Church School. Tbilisi (Georgian áƒ—áƒ‘áƒ˜áƒšáƒ˜áƒ¡áƒ˜) is the capital city of the country of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura (Mtkvari) river, at . ...

When attending school in Gori, Soso was among a very diverse group of students. Stalin and most of his classmates were Georgian and spoke mostly Georgian. However, at school they were forced to use Russian.

Even when speaking in Russian, their Russian teachers mocked Stalin and his classmates because of their Georgian accents. His peers were mostly the sons of affluent priests, officials, and merchants.

During his childhood, Stalin was fascinated by stories he read telling of Georgian mountaineers who valiantly fought for Georgian independence. His favorite hero in these stories was a legendary mountain ranger named Koba, which became Stalin's first alias as a revolutionary. He graduated first in his class and at the age of 14 he was awarded a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary, a Russian Orthodox institution which he attended from 1894 and onward. Although his mother wanted him to be a priest (even after he had become leader of the Soviet Union), he attended seminary not because of any religious vocation, but because of the lack of locally available university education. In addition to the small stipend from the scholarship Stalin was also paid for singing in the choir. This article is in need of attention. ... The Russian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church of Russia) (Ð ÑƒÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÑ€Ð°Ð²Ð¾ÑÐ»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ†ÐµÑ€ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑŒ) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... A stipend is a form of payment or salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. ...

Stalin's involvement with the socialist movement (or, to be more exact, the branch of it that later became the communist movement) began at the seminary. During these school years, Stalin joined a Georgian Social-Democratic organization, and began propagating Marxism, which caused his expulsion from the seminary in 1899. He then worked for a decade with the political underground in the Caucasus, experiencing repeated arrests and exile to Siberia between 1902 and 1917. Copied from http://www. ... Copied from http://www. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Marxism is the philosophy, social theory and political practice based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German socialist philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ...

Stalin adhered to Vladimir Lenin's doctrine of a strong centralist party of professional revolutionaries. Stalin and Lenin attended the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London, England in 1907[6]. The congress consolidated the supremacy of Lenin's Bolshevik Party and debated strategy for communist revolution in Russia. Stalin never referred to his stay in London. (Russian: Ð’Ð»Ð°Ð´Ð¸ÌÐ¼Ð¸Ñ€ Ð˜ÌÐ»ÑŒÐ¸Ñ‡ Ð›ÐµÌÐ½Ð¸Ð½, IPA:, born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 â€“ January 21, 1924), was a Communist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of what has come to be called Leninism, which is described... Social Pyramid. Reads top to bottom - We rule you; We fool you; We shoot you; We eat for you; and finally; We work for all - We feed all The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Ð Ð¾ÑÑÐ¸ÌÐ¹ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ñ†Ð¸Ð°ÌÐ»-Ð”ÐµÐ¼Ð¾ÐºÑ€Ð°Ñ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾ÌÑ‡Ð°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ = Ð Ð¡Ð”Ð ÐŸ), also known as the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party and the Russian Social-Democratic... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area â€“ Total Ranked... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...

In the period after the Revolution of 1905 Stalin led "fighting squads" in bank robberies to raise funds for the Bolshevik Party. His practical experience made him useful to the party, and gained him a place on its Central Committee in January 1912. The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a country-wide spasm of both anti-government and undirected violence. ...

His only significant contribution to the development of the Marxist theory at this time was a treatise, written while he was briefly in exile in Vienna, Marxism and the national question. It presents an orthodox Marxist position on this important debate. This treatise may have contributed to his appointment as People's Commissar for Nationalities Affairs after the revolution (see Lenin's article On the Right of Nations to Self-Determination for comparison). Separate articles treat Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ...

In 1901, the Georgian clergyman M. Kelendzheridze wrote an educational book on language arts, including one of Stalin’s poems, signed by 'Soselo'. In 1907 the same editor published “A Georgian Chrestomathy, or collection of the best examples of Georgian literature”. In Volume 1, page 43, he included a poem of Stalin’s dedicated to Rafael Eristavi. Chrestomathy (Greek, from the words khrestos, useful, and mathein, to know) is a selection of linguistic writings which can help you to learn a language. ...

Marriages and family

Stalin's first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze, died in 1907, only three years after their marriage. At her funeral, Stalin allegedly said that any warm feelings he had had for people died with her, for only she could mend his heart. To him her life was the only thing that made him happy. They had a son together, Yakov Dzhugashvili, with whom Stalin did not get along in later years. Image File history File links Stalinschildren. ... Image File history File links Stalinschildren. ... Stalins son. ...

His son finally shot himself because of Stalin's incredible harshness toward him, but survived. After this, Stalin said "He can't even shoot straight". Yakov served in the Red Army and was captured by the Germans. They offered to exchange him for a German General, but Stalin turned the offer down, allegedly saying "A lieutenant is not worth a general"; others credit him with allegedly saying "I have no son," to this offer, and Yakov is said to have died running into an electric fence in the camp where he was being held.

This, however, is the "official report," and to this day his cause of death is unknown. Nonetheless, there are many who believe his death was a suicide. Since many families of the Soviet Union had sons in German camps, Stalin could not have exchanged his son without losing public support.

His second wife was Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who died in 1932; she may have committed suicide by shooting herself after a quarrel with Stalin, leaving a suicide note which according to their daughter was "partly personal, partly political".^[9] Image File history File links Iosif_Nadejda. ... Image File history File links Iosif_Nadejda. ... Nadezhda Alliluyeva (1901 â€“ November 9, 1932) was the second wife of Joseph Stalin. ...

Officially, she died of an illness. With her, he had two children: a son, Vassili, and a daughter, Svetlana. Vasily Dzhugashvili (Russian Ð’Ð°ÑÐ¸Ð»Ð¸Ð¹ Ð˜Ð¾ÑÐ¸Ñ„Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð”Ð¶ÑƒÐ³Ð°ÑˆÐ²Ð¸Ð»Ð¸), known also as Vasily Stalin (Russian Ð’Ð°ÑÐ¸Ð»Ð¸Ð¹ Ð˜Ð¾ÑÐ¸Ñ„Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡Ñ‚Ð°Ð»Ð¸Ð½), March 21, 1921 â€“ March 19, 1962, was the son of Joseph Stalin and of his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. ... Svetlana with father Stalin in 1935. ...

Vassili rose through the ranks of the Soviet Air Force, but died of alcoholism in 1962. He distinguished himself in World War II as a capable airman. Svetlana emigrated to the United States in 1967. An air force is a military organization that primarily operates in aerial warfare. ... Alcoholism is a powerful craving for alcohol which often results in the compulsive consumption of alcohol otherwise known as an addiction. ...

Stalin's mother died in 1937; he did not attend the funeral but instead sent a wreath.

In March 2001, Russian Independent Television NTV discovered a previously unknown grandson living in Novokuznetsk. Yuri Davydov told NTV that his father had told him of his lineage, but, because the campaign against Stalin's cult of personality was in full swing at the time, he was told to keep quiet. The Soviet dissident writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, had mentioned a son being born to Stalin and his common-law wife, Lida, in 1918 during Stalin's exile in northern Siberia. Novokuznetsk (Russian ÐÐ¾Ð²Ð¾ÐºÑƒÐ·Ð½ÐµÌÑ†Ðº, pop. ... Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union for his book The Gulag Archipelago. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ...

Rise to power

In 1912 Stalin was co-opted to the Bolshevik Central Committee at the Prague Party Conference. In 1917 Stalin was editor of Pravda, the official Communist newspaper, while Lenin and much of the Bolshevik leadership were in exile. Joseph Stalin Source of this picture File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Joseph Stalin Source of this picture File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The failure of the attempt to secure unity convinced Lenin of the need for a clean break. ... This article describes the Soviet/Russian newspaper. ...

Following the February Revolution, Stalin and the editorial board took a position in favor of supporting Kerensky's provisional government and, it is alleged, went to the extent of declining to publish Lenin's articles arguing for the provisional government to be overthrown. The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. ... Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: ; May 2 [O.S. April 22] 1881 â€“ June 11, 1970) was a Russian revolutionary leader who was instrumental in toppling the Russian monarchy. ... A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a previous administration or regime. ...

In April 1917, Stalin was elected to the Central Committee with the third highest vote total in the party and was subsequently elected to the Politburo of the Central Committee (May 1917); he held this position for the remainder of his life. Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ...

According to many accounts, Stalin only played a minor role in the revolution of November 7. Other writers, such as Adam Ulam, have argued that each man in the Central Committee had a specific job to which he was assigned. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political events in Russia, which, after the elimination of the Russian autocracy system, and the Provisional Government (Duma), resulted in the establishment of the Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ...

The following summary of Trotsky's Role in 1917 was given by Stalin in Pravda, November 6 1918: November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ...

Note: Although this passage was quoted in Stalin's book The October Revolution issued in 1934, it was expunged in Stalin's Works released in 1949. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

Later, in 1924, Stalin himself created a myth around a so-called "Party Centre" which "directed" all practical work pertaining to the uprising, consisting of himself, Sverdlov, Dzherzhinsky, Uritsky, and Bubnov. However, no evidence was ever shown for the activity of this "centre", which would, in any case, have been subordinate to the Military Revolutionary Council, headed by Trotsky.

During the Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War, Stalin was a political commissar in the Red Army at various fronts. Stalin's first government position was as People's Commissar of Nationalities Affairs (1917–1923). The Russian Civil War was fought from 1918 to 1922. ... Combatants Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Second Polish Republic Commanders Mikhail Tukhachevsky JÃ³zef PiÅ‚sudski Edward Rydz-ÅšmigÅ‚y Strength 950,000 including reserves 5 million 360,000 including reserves 738,000 Casualties Unknown, dead estimated at 100,000 - 150,000 Unknown, dead estimated at 60,000 The Polish... A political commissar is an officer appointed by a communist party to oversee a unit of the military. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... A military front or battlefront is a contested armed frontier between opposing forces. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ...

He was also People's Commissar of the Workers and Peasants Inspection (1919–1922), a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the republic (1920–23) and a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets (from 1917). Workers and Peasants Inspection was a government organization that was part of the socialist economic planning apparatus of the state during Stalins reign in Russia. ... Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Революционный Военный Совет, Реввоенсовет) was the supreme military authority of the Soviet Russia. ... The Supreme Soviet (Верховный Совет, Verhovniy Sovet, literally the Supreme Council) comprised the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments. ...

This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Campaign against the Left and Right Opposition

On April 3, 1922, Stalin was made general secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), a post that he subsequently built up into the most powerful in the country. It has been claimed that he initially attempted to decline accepting the post, but was refused. This position was seen to be a minor one within the party (Stalin was sometimes referred to as "Comrade Card-Index" by fellow party members) but actually had potential as a power base as it allowed Stalin to fill the party with his allies. April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenins death in 1924. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¼ÑƒÐ½Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÌÑ‚ÑÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð¡Ð¾ÑŽÌÐ·Ð° = ÐšÐŸÐ¡Ð¡) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All...

Due to Stalin's popularity within the Bolshevik party he gained plenty of political power. This took the dying Lenin by surprise, and in his last writings he famously called for the removal of the "rude" Stalin. However, this document was voted on as to its adoption by the Party in a Congress - and a unanimous vote to reject the document was taken by all members of the Congress as Lenin was at this time deemed very ill. (Russian: Ð’Ð»Ð°Ð´Ð¸ÌÐ¼Ð¸Ñ€ Ð˜ÌÐ»ÑŒÐ¸Ñ‡ Ð›ÐµÌÐ½Ð¸Ð½, IPA:, born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 â€“ January 21, 1924), was a Communist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of what has come to be called Leninism, which is described... Lenins Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. ...

After Lenin's death in January 1924, Stalin, Kamenev, and Zinoviev together governed the party, placing themselves ideologically between Trotsky (on the left wing of the party) and Bukharin (on the right). During this period, Stalin abandoned the traditional Bolshevik emphasis on international revolution in favor of a policy of building "Socialism in One Country", in contrast to Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution. (Russian: Ð’Ð»Ð°Ð´Ð¸ÌÐ¼Ð¸Ñ€ Ð˜ÌÐ»ÑŒÐ¸Ñ‡ Ð›ÐµÌÐ½Ð¸Ð½, IPA:, born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1870 â€“ January 21, 1924), was a Communist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of what has come to be called Leninism, which is described... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Categories: People stubs | Old Bolsheviks | Soviet politicians | Exonerated Soviet death sentences | Russian Jews ... Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евсе́евич Зино́вьев, real name Ovsel Gershon Aronov Radomyslsky (Радомысльский), also known as Hirsch Apfelbaum), (September 23 [September 11, Old Style], 1883 - August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician. ... An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¢Ñ€Ð¾Ñ†ÐºÐ¸Ð¹; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 â€“ August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘Ñ€Ð¾Ð½ÑˆÑ‚ÐµÐ¹Ð½), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (Russian: Николай Иванович Бухарин), (October 9 (September 27 Old Style) 1888 - March 13, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and then a Soviet politician, and intellectual. ... Socialism in One Country was a thesis put forward by Joseph Stalin in 1924 and further supported by Bukharin that given the catastrophic failures of all communist revolutions in Europe from 1917-1921 except their own, rather than relying on the idea that an underdeveloped and agrarian country like Russia... Permanent Revolution, (permanent in the sense that it must be continuous until final victory) is the theory that the bourgeois democratic tasks in countries with delayed bourgeois democratic development cannot be accomplished except through the establishment of a workers state, and further, that the creation of a workers state would...

In the struggle for leadership one thing was evident; whoever ended up ruling the party had to be considered very loyal to Lenin. Stalin organized Lenin's funeral and made a speech professing undying loyalty to Lenin, in almost religious terms.[7] He undermined Trotsky, who was sick at the time, by misleading him about the date of the funeral. Thus although Trotsky was Lenin’s associate throughout the early days of the Soviet regime, he lost ground to Stalin. Stalin made great play of the fact that Trotsky had joined the Bolsheviks just before the revolution, and publicized Trotsky's pre-revolutionary disagreements with Lenin. Another event that helped Stalin's rise was the fact that Trotsky came out against publication of Lenin's Testament in which he pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of Stalin and Trotsky and the other main players, and suggested that he be succeeded by a small group of people. Lenins Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. ...

An important feature of Stalin’s rise to power is the way that he manipulated his opponents and played them off against each other. Stalin formed a "troika" of himself, Zinoviev, and Kamenev against Trotsky. When Trotsky had been eliminated Stalin then joined Bukharin and Rykov against Zinoviev and Kamenev, emphasising their vote against the insurrection in 1917. Zinoviev and Kamenev then turned to Lenin's widow, Krupskaya; they formed the "United Opposition" in July 1926. Troika is the Annual Technical Festival organised by the IEEE Student Chapter of Delhi College of Engineering, Bawana Road, New Delhi. ... Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya (Russian: , scientific transliteration NadeÅ¾da Konstantinovna Krupskaja; 26 February (O.S. 14 February) 1869 - February 27, 1939) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary. ... United Opposition was a group formed in the USSR in 1926 by Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, and Gregory Zinoviev in opposition to Joseph Stalin. ...

In 1927 during the 15th Party Congress Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the party and Kamenev lost his seat on the Central Committee. Stalin soon turned against the "Right Opposition", represented by his erstwhile allies, Bukharin and Rykov. The Right Opposition was the name given to the tendency made up of Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov and their supporters within the Soviet Union in the late 1920s. ...

Stalin gained popular appeal from his presentation as a 'man of the people' from the poorer classes. The Russian people were tired from the world war and the civil war, and Stalin's policy of concentrating in building "Socialism in One Country" was seen as an optimistic antidote to war.

Stalin took great advantage of the ban on factionalism which meant that no group could openly go against the policies of the leader of the party because that meant creation of an opposition. By 1928 (the first year of the Five-Year Plans) Stalin was supreme among the leadership, and the following year Trotsky was exiled because of his opposition. Having also outmaneuvered Bukharin's Right Opposition and now advocating collectivization and industrialization, Stalin can be said to have exercised control over the party and the country. Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the USSR or Piatiletkas (Ð¿ÑÑ‚Ð¸Ð»ÐµÑ‚ÐºÐ°) were a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union. ...

However, as the popularity of other leaders such as Sergei Kirov and the so-called Ryutin Affair were to demonstrate, Stalin did not achieve absolute power until the Great Purge of 1936–38. Sergei Mironovich Kirov (Серге́й Миро́нович Ки́ров) (March 15 O.S. = March 27 N.S., 1886 - December 1, 1934) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet communist. ... The Ryutin Affair was a serious indication of the extent of the opposition to aspects of Stalins policies. ... The Great Purge (Russian: ) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. ...

Stalin and changes in Soviet society

Industrialization

The Russian Civil War and wartime communism had a devastating effect on the country's economy. Industrial output in 1922 was 13% of that in 1914. A recovery followed under the New Economic Policy, which allowed a degree of market flexibility within the context of socialism. // Stalinist development Planning At the fourteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in December 1927, Stalin attacked the left by expelling Trotsky and his supporters from the party and then moving against the right by abandoning Lenins New Economic Policy which had been championed by Nikolai... The Russian Civil War was fought from 1918 to 1922. ... War communism or wartime communism was the harsh economic policy adopted by Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War with an aim to keep towns and the Red Army supplied with weapons and food in the conditions when all normal economical mechanisms and relations being destroyed by the war. ... The New Economic Policy (NEP; in Russian ÐÐ¾Ð²Ð°Ñ ÑÐºÐ¾Ð½Ð¾Ð¼Ð¸Ñ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð¸ÐºÐ° - Novaya Ekonomicheskaiya Politika or ÐÐÐŸ) was officially decided in the course of the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. ...

Under Stalin's direction, this was replaced by a system of centrally ordained "Five-Year Plans" in the late 1920s. These called for a highly ambitious program of state-guided crash industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture.

With no seed capital, little international trade, and virtually no modern infrastructure, Stalin's government financed industrialization by both restraining consumption on the part of ordinary Soviet citizens, to ensure that capital went for re-investment into industry, and by ruthless extraction of wealth from the kulaks. International trade is the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries or territories. ...

In 1933, worker's real earnings sank to about one-tenth of the 1926 level. There was also use of the unpaid labor of both common and political prisoners in labor camps and the frequent "mobilization" of communists and Komsomol members for various construction projects. The Soviet Union also made use of foreign experts, e.g. British engineer Stephen Adams, to instruct their workers and improve their manufacturing processes. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist Union of Youth. The organisation served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age...

In spite of early breakdowns and failures, the first two Five-Year Plans achieved rapid industrialization from a very low economic base. While there is general agreement among historians that the Soviet Union achieved significant levels of economic growth under Stalin, the precise rate of this growth is disputed.

Official Soviet estimates placed it at 13.9%, Russian and Western estimates gave lower figures of 5.8% and even 2.9%. Indeed, one estimate is that Soviet growth temporarily was much higher after Stalin's death.[8] [9]

Collectivization

Stalin's regime moved to force collectivization of agriculture. This was intended to increase agricultural output from large-scale mechanized farms, to bring the peasantry under more direct political control, and to make tax collection more efficient. Collectivization meant drastic social changes, on a scale not seen since the abolition of serfdom in 1861, and alienation from control of the land and its produce. Collectivization also meant a drastic drop in living standards for many peasants, and it faced violent reaction among the peasantry. Traditional farming In Imperial Russia, the Stolypin Reform was aimed at the development of capitalism in agriculture by giving incentives for creation of large farms. ... real photo of Josef Stalin This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 50 years. ... Collective farming is an organizational unit in agriculture in which peasants are not paid wages, but rather receive a share of the farms net output. ... Alienation is estrangement or splitting apart. ...

In the first years of collectivization, it was estimated that industrial and agricultural production would rise by 200% and 50%,^[10] respectively; however, agricultural production actually dropped. Stalin blamed this unanticipated failure on kulaks (rich peasants), who resisted collectivization. Therefore those defined as "kulaks," "kulak helpers," and later "ex-kulaks" were to be shot, placed into Gulag labor camps, or deported to remote areas of the country, depending on the charge. Kulaks (from the Russian кулак (kulak, fist)) is a pejorative term extensively used in Soviet political language, originally referring to relatively wealthy peasants in the Russian Empire who owned larger farms and used hired labor, as a result of the Stolypin reform introduced since 1906. ... Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Ð“Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð£Ð¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ Ð˜ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ‚ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ½Ð¾â€”Ð¢Ñ€ÑƒÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ñ‹Ñ… Ð›Ð°Ð³ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ¹ Ð¸ ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð¾Ð½Ð¸Ð¹, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ...

The two-stage progress of collectivization — interrupted for a year by Stalin's famous editorial, "Dizzy with success" (Pravda, March 2, 1930), and "Reply to Collective Farm Comrades" (Pravda, April 3, 1930) — is a prime example of his capacity for tactical political withdrawal followed by intensification of initial strategies. This article describes the Soviet/Russian newspaper. ...

Many historians assert that the disruption caused by collectivization was largely responsible for major famines. (Chairman Mao Zedong of China would trigger a similar famine in 1959 to 1961 with his Great Leap Forward). A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Great Leap Forward (Simplified Chinese: å¤§è·ƒè¿›; Traditional Chinese: å¤§èºé€²; Pinyin: DÃ yuÃ¨jÃ¬n) of the Peoples Republic of China was an economic and social plan to use Chinas vast population to rapidly transform mainland China from a primarily agrarian economy dominated by peasant farmers into a modern, industrialized...

During the 1932–1933 famine in Ukraine and the Kuban region, now often known in Ukraine as the Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор), not only "kulaks" were killed or imprisoned. The controversial Black Book of Communism and other sources document that all grains were taken from areas that did not meet targets, including the next year's seed grain. It also claims that peasants were forced to remain in the starving areas, sales of train tickets were stopped, and the State Political Directorate set up barriers to prevent people from leaving the starving areas. Kuban (Russian: ) is a region of Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between Ukraine and the Caucasus. ... Child victim of the Holodomor The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Ð“Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ð´Ð¾Ð¼Ð¾Ñ€) was a famine in the territory of Soviet Ukraine in the years 1932â€“1933. ... The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is a controversial book edited by doctor Stéphane Courtois which attempts to catalog various crimes (deaths, torture, deportations, etc. ... Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Directorate was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ...

However, famine also affected various other parts of the USSR. The death toll from famine in the Soviet Union at this time is estimated at between five and ten million people. During this same period the Soviet Union was exporting grain. (The worst crop failure of late tsarist Russia, in 1892, caused 375,000 to 400,000 deaths.)[10]

Soviet authorities and other historians have argued that tough measures and the rapid collectivization of agriculture were necessary in order to achieve an equally rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union and ultimately win World War II. This is disputed by other historians such as Alec Nove, who claim that the Soviet Union industrialized in spite of, rather than thanks to, its collectivized agriculture.

Science

Science in the Soviet Union was under strict ideological control, along with art and literature. On the positive side, there was significant progress in "ideologically safe" domains, owing to the free Soviet education system and state-financed research. However, in several cases the consequences of ideological pressure were dramatic — the most notable examples being the "bourgeois pseudosciences" genetics and cybernetics. It may be argued though that cybernetics is not a part of computer science, but rather a philosophical doctrine, and that computer science was not under this persecution. In the Soviet Union, science and technology served as an important part of national politics, practices, and identity. ... The Soviet education was organized in a highly centralized government-run system, designed to fulfill political and military purposes foremost. ... Bourgeois pseudoscience (Буржуазная лженаука) was a cliche in the Soviet Union of certain scientific disciplines that were deemed inadmissible from the ideological point of view. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno Î³ÎµÎ½Î½ÏŽ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

In the late 1940s there were also attempts to suppress special and general relativity, as well as quantum mechanics, on grounds of "idealism." But the chief Soviet physicists made it clear that without using these theories, they would be unable to create a nuclear bomb. For a non-technical introduction to the topic, please see Introduction to Special relativity. ... For a non-technical introduction to the topic, please see Introduction to General relativity. ... For a non-technical introduction to the topic, please see Introduction to Quantum mechanics. ... Idealism is an approach to philosophical enquiry. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

Linguistics was the only area of Soviet academic thought to which Stalin personally and directly contributed. At the beginning of Stalin's rule, the dominant figure in Soviet linguistics was Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr, who argued that language is a class construction and that language structure is determined by the economic structure of society. Stalin, who had previously written about language policy as People's Commissar for Nationalities, felt he grasped enough of the underlying issues to coherently oppose this simplistic Marxist formalism, ending Marr's ideological dominance over Soviet linguistics. Stalin's principal work discussing linguistics is a small essay, "Marxism and Linguistic Questions."^[11] Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr (ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°ÌÐ¹ Ð¯ÌÐºÐ¾Ð²Ð»ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐœÐ°Ñ€Ñ€; 6 January 1865 (O.S. 25 December 1864 {{{4}}}) in Kutaisi â€“ 20 December 1934 in Leningrad) was a controversial Soviet scholar whose monogenetic theory of language constituted the officially approved ideology of Soviet linguists until 1950, when Joseph Stalin personally slammed it as anti...

Although no great theoretical contributions or insights came from it, neither were there any apparent errors in Stalin's understanding of linguistics; his influence arguably relieved Soviet linguistics from the sort of ideologically driven theory that dominated genetics.

Scientific research was hindered by the fact that many scientists were sent to labor camps (including Lev Landau, later a Nobel Prize winner, who spent a year in prison in 1938–1939) or executed (e.g. Lev Shubnikov, shot in 1937). They were persecuted for their dissident views, not for their research. Nevertheless, much progress was made under Stalin in some areas of science and technology. It laid the ground for the famous achievements of Soviet science in the 1950s, such as the development of the BESM-1 computer in 1953 and the launching of Sputnik in 1957. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ... Lev Davidovich Landau (Ð›ÐµÌÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸ÌÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð›Ð°Ð½Ð´Ð°ÌÑƒ) (January 22, 1908 â€“ April 1, 1968) was a prominent Soviet physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics whose broad field of work included the theory of superconductivity and superfluidity, quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics and particle physics. ... Sir Edward Appletons medal Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ... A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively opposes an established opinion, policy, or structure. ... BESM BESM (БЭСМ) is the name of a series of Russian mainframe computers. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ...

Indeed, many politicians in the United States expressed a fear, after the "Sputnik crisis," that their country had been eclipsed by the Soviet Union in science and in public education. Sputnik 1 The Sputnik crisis was a turn point of the Cold War that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite. ...

Social services

The Soviet people also benefited from a degree of social liberalization. Females were given an adequate, equal education and women had equal rights in employment, precipitating improving lives for women and families. Stalinist development also contributed to advances in health care, which vastly increased the lifespan for the typical Soviet citizen and the quality of life. Stalin's policies granted the Soviet people universal access to health care and education, effectively creating the first generation free from the fear of typhus, cholera, and malaria. The occurrences of these diseases dropped to record-low numbers, increasing life spans by decades. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Epidemic typhus. ... Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is a water-borne disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which are typically ingested by drinking contaminated water, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ... Red blood cell infected with Malaria, derived from mala aria (Medieval Italian for bad air) and formerly called ague or marsh fever in English, is an infectious disease which causes about 350-500 million infections with humans and approximately 1. ...

Soviet women under Stalin were also the first generation of women able to give birth in the safety of a hospital, with access to prenatal care. Education was also an example of an increase in standard of living after economic development. The generation born during Stalin's rule was the first near-universally literate generation. Engineers were sent abroad to learn industrial technology, and hundreds of foreign engineers were brought to Russia on contract. Transport links were also improved, as many new railways were built. Workers who exceeded their quotas, Stakhanovites, received many incentives for their work. They could thus afford to buy the goods that were mass-produced by the rapidly expanding Soviet economy. In Soviet history and iconography, a Stakhanovite (стахановец) (or shock-worker) follows the example of Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, employing hard work or Taylorist efficiencies to over-achieve on the job. ...

With the industrialization and heavy human losses due to the World War II and repressions the generation that survived under Stalin saw a major expansion in job opportunities, especially for women. Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

Culture and religion

During Stalin's reign the official and long-lived style of Socialist Realism was established for painting, sculpture, music, drama and literature. Previously fashionable "revolutionary" expressionism, abstract art, and avant-garde experimentation were discouraged or denounced as "formalism". Careers were made and broken, some more than once. Famous figures were not only repressed, but often persecuted, tortured and executed, both "revolutionaries" (among them Isaac Babel, Vsevolod Meyerhold) and "non-conformists" (for example, Osip Mandelstam). Roses for Stalin, Boris Vladimirski, 1949 Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism. ... The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893) which inspired 20th century Expressionists Portrait of Eduard Kosmack by Egon Schiele Rehe im Walde by Franz Marc On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Black square by Kazimir Malevich Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses shapes and colors in a non-representational or subjective way. ... Beat the white with the Red wedge, a 1919 lithograph by Lissitzky The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia from approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its... The word formalism has several meanings: A certain school in the philosophy of mathematics, stressing axiomatic proofs through theorems specifically associated with David Hilbert. ... Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel, Russian: Ð˜ÑÐ°Ð°Ðº ÐÐ¼Ð¼Ð°Ð½ÑƒÐ¸Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘Ð°Ð±ÐµÐ»ÑŒ (13 July [O.S. 1 July] 1894 â€“ January 27, 1940) was a Russian journalist, playwright, and short story writer. ... Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold (born Karl Kazimir Theodor Meyerhold) (1874 - 1940) was a Russian theatrical director, actor and theorist. ... Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (also spelled Mandelshtam) (Russian: ) (January 15 [O.S. January 3] 1891 â€“ December 27, 1938) was a Jewish Russian poet and essayist, one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets. ...

A minority, both representing the "Soviet man" (Arkady Gaidar) and remnants of the older pre-revolutionary Russia (Konstantin Stanislavski), thrived. A number of former emigrés returned to the Soviet Union, among them Alexei Tolstoi in 1925, Alexander Kuprin in 1936, and Alexander Vertinsky in 1943. Arkady Petrovich Golikov (, in Russian) (1. ... Konstantin Stanislavski at a young age Konstantin (Constantin) Stanislavski (Stanislavsky) (Russian: ; January 5, 1863â€“August 7, 1938) was a Russian theatre and acting innovator. ... Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has migrated out, but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile. ... Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi (Russian: ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐµÐ¹ ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¢Ð¾Ð»ÑÑ‚Ð¾Ð¹) (January 10, 1883 (December 29, 1882 (O.S.)) - February 23, 1945), nicknamed the Comrade Count, was a Soviet Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels. ... This article is about the writer. ... Alexander Vertinskiy (Russian ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐ°Ð½Ð´Ñ€ Ð’ÐµÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ð½ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹, 1889 in Kiev - 1957 in Moscow) was Russian singer, componist, cabaret artist and actor. ...

It is of note that the poet Anna Akhmatova was subjected to several cycles of suppression and rehabilitation, but was never herself arrested, although her first husband, poet Nikolai Gumilev, had been shot in 1921, and her son, historian Lev Gumilev, spent two decades in a gulag. Akhmatova in the 1920s Anna Akhmatova (Russian: , real name ÐÌÐ½Ð½Ð° ÐÐ½Ð´Ñ€ÐµÌÐµÐ²Ð½Ð° Ð“Ð¾Ñ€ÐµÌÐ½ÐºÐ¾) (June 23, 1889 (June 11, Old Style) - March 5, 1966) was the pen name of Anna Andreevna Gorenko, the leader and the heart and soul of St Petersburg tradition of Russian poetry in the course of half a century. ... Nikolai Gumilev during his senior years in gymnasium Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov (Russian: , April 15 NS 1886 - August 1921) was an influential Russian poet who founded the acmeism movement. ... Lev Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova, 1960s Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov (Russian: ) (October 1, 1912, St. ... Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Ð“Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð£Ð¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ Ð˜ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ‚ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ½Ð¾â€”Ð¢Ñ€ÑƒÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ñ‹Ñ… Ð›Ð°Ð³ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ¹ Ð¸ ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð¾Ð½Ð¸Ð¹, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp...

The degree of Stalin's personal involvement in general and specific developments has been assessed variously. His name, however, was constantly invoked during his reign in discussions of culture as in just about everything else; and in several famous cases, his opinion was final.

Stalin's occasional beneficence showed itself in strange ways. For example, Mikhail Bulgakov was driven to poverty and despair; yet, after a personal appeal to Stalin, he was allowed to continue working. His play, The Days of the Turbins, with its sympathetic treatment of an anti-Bolshevik family caught up in the Civil War, was finally staged, apparently also on Stalin's intervention, and began a decades-long uninterrupted run at the Moscow Arts Theater. Bulgakov was relatively fortunate — in the vast majority of cases, appeals had little effect and the slightest displeasure caused to others or guilt by any association was tantamount to a harsh sentence, if not death. Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Russian: ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°Ð¸Ð» ÐÑ„Ð°Ð½Ð°ÑÑŒÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘ÑƒÐ»Ð³Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð²; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891, Kiev â€“ March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. ...

Some insights into Stalin's political and esthetic thinking might perhaps be gleaned by reading his favorite novel, Pharaoh, by the Polish writer Bolesław Prus, a historical novel on mechanisms of political power. Similarities have been pointed out between this novel and Sergei Eisenstein's film, Ivan the Terrible, produced under Stalin's tutelage. Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. ... Pharaoh (Polish: Faraon) is the fourth and last of the major novels by BolesÅ‚aw Prus. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... BolesÅ‚aw Prus BolesÅ‚aw Prus (pronounced: [bÉ”lÎµswaf prus]; August 20, 1847 â€“ May 19, 1912), born Aleksander GÅ‚owacki, was a Polish journalist, short-story writer, and novelist. ... Sergei Eisenstein in 1920s Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Russian: Ð¡ÐµÑ€Ð³ÐµÐ¹ ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°Ð¹Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐÐ¹Ð·ÐµÐ½ÑˆÑ‚ÐµÐ¹Ð½, Latvian: Sergejs EizenÅ¡teins) (January 23, 1898 â€“ February 11, 1948) was a revolutionary Soviet theatrical scenic designer-turned-film director and film theorist noted in particular for his silent films Strike, Battleship Potemkin and Oktober, which vastly influenced early documentary... Nikolai Cherkasov as Ivan the Terrible in Eisensteins film of the same name Faina Ranevskaya as Princess Staritskaya in Ivan The Terrible, Part I (1942) Ivan The Terrible was a film about Ivan IV of Russia in three parts made by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. ...

In architecture, a Stalinist Empire Style (basically, updated neoclassicism on a very large scale, exemplified by the seven skyscrapers of Moscow) replaced the constructivism of the 1920s. The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, Î±ÏÏ‡Î¹Ï„ÎµÎºÏ„Ï‰Î½, a master builder, from Î±ÏÏ‡Î¹- chief, leader and Ï„ÎµÎºÏ„Ï‰Î½, builder, carpenter) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... Never executed design for the Palace of Soviets in Moscow. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Constructivism may mean: In philosophy, constructivist epistemology is a view that reality, or at least our knowledge of it, is a value-laden subjective construction rather than a passive acquisition of objective features. ...

An amusing anecdote has it that the Moskva Hotel in Moscow was built with mismatched side wings because Stalin had mistakenly signed off on both of the two proposals submitted, and the architects had been too afraid to clarify the matter. In actuality the hotel had been built by two independent teams of architects that had differing visions of how the hotel should look.

Stalin's role in the fortunes of the Russian Orthodox Church is complex. Continuous persecution in the 1930s resulted in its near-extinction: by 1939, active parishes numbered in the low hundreds (down from 54,000 in 1917), many churches had been levelled, and tens of thousands of priests, monks and nuns were persecuted. During World War II, however, the Church was allowed a revival, as a patriotic organization: thousands of parishes were reactivated, until a further round of suppression in Khrushchev's time. The Russian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church of Russia) (Ð ÑƒÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÑ€Ð°Ð²Ð¾ÑÐ»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ†ÐµÑ€ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑŒ) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... (Russian: ; surname commonly anglicized as Khrushchev, IPA: ; April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

The Russian Orthodox Church Synod's recognition of the Soviet government and of Stalin personally led to a schism with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia that remains not fully healed to the present day. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR) is a jurisdiction of Eastern Orthodoxy formed in response against the policy of bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution. ...

Just days before Stalin's death, certain religious sects were outlawed and persecuted. Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union took several forms. ...

Stalin's rule had a largely disruptive effect on the numerous indigenous cultures that made up the Soviet Union. The politics of the Korenization and forced development of "Cultures National by Form, Socialist by their substance" was arguably beneficial to later generations of indigenous cultures in allowing them to integrate more easily into Russian society. Korenizatsiya (ÐºÐ¾Ñ€ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ð·Ð°Ñ†Ð¸Ñ, sometimes called korenization), meaning nativization or indigenization, was the early Soviet ethnicity policy. ...

However, the attempted unification of cultures in Stalin's later period was very harmful. Political repressions and purges had even more devastating repercussions on the indigenous cultures than on urban ones, since the cultural elite of the indigenous culture was often not very numerous. The traditional lives of many peoples in the Siberian, Central Asian and Caucasian provinces was upset and large populations were displaced and scattered in order to prevent nationalist uprisings.

Many religions popular in the ethnic regions of the Soviet Union including the Roman Catholic Church, Uniats, Baptists, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, etc. underwent the same or worse ordeals as the Orthodox churches in other parts: thousands of monks were persecuted, and hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, sacred monuments, monasteries and other religious buildings were razed. The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ...

Purges and deportations

The purges

Stalin, as head of the Politburo, consolidated near-absolute power in the 1930s with a Great Purge of the party, justified as an attempt to expel 'opportunists' and 'counter-revolutionary infiltrators'. Those targeted by the purge were often expelled from the party, however more severe measures ranged from banishment to the Gulag labor camps, to execution after trials held by NKVD troikas. The Great Purge (Russian: ) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: áƒšáƒáƒ•áƒ áƒ”áƒœáƒ¢áƒ˜ áƒ‘áƒ”áƒ áƒ˜áƒ; Russian: Ð›Ð°Ð²Ñ€ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ð¸Ð¹ ÐŸÐ°Ð²Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘ÐµÑ€Ð¸Ñ; (29 March 1899 â€“ 23 December 1953), Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ... The term enemy of the people (Russian language: Ð²Ñ€Ð°Ð³ Ð½Ð°Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ð°, vrag naroda) was a fluid designation under the Bolsheviks rule in regards to their real or suspected political or class opponents, sometimes including former allies. ... Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ... The Great Purge (Russian: ) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. ... Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Ð“Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð£Ð¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ Ð˜ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ‚ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ½Ð¾â€”Ð¢Ñ€ÑƒÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ñ‹Ñ… Ð›Ð°Ð³ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ¹ Ð¸ ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð¾Ð½Ð¸Ð¹, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ... What does it mean? The Russian word troika (threesome, triumvirate) denoted commissions of three persons as an additional instrument of extrajudicial punishment (Ð²Ð½ÐµÑÑƒÐ´ÐµÐ±Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ€Ð°ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð°, Ð²Ð½ÐµÑÑƒÐ´ÐµÐ±Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð¿Ñ€ÐµÑÐ»ÐµÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð¸Ðµ) introduced to supplement the legal system with a means for quick punishment of anti-Soviet elements. ...

The Purges commenced after the assassination of Sergei Kirov, the popular leader of the party in Leningrad. Kirov was very close to Stalin and his assassination sent chills through the Bolshevik party. Stalin, fearing that he might be next, began tightening security, (and in effect to remove those who might have threatened Stalin's leadership) by seeking out alleged spies and counter-revolutionaries. Sergei Mironovich Kirov (Серге́й Миро́нович Ки́ров) (March 15 O.S. = March 27 N.S., 1886 - December 1, 1934) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet communist. ...

Several trials known as the Moscow Trials were held, but the procedures were replicated throughout the country. There were four key trials during this period: the Trial of the Sixteen (August 1936); Trial of the Seventeen (January 1937); the trial of Red Army generals, including Marshal Tukhachevsky (June 1937); and finally the Trial of the Twenty One (including Bukharin) in March 1938. The Moscow Trials were a series of trials of political opponents of Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky (also spelled Tukhachevski, Tukhachevskii, Russian: Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский) (February 16, 1893 - June 12, 1937), Soviet military commander, was one of the most prominent victims of Stalins Great Purge of the late 1930s. ... The Trial of the Twenty One was the last of the Moscow Trials —Stalinist show trials of prominent Bolsheviks. ... Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (Russian: Николай Иванович Бухарин), (October 9 (September 27 Old Style) 1888 - March 13, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and then a Soviet politician, and intellectual. ...

Most notably in the case of alleged Nazi collaborator Tukhachevsky, many military leaders were convicted of treason. The shakeup in command may have cost the Soviet Union dearly during the German invasion of 22 June 1941, and its aftermath. June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ...

The repression of so many formerly high-ranking revolutionaries and party members led Leon Trotsky to claim that a "river of blood" separated Stalin's regime from that of Lenin. Solzhenitsyn alleges that Stalin drew inspiration from Lenin's regime with the presence of labor camps and the executions of political opponents that occurred during the Russian Civil War. Trotsky's August 1940 assassination in Mexico, where he had lived in exile since 1936, eliminated the last of Stalin's opponents among the former Party leadership. Only three members of the "Old Bolsheviks" (Lenin's Politburo) now remained — Stalin himself, "the all-Union Chieftain" (всесоюзный староста) Mikhail Kalinin, and Chairman of Sovnarkom Vyacheslav Molotov. (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¢Ñ€Ð¾Ñ†ÐºÐ¸Ð¹; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 â€“ August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘Ñ€Ð¾Ð½ÑˆÑ‚ÐµÐ¹Ð½), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union for his book The Gulag Archipelago. ... An Old Bolshevik (Russian: ) is an unofficial designation of a member of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917. ... The Politburo (in Russian: ÐŸÐ¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð±ÑŽÑ€Ð¾), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ... Mikhail Kalinin A 1919 image showing Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin (right) Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Russian: ) (November 19 [O.S. November 7] 1875â€“June 3, 1946) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician. ... Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР) (1946-1991), who... Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: ) (March 9 [O.S. February 25] 1890 â€“November 8, 1986), Soviet politician and diplomat, was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protege of Joseph Stalin, to the 1950s, when he was dismissed from...

No segment of society was left untouched during the purges. Article 58 of the legal code, listing prohibited "anti-Soviet activities", was applied in the broadest manner. Initially, the execution lists for the enemies of the people were confirmed by the Politburo. Image File history File links The_Commissar_Vanishes_1. ... Image File history File links The_Commissar_Vanishes_2. ... Yezhov along Moscow-Volga channel. ... Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on February 25, 1927 to arrest those suspected guilty of counter-revolutionary activities. ... For the play by Henrik Ibsen, see An Enemy of the People. ...

Over time the procedure was greatly simplified and delegated down the line of command. People would inform on others arbitrarily, to attempt to redeem themselves, or to gain small retributions. The flimsiest pretexts were often enough to brand someone an "Enemy of the People," starting the cycle of public persecution and abuse, often proceeding to interrogation, torture and deportation, if not death. Nadezhda Mandelstam, the widow of the poet Osip Mandelstam and one of the key memoirists of the Purges, recalls being shouted at by Akhmatova: "Don't you understand? They are arresting people for nothing now?" The Russian word troika gained a new meaning: a quick, simplified trial by a committee of three subordinated to NKVD. The term enemy of the people (Russian language: Ð²Ñ€Ð°Ð³ Ð½Ð°Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ð°, vrag naroda) was a fluid designation under the Bolsheviks rule in regards to their real or suspected political or class opponents, sometimes including former allies. ... Nadezhda Mandelstam Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelstam (Russian: , neÃ© Hazin; 18 October 1899 â€” 29 December 1980) was a Russian writer and a wife of poet Osip Mandelstam. ... Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (also spelled Mandelshtam) (Russian: ) (January 15 [O.S. January 3] 1891 â€“ December 27, 1938) was a Jewish Russian poet and essayist, one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets. ... Troika is the Annual Technical Festival organised by the IEEE Student Chapter of Delhi College of Engineering, Bawana Road, New Delhi. ... What does it mean? The Russian word troika (threesome, triumvirate) denoted commissions of three persons as an additional instrument of extrajudicial punishment (Ð²Ð½ÐµÑÑƒÐ´ÐµÐ±Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ€Ð°ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð°, Ð²Ð½ÐµÑÑƒÐ´ÐµÐ±Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð¿Ñ€ÐµÑÐ»ÐµÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð¸Ðµ) introduced to supplement the legal system with a means for quick punishment of anti-Soviet elements. ...

Towards the end of the purge, the Politburo relieved NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov, from his position for overzealousness. He was subsequently executed. Some historians such as Amy Knight and Robert Conquest postulate that Stalin had Yezhov and his predecessor, Genrikh Yagoda, removed in order to deflect blame from himself. Yezhov along Moscow-Volga channel. ... Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigorevich Yagoda (Ð“ÐµÐ½Ñ€Ð¸Ñ… Ð“Ñ€Ð¸Ð³Ð¾Ñ€ÑŒÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¯Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð° in Russian, born Enon Gershonovish Yagoda) (1891, Nizhny Novgorod - March 15, 1938, Moscow) was the head of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, from 1934 to 1936. ...

In parallel with the purges, efforts were done to rewrite the history in Soviet textbooks and other propaganda materials. Notable people killed by NKVD were removed from the texts and photographs as if they never existed. Gradually, the history of revolution was transformed to a story about just two key characters: Lenin and Stalin. The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del )(Russian: ÐÐšÐ’Ð”, ÐÐ°Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ñ‹Ð¹ ÐºÐ¾Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑÐ°Ñ€Ð¸Ð°Ñ‚ Ð²Ð½ÑƒÑ‚Ñ€ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð¸Ñ… Ð´ÐµÐ») or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ...

Deportations

Shortly before, during and immediately after World War II, Stalin conducted a series of deportations on a huge scale which profoundly affected the ethnic map of the Soviet Union. Not by Their Own Will. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

Over 1.5 million people were deported to Siberia and the Central Asian republics. Separatism, resistance to Soviet rule and collaboration with the invading Germans were cited as the official reasons for the deportations. Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ...

The following ethnic groups were deported completely or partially: Ukrainians, Poles, Koreans, Volga Germans, Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays, Meskhetian Turks, Finns, Bulgarians, Greeks, Armenians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Jews. Large numbers of Kulaks, regardless of their nationality, were resettled to Siberia and Central Asia. The Volga Germans are ethnic Germans living near the Volga River and the Black Sea, maintaining German culture, German language, German traditions and religions: Evangelical Lutherans or Roman Catholic. ... The Crimean Tatars (QÄ±rÄ±mtatar (aka QÄ±rÄ±m, QÄ±rÄ±mlÄ± and QÄ±rÄ±m tÃ¼rkÃ¼), Pl. ... The Republic of Kalmykia (Kalmyk: Ð¥Ð°Ð»ÑŒÐ¼Ð³ Ð¢Ð°Ò£Ò»Ñ‡; Russian: ) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... Î±Äž Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 kmÂ² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ... The Republic of Ingushetia (Russian: ; Ingush: Ð“IÐ°Ð»Ð³IÐ°Ð¹ ÐœÐ¾Ñ…Ðº) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... The Balkar (Ð¼Ð°Ð»ÐºÑŠÐ°Ñ€ /malqar/balqar) people are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, the titular population of Kabardino-Balkaria. ... The Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia (Russian: ÐšÐ°Ñ€Ð°Ñ‡Ð°ÌÐµÐ²Ð¾-Ð§ÐµÑ€ÐºÐµÌÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ñ€ÐµÑÐ¿ÑƒÌÐ±Ð»Ð¸ÐºÐ°, or, less formal, ÐšÐ°Ñ€Ð°Ñ‡Ð°ÌÐµÐ²Ð¾-Ð§ÐµÑ€ÐºÐµÌÑÑÐ¸Ñ) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... 1. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev condemned the deportations as a violation of Leninist principles, and reversed most of them, although it was not until as late as 1991 that the Tatars, Meskhs and Volga Germans were allowed to return en masse to their homelands. The deportations had a profound effect on the peoples of the Soviet Union. The memory of the deportations played a major part in the separatist movements in the Baltic States, Tatarstan and Chechnya, even today. (Russian: ; surname commonly anglicized as Khrushchev, IPA: ; April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is therefore a branch of Marxism. ... 1. ... The Republic of Tatarstan (Russian: ; Tatar: ) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). ... Î±Äž Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 kmÂ² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ...

Death toll

It is generally agreed by conventional historians that if war casualities, Nazi policy in the occupied territory, famines, prison and labor camp mortality, and repressions are taken into account, the number of deaths that occurred from unnnatural causes under Stalin is in the millions, while according to Soviet archives, the number sentenced to death, shot and executed for any crimes during Stalin's rule does not exceed 700,000. ^[12] This articles details the demographics of the Soviet Union. ... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ...

How many millions died under Stalin is greatly disputed because the main historical source for such estimations is demographic statistics, with uncertainty about what is an "unnatural cause" and how Stalin himself was responsible. The 1926 census shows the population of the Soviet Union at 147 million and in 1937 another census found a population of between 162 and 163 million. This was 6 million less than the projected population value and was suppressed as a "wrecker's census" with the census takers severely punished. A census was taken again in 1939, but its published figure of 170 million has been generally attributed directly to the decision of Stalin.^[13] Note that the figure of 6 million does not have to imply 6 million additional deaths, since as many as 3 million may be births that never took place due to reduced fertility and choice. Note also that these figures ignore the death toll from the early and late years of Stalin's regime. Wrecking, or vreditelstvo (вредительство), was a crime specified in the criminal code of the Soviet Union in the Stalin era. ...

Since "the margin of error" with regard to the number of Stalin's victims is virtually impossible to narrow down to a universally accepted figure, various historians have come up with widely varying ([11]) estimates of the number of victims, from under a million to, unrealistically, over 50 million deaths.

Different researchers have claimed support for their numbers using official records in Moscow which were opened after the breakup of the USSR in 1991. For example, the Black Book of Communism gives 20 million. Other studies give considerably lower numbers. ^[14] ^[15] The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is a controversial book edited by doctor Stéphane Courtois which attempts to catalog various crimes (deaths, torture, deportations, etc. ...

The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council has stated with its resolution that according to cautious estimations (exact data is not available) the number of people killed by the communist regime in the USSR can be 20 million victims.[12] The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ...

The official records in Moscow which were opened after the breakup of the USSR in 1991, puts it at around 4,000,000 ^[14] ^[15]

World War II

After the failure of Soviet and Franco-British talks on a mutual defense pact in Moscow, Stalin began to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Hitler's Germany. In his speech on August 19, 1939, Stalin prepared his comrades for the great turn in Soviet policy, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. According to a controversial Russian author living in the UK, Viktor Suvorov, Stalin expressed in the speech an expectation that the war would be the best opportunity to weaken both the Western nations and Nazi Germany, and make Germany suitable for "Sovietization". Whether this speech was ever delivered to public and what its content was is still debated. (see Stalin's speech on August 19, 1939). Image File history File links Stalin-Molotov. ... Image File history File links Stalin-Molotov. ... Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: ) (March 9 [O.S. February 25] 1890 â€“November 8, 1986), Soviet politician and diplomat, was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protege of Joseph Stalin, to the 1950s, when he was dismissed from... Stalins speech on Aug 19, 1939 is argued to have been a secret speech of Stalin to Soviet leaders, wherein he supposedly described the strategy of the Soviet Union in the eve of WW2. ... Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Viktor Suvorov (; real name Vladimir Rezun : ) (born April 20, 1947) was a Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian and Russian descent who had been working for the Soviet military intelligence (GRU), but defected to the United Kingdom in 1978, where he worked as an intelligence analyst and lecturer. ... Stalins speech on August 19, 1939 is argued to have been a secret speech of Stalin to Soviet leaders, wherein he supposedly described the strategy of the Soviet Union in the eve of WW2. ...

Officially a non-aggression treaty only, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had a "secret" annex according to which Central Europe was divided into the two powers' respective spheres of influence. The USSR was promised an eastern part of Poland, primarily populated with Ukrainians and Belorussians in case of its dissolution, as long as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were recognized as parts of the Soviet sphere of influence. Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. ... Regions of Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ...

On September 1, 1939, the German invasion of Poland started World War II. Hence, Stalin decided to intervene, and on September 17 the Red Army entered eastern Poland and the Baltic states and annexed these territories. Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ...

In November 1939, Stalin sent troops over the Finnish border provoking war. The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland proved to be more difficult than Stalin and the Red Army were prepared for, and the Soviets sustained high casualties. The Soviets prevailed in March, 1940, but the problems of the Soviet army had been revealed to the rest of the world, including Germany. Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 180,000 450,000 Casualties 22,830 dead 43,557 wounded c. ...

On March 5, 1940, the Soviet leadership approved an order of execution for more than 25,700 Polish "nationalist, educators and counterrevolutionary" activists in the parts of the Ukraine and Belarus republics that had been annexed from Poland. This event has become known as the Katyn Massacre.[13] Mass graves at Katyn war cemetery. ...

In June 1941, Hitler broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Although expecting war with Germany, Stalin may not have expected an invasion to come so soon — and the Soviet Union was relatively unprepared for this invasion. An alternative theory suggested by Viktor Suvorov claims that Stalin had made aggressive preparations from the late 1930s on and was about to invade Germany in summer 1941. Thus, he believes Hitler only managed to forestall Stalin and the German invasion was in essence a pre-emptive strike. This theory was supported by Mikhail Meltyukhov (see Stalin's Missed Chance) and Edvard Radzinsky (see Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives). Most Western historians reject this thesis, though. (April 20, 1889 â€“ April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and FÃ¼hrer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3. ... Viktor Suvorov (; real name Vladimir Rezun : ) (born April 20, 1947) was a Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian and Russian descent who had been working for the Soviet military intelligence (GRU), but defected to the United Kingdom in 1978, where he worked as an intelligence analyst and lecturer. ... Most often used to describe a military attack which is designed to prevent, or reduce the impact of, an anticipated attack from an enemy. ... Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov (Russian: ÐœÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ‚ÑŽÑ…Ð¾Ð² ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°Ð¸Ð» Ð˜Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡) is a Russian military historian. ... Stalins Missed Chance is a study by Russian military historian Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov (Russian: ), author of several books and articles on Soviet military history. ...

Until the last moment, Stalin had sought to avoid any obvious defensive preparation which might provoke German attack, in the hope of buying time to modernize and strengthen his military forces. Even after the attack commenced. A myth is that Stalin appeared unwilling to accept the fact and, according to some historians, was too stunned to react appropriately for a number of days. And this myth is dispelled by people who have looked into the Soviet Archives after the fall of the Soviet Union. Both Richard Overy ^[16] and Simon Sebag Montefiore ^[17] have showed that he held at least 8 major meetings the same day as the invasion. Stalin ignored much intelligence warning of a German attack.[14] Image File history File links Mayakovskaya_Old_1. ... Image File history File links Mayakovskaya_Old_1. ... edit Mayakovskaya vestibule Mayakovskaya Russian: , a Metro on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, is one of the worlds best-known and most-photographed subway stations and a symbol of the Metro system. ... Metro is: a general term, synonymous with rapid transit, subway or underground, for an urban underground rail public transit system (see list of rapid transit systems); any of several specific public transport systems, including: Bi-State Development Agency in Missouri and Illinois, d/b/a Metro since 2003 Buffalo Metro... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution or November Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ... Richard Overy has published extensively on the history of World War II and the Third Reich. ... Simon Sebag Montefiore (1965- ) is a British academic of jewish origin specializing in Russian History. ...

In the diary of General Fedor von Boch, it is also mentioned that the Abwehr fully expected a Soviet attack against German forces in Poland no later than 1942. Such speculations are difficult to substantiate, however, as information on the Soviet Army from 1939 to 1941 remains classified, but it is known that the Soviets had received some warnings of the German invasion through their foreign intelligence agents, such as Richard Sorge. General (pronounced ) is presently the highest rank of the German Army and the Luftwaffe. ... Fedor von Boch was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht who served as Army Group Centers commander during the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ... Richard Sorge Dr Sorge aka Ramsay Richard Sorge (Russian: Ð Ð¸Ñ…Ð°Ñ€Ð´ Ð—Ð¾Ñ€Ð³Ðµ) (October 4, 1895 - November 7, 1944) was a revolutionary, a journalist, working in Germany and Japan, and a spy for the Soviet Union in Japan before and during World War II. His NKVD codename was Ramsay. ...

The Germans initially made huge advances, capturing and killing millions of Soviet troops. Hitler's experts had expected eight weeks of war, and early indications evidenced their prescience.

The Soviet Red Army put up fierce resistance during the war's early stages, but was often ineffective against the better-equipped, well-trained and experienced German forces and also due to an ineffective defense doctrine. The invaders were eventually driven back in December 1941 near Moscow. Stalin then worked with independent-minded Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov to orchestrate the decisive German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad. Moscow (Russian: ÐœÐ¾ÑÐºÐ²Ð°Ì, Moskva, IPA: ) is the capital of Russia and the countrys principal political, economic, financial, educational and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, GCB (Russian: ) (December 1 [O.S. November 19] 1896â€“June 18, 1974), Soviet military commander and politician, is considered by many to be one of the most successful field commanders of World War II. // Prewar career Born into a peasant... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Hermann Hoth Georgy Zhukov Vasily Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army Romanian Fourth Army Hungarian Second Army Italian Eighth Army 500,000 Germans Unknown number Reinforcements Unknown number Axis-allies Stalingrad...

Stalin met in several conferences with Churchill and/or Roosevelt in Moscow, Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam to plan military strategy (Truman taking the place of the deceased Roosevelt). Image File history File links British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Secretary Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference. ... Image File history File links British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Secretary Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference. ... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the head of government and so exercises many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 â€“ 24 January 1965) was a British politician and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... FDR redirects here. ... The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. ... List of World War II conferences of the Allied forces In total Churchill attended 14 meetings, Roosevelt 12, Stalin 5. ... From left to right, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill The Tehran Conference (codename SEXTANT) was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943 that took place in Tehran, Iran. ... The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. ... Attlee, Truman, and Stalin at Potsdam The Potsdam Conference was a conference held at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany (near Berlin), from July 17 to August 2, 1945. ... Military strategem in the Battle of Waterloo. ...

In these conferences, his first appearances on the world stage, Stalin proved to be a formidable negotiator. Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Secretary noted: The Right Honourable Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897â€“ January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary during World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1950s. ...

"Marshal Stalin as a negotiator was the toughest proposition of all. Indeed, after something like thirty years' experience of international conferences of one kind and another, if I had to pick a team for going into a conference room, Stalin would be my first choice. Of course the man was ruthless and of course he knew his purpose. He never wasted a word. He never stormed, he was seldom even irritated."^[18]

His shortcomings as strategist are frequently noted regarding massive Soviet loss of life and early Soviet defeats. An example of it is the summer offensive of 1942, which led to even more losses by the Red Army and recapture of initiative by the Germans. Stalin eventually recognized his lack of know-how and relied on his professional generals to conduct the war.

Yet Stalin did rapidly move Soviet industrial production east of the Volga River, far from Luftwaffe-reach, to sustain the Red Army's war machine with astonishing success. Additionally, Stalin was well aware that other European armies had utterly disintegrated when faced with Nazi military efficacy and responded effectively by subjecting his army to galvanizing terror and unrevolutionary, nationalist appeals to patriotism. He even appealed to the Russian Orthodox church and images of national Russian heroes for that matter. On November 6, 1941, Stalin addressed the whole nation of the Soviet Union for the second time (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: Air Arm, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Russian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Catholic Church of Russia) (Ð ÑƒÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÑ€Ð°Ð²Ð¾ÑÐ»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ†ÐµÑ€ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑŒ) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ...

According to Stalin's Order No. 227 of July 27, 1942, any commander or commissar of a regiment, battalion or army, who allowed retreat without permission from above was subject to military tribunal. The Soviet soldiers who surrendered were declared traitors; however most of those who survived the brutality of German captivity were mobilized again as they were freed. Between 5% and 10% of them were sent to gulags. Order No. ... Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Ð“Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð½Ð¾Ðµ Ð£Ð¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ Ð˜ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ‚ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ½Ð¾â€”Ð¢Ñ€ÑƒÐ´Ð¾Ð²Ñ‹Ñ… Ð›Ð°Ð³ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ¹ Ð¸ ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð¾Ð½Ð¸Ð¹, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp...

In the war's opening stages, the retreating Red Army also sought to deny resources to the enemy through a scorched earth policy of destroying the infrastructure and food supplies of areas before the Germans could seize them. Unfortunately, this, along with abuse by German troops, caused inconceivable starvation and suffering among the civilian population that were left behind. This is a magazine cover. ... This is a magazine cover. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Person of the Year is an annual issue of U.S. newsmagazine TIME that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year. ...

According to recent figures, of an estimated four millions POW's taken by the Russians, including Germans, Japanese, Hungarians, Romanians and others, some 580,000 never returned, presumably victims of privation or the Gulags. Returning Soviet soldiers who had surrendered were viewed with suspicion and some were killed.[15]

The Soviet Union bore the brunt of civilian and military losses in World War II. At least 8,668,400 Red Army personnel and 20 million civilians died. The Nazis considered Slavs to be "sub-human", and many people believe the Nazis killed Slavs as an ethnically targeted genocide. This concept of Slavic inferiority was also the reason why Hitler did not accept into his army many Soviet citizens who wanted to fight the regime until 1944, when the war was lost for Germany. The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) Article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing...

In the Soviet Union, World War II left a huge deficit of men of the wartime fighting-age generation. To this day the war is remembered very vividly in Russia, Belarus, and other parts of the former Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War, and May 9, "Victory Day", is one of Russia's biggest national holidays. The Eastern Front1 was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ...

Post-war era

Domestically, Stalin was presented as a great wartime leader who had led the Soviets to victory against the Nazis. By the end of the 1940s, Russian nationalism increased. For instance, some inventions and scientific discoveries were reclaimed by ethnic Russian researchers. Image File history File links ZhukovStalinMaus. ... Image File history File links ZhukovStalinMaus. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Гео́ргий Константи́нович Жу́ков) (December 1, 1896 - June 18, 1974), Soviet military commander and politician, considered by many as one of the most successful field commanders of World War II. Prewar career Born into a peasant family in Strelkovka, Kaluga... Lenins Tomb, with wall of the Kremlin and the former Soviet Parliament building behind An entrance to Lenins Mausoleum Lenins Mausoleum, also known as Lenins Tomb, situated in Red Square in Moscow, is the resting place of Vladimir Lenin. ...

Examples include the boiler, reclaimed by father and son Cherepanovs; the electric bulb, by Yablochkov and Lodygin; the radio, by Popov; and the airplane, by Mozhaysky. Stalin's internal repressive policies continued (including in newly acquired territories), but never reached the extremes of the 1930s. A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated under pressure. ... Cherepanovs, Yefim Alekseyevich (1774-1842) and Miron Yefimovich (1803-1849), Russian inventors and industrial engineers, father and son. ... The incandescent light bulb uses a glowing wire filament heated to white-hot by electrical resistance, to generate light (a process known as thermal radiation). ... Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov (Павел Николаевич Яблочков in Russian) (September 14/September 2 (O. S.), 1847 – March 31/March 19 (O.S.) 1894 ) was a Russian electrical engineer, the inventor of the Yablochkov candle (a type of electric carbon arc lamp) and businessman. ... Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin (1847 - 1923) (Александр Николаевич Лодыгин in Russian), Russian electrical engineer and inventor. ... Alexander Stepanovich Popov (Russian: ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐ°Ð½Ð´Ñ€ Ð¡Ñ‚ÐµÐ¿Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐŸÐ¾Ð¿Ð¾Ð²) (March 4, 1859 - December 31, 1905) was a Russian physicist who publicly demonstrate transmission of radio waves (March 1896) but didnt apply for a patent an apparatus or method for radio. ... Alexander Fyodorovich Mozhaiski (ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐ°Ð½Ð´Ñ€ Ð¤ÐµÐ´Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐœÐ¾Ð¶Ð°Ð¹ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹; March 9 [O.S. March 9] 1825 in Rochensalm, current Kotka, Finland â€” 1 April [O.S. March 20] 1890 in Saint Petersburg) , was a Russian naval officer, aviation pioneer, researcher and designer of heavier-than-air-craft. ...

Internationally, Stalin viewed Soviet consolidation of power as a necessary step to protect the USSR by surrounding it with countries with friendly governments, to act as a cordon sanitaire (buffer) against possible invaders (while the West sought a similar buffer against communism).

He had hoped that American withdrawal and demobilization would lead to increased communist influence, especially in Europe. Each side might view the other's defensive actions as destabilizing provocations and these security dilemmas frayed relations between the Soviet Union and its former World War II western allies and led to a prolonged period of tension and distrust between East and West known as the Cold War (see also Iron curtain). Demobilization is the process of standing down a nations armed forces from combat-ready status. ... In international relations, the security dilemma refers to a common situation wherein two or more states are drawn into conflict, possibly even war, over security concerns when none of the states involved actually wanted conflict. ... The Cold War (Russian: Ð¥Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð²Ð¾Ð¹Ð½Ð° , Kholodna-ya voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their alliance partners. ... Countries behind Iron Curtain are shaded red. ...

The Red Army ended World War II occupying much of the territory that had been formerly held by the Axis countries: The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

In Asia, the Red Army had overrun Manchuria in the last month of the war and then also occupied Korea above the 38th Parallel. Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party, though receptive to minimal Soviet support, defeated the pro-Western and heavily American-assisted Chinese Nationalist Party in the Chinese Civil War. World map showing the location of Asia. ... Extent of Manchuria according to Definition 1 (dark red), Definition 3 (dark red + medium red) and Definition 4 (dark red + medium red + light red) Manchuria (Manchu: Manju, Simplified Chinese: æ»¡æ´²; Traditional Chinese: æ»¿æ´²; Pinyin: ) is a name given to a vast territorial region in northeast Asia. ... Korea (Hangul: í•œêµ, Hanja: éŸ“åœ‹, McCune-Reischauer: Hanguk, Revised: Hanguk, or ChosÅngÅl : ì¡°ì„ , Hanja: æœé®®, McCune-Reischauer: ChosÅn, Revised: Joseon) is a civilization and geographical area situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China (PRC) to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the... 38 parallel can refer to: 38th parallel north, the pre-Korean War boundary between North Korea and South Korea. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Communist Party of China flag The Communist Party of China (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: Zhōnggu ngchǎndǎng) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party of China (Traditional Chinese: 中國國民黨; Simplified Chinese: 中国国民党; pinyin: Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguo Guomindang; literally the National Peoples Party of China) is a conservative political party currently active in the Republic of China (ROC) on... Combatants Chinese Nationalist Party Chinese Communist Party Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong Strength 3,600,000 circa June 1948 2,800,000 circa June 1948 The Chinese Civil War (Traditional Chinese: åœ‹å…±å†…æˆ°; Simplified Chinese: å›½å…±å†…æˆ˜; Pinyin: guÃ³gÃ²ng neÃ¬zhÃ n; literally Nationalist-Communist Civil War) was a conflict in...

The Communists controlled mainland China while the Nationalists held a rump state on the island of Formosa (a.k.a. Taiwan). The Soviet Union soon after recognized Mao's communist People's Republic of China, which it regarded as a new ally. A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion or military occupation. ... Formosa is a placename which comes from Latin formosa (*formous, meaning beautiful). Other Iberian Romance versions are hermosa. ...

Diplomatic relations reached a high point with the signing of the 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance. Both communist states provided military support to a new communist state in North Korea, which invaded U.S.-allied South Korea in 1950 to start the Korean War. The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was a treaty signed by Chairman Mao and Josef Stalin in 1950. ... Combatants Western Allied/UN combatants: South Korea, United States Communist combatants: North Korea, Peoples Republic of China Strength Note: All figures may vary according to source. ...

In Europe, there were Soviet occupation zones in Germany and Austria. Hungary and Poland were under practical military occupation. From 1946-1948 communist governments were imposed in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria and home-grown communist dictatorships rose to power in Yugoslavia and Albania. Mao and Stalin File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Mao and Stalin File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Communist Party of China flag The Communist Party of China (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... KMT is the Nationalist Party of China. ... Combatants Chinese Nationalist Party Chinese Communist Party Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong Strength 3,600,000 circa June 1948 2,800,000 circa June 1948 The Chinese Civil War (Traditional Chinese: åœ‹å…±å†…æˆ°; Simplified Chinese: å›½å…±å†…æˆ˜; Pinyin: guÃ³gÃ²ng neÃ¬zhÃ n; literally Nationalist-Communist Civil War) was a conflict in... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... The Soviet Occupation Zone (German: Sowjetische Besatzungszone (SBZ) or Ostzone) was the area of eastern Germany occupied by the Soviet Union from 1945 on, at the end of World War II. It became East Germany. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages, in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic ÐˆÑƒÐ³Ð¾ÑÐ»Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ˜Ð°) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ...

These nations became known as the "Communist Bloc." Britain and the United States supported the anti-communists in the Greek Civil War and suspected the Soviets of supporting the Greek communists although Stalin ended his support while his then ally, Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito (Tito), continued his support of the Greek communists. Albania remained an ally of the Soviet Union, but Yugoslavia broke with the USSR in 1948. Greece, Italy and France were under the strong influence of local communist parties, which were at the very least friendly towards Moscow. The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Portrait of Tito by Paja JovanoviÄ‡ Tito redirects here. ... Josip Broz Tito (May 7, 1892 - May 4, 1980) was the ruler of Yugoslavia between the end of World War II and his death in 1980. ...

Both Superpowers viewed Germany as key. In retaliation to the Western formation of Trizonia, the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, which was under British, French, and U.S. occupation, to force these powers into surrendering their occupation zones in the city. A superpower is a state with the first rank in the international system and the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale; it is considered a higher level of power than a major power. ... The Bizone was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones during the occupation of Germany after World War II, and is also referred to as Bizonia, later changed to Trizonia, as Germanys control was split even further. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ...

However, the Berlin Blockade failed due to the massive aerial resupply campaign carried out by the Western powers known as the Berlin Airlift. In 1949, Stalin conceded defeat and ended the blockade. After West Germany was formed by the union of the three Western occupation zones, the Soviets declared East Germany a separate country in 1949, ruled by the communists. // Post-war division of Germany occupation zone after 1945 The Berlin Blockade, one of the first major crises of the Cold War, occurred from June 24, 1948 to May 11, 1949 when the Soviet Union blocked railroad and street access to West Berlin. ... The Soviet Union blocked Western rail and road access to West Berlin from June 24, 1948 - May 11, 1949. ... GDR redirects here. ...

In Stalin's last year of life, one of his last major foreign policy initiatives was the 1952 Stalin Note for German reunification and Superpower disengagement from Central Europe, but Britain, France, and the United States viewed this with suspicion and rejected the offer. The 1952 Stalin Note, a. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English commonly called East Germany) were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, in... Superpower Disengagement refers to the German reunification plan proposed by Stalin in 1952. ... Regions of Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ...

Stalin as theorist

Stalin made few contributions to Communist (or, more specifically, Marxist-Leninist) theory, but the contributions he did make were accepted and upheld by all Soviet political scientists during his rule.

Among Stalin's contributions were his "Marxism and the National Question", a work praised by Lenin; his "Trotskyism or Leninism", which was a factor in the "liquidation of Trotskyism as an ideological trend" within the CPSU(B).

Stalin's Collected Works (in 13 volumes) was released in 1949. A subsequent 16 volume American Edition appeared, in which one volume consisted of the book "History of the CPSU(B) Short Course", although when released in 1938 this book was credited to a commission of the Central Committee.

In 1936, Stalin announced that the society of the Soviet Union consisted of two non-antagonistic classes: workers and kolkhoz peasantry. These corresponded to the two different forms of property over the means of production that existed in the Soviet Union: state property (for the workers) and collective property (for the peasantry). In addition to these, Stalin distinguished the stratum of intelligentsia. The concept of "non-antagonistic classes" was entirely new to Leninist theory. A kolkhoz (Russian: ), plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms (sovkhoz). ... The means of production are physical, non-human, inputs used in production. ... The intelligentsia (from Latin: intelligentia) is a social class of people engaged in complex mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them (e. ...

Stalin and his supporters, in his own time and since, have highlighted the notion that socialism can be built and consolidated in just one country, even one as underdeveloped as Russia was during the 1920s, and indeed that this might be the only means in which it could be built in a hostile environment. ^[19]

Death

On March 1, 1953, after an all-night dinner with interior minister Lavrenty Beria and future premiers Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin collapsed in his room, having probably suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. Image File history File links Stalinsbody. ... Image File history File links Stalinsbody. ... Lavrenty Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: áƒšáƒáƒ•áƒ áƒ”áƒœáƒ¢áƒ˜ áƒ‘áƒ”áƒ áƒ˜áƒ; Russian: Ð›Ð°Ð²Ñ€ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ð¸Ð¹ ÐŸÐ°Ð²Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘ÐµÑ€Ð¸Ñ; (29 March 1899 â€“ 23 December 1953), Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ... Georgy Malenkov Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov (Гео́ргий Максимилиа́нович Маленко́в) (GHYOR-ghee mah-leen-KOF) (January 13 [January 8, Old Style], 1902 - January 14, 1988) was a Soviet politician and Communist Party leader, and a close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. ... Image:Nikolay Bulganin. ... (Russian: ; surname commonly anglicized as Khrushchev, IPA: ; April 17, 1894 â€“ September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

Although his guards thought it odd that he did not rise at his usual time the next day they were under orders not to disturb him and he was not discovered until that evening. He died four days later, on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74, and was buried on March 9. Officially, the cause of death was listed as a cerebral hemorrhage. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until October 31, 1961, when his body was removed from the Mausoleum and buried next to the Kremlin walls as part of the process of de-Stalinization. March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... A cerebral hemorrhage or hemorrhagic stroke is a form of stroke that occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures or bleeds. ... Lenins Tomb, with wall of the Kremlin and the former Soviet Parliament building behind An entrance to Lenins Mausoleum Lenins Mausoleum, also known as Lenins Tomb, situated in Red Square in Moscow, is the resting place of Vladimir Lenin. ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... // De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era For further details, see Nikita Khrushchev After Stalin had died in March 1953, he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Georgi Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union. ...

It has been suggested that Stalin was assassinated. The ex-Communist exile Avtorkhanov argued this point as early as 1975. The political memoirs of Vyacheslav Molotov, published in 1993, claimed strong evidence that Beria had boasted to Molotov that he poisoned Stalin: "I took him out." Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: ) (March 9 [O.S. February 25] 1890 â€“November 8, 1986), Soviet politician and diplomat, was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protege of Joseph Stalin, to the 1950s, when he was dismissed from...

Khrushchev recorded in his memoirs that Beria had, immediately after the stroke, gone about "spewing hatred against [Stalin] and mocking him", and then, when Stalin showed signs of consciousness, dropped to his knees and kissed his hand. When Stalin fell unconscious again, Beria immediately stood and spat. Nikita Khrushchev in 1962 Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: Ники́та Серге́евич Хрущёв) (nih-KEE-tah khroo-SHCHYOFF) (April 17, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

In 2003, a joint group of Russian and American historians announced their view that Stalin ingested warfarin, a powerful rat poison that inhibits coagulation of the blood and so predisposes the victim to hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral hemorrhage). Since it is flavorless, warfarin is a plausible weapon of murder. The facts surrounding Stalin's death, however, will probably never be known with certainty. Warfarin (also known under the brand names of CoumadinÂ® and MarevanÂ®) is an anticoagulant medication that is administered orally. ...

His demise arrived at a convenient time for Beria and others, who feared being swept away in yet another purge. It is believed that Stalin felt Beria's power was too great and threatened his own. Whether or not Beria or another usurper was directly responsible for his death, it is true that the politburo did not summon medical attention for Stalin for more than a day after he was found. Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ...

Cult of personality

Stalin created a cult of personality in the Soviet Union around both himself and Lenin. The embalming of the Soviet founder in Lenin's Mausoleum was performed over the objection of Lenin's widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya. Stalin became the focus of massive adoration and even worship. Image File history File links Roses for Stalin, 1949, by Boris Ieremeevich Vladimirski File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Roses for Stalin, 1949, by Boris Ieremeevich Vladimirski File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Categories: Russia-related stubs ... A cult of personality is a political institution in which a countrys leader encourages praise of himself and his deeds to such a degree that this praise affects nearly every facet of the countrys culture. ... Embalming, in most modern cultures, is a process used to temporarily preserve a human cadaver to forestall decomposition and make it suitable for display at a funeral. ... Lenins Tomb, with wall of the Kremlin and the former Soviet Parliament building behind An entrance to Lenins Mausoleum Lenins Mausoleum, also known as Lenins Tomb, situated in Red Square in Moscow, is the resting place of Vladimir Lenin. ... Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda K. Krupskaya ( February 26, 1869 - February 27, 1939) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary. ...

Numerous towns, villages and cities were renamed after the Soviet leader (see List of places named after Stalin) and the Stalin Prize and Stalin Peace Prize were named in his honor. He accepted grandiloquent titles (e.g. "Coryphaeus of Science," "Father of Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," "Gardener of Human Happiness," and others), and helped rewrite Soviet history to provide himself a more significant role in the revolution. At the same time, according to Khrushchev, he insisted that he be remembered for "the extraordinary modesty characteristic of truly great people." During Joseph Stalins rule (1922-1953), many places, mostly cities, in the Soviet Union and other communist countries were named or renamed in honor of him as part of the cult of personality. ... The USSR State Prize (Russian:Госуда́рственная пре́мия СССР) was the Soviet Unions highest civilian honour. ... The International Stalin Peace Prize (renamed ÐœÐµÐ¶Ð´ÑƒÐ½Ð°Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð›ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ð½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¿Ñ€ÐµÐ¼Ð¸Ñ Â«Ð—Ð° ÑƒÐºÑ€ÐµÐ¿Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ Ð¼Ð¸Ñ€Ð° Ð¼ÐµÐ¶Ð´Ñƒ Ð½Ð°Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ð°Ð¼Ð¸Â», the International Lenin Peace Prize as a result of destalinization) was the Soviet Unions answer to the Nobel Peace Prize. ... Nikita Khrushchev in 1962 Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: Ники́та Серге́евич Хрущёв) (nih-KEE-tah khroo-SHCHYOFF) (April 17, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

Many statues and momuments were erected to glorify Stalin but all of them distorted Stalin's true build. Going by these monuments and statues it would be easy to assume that Stalin was a tall and well built man not unlike Tsar Alexander III. This was not the case however and at merely 5'2" Stalin was almost certainly the least physically dominating ruler that Russia has ever seen. This physical "hinderance" was hidden in all portraits and statues to avoid any image of weakness that could harm his cult of personality. Alexander (Aleksandr) III (Russian: ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐ°Ð½Ð´Ñ€ III ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐ°Ð½Ð´Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡) (March 10, 1845 â€“ November 1, 1894) reigned as Emperor of Russia from March 14, 1881 until his death in 1894. ... A cult of personality is a political institution in which a countrys leader encourages praise of himself and his deeds to such a degree that this praise affects nearly every facet of the countrys culture. ...

Trotsky criticized the cult of personality built around Stalin as being against the values of socialism and Bolshevism, in that it exalted the individual above the party and class and it disallowed criticism of Stalin. The personality cult reached new levels during the Great Patriotic War, with Stalin's name even being included in the new Soviet national anthem. 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist intellectual. ... The Eastern Front1 was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nations government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ...

Stalin became the focus of a body of literature encompassing poetry as well as music, paintings and film. Artists and writers vied with each other in fawning devotion, crediting Stalin with almost god-like qualities, and suggesting he single-handedly won the Second World War. Image File history File links StalinGerman. ... Image File history File links StalinGerman. ...

It is debatable as to how much Stalin relished the cult surrounding him. The Finnish communist Tuominen records a sarcastic toast proposed by Stalin at a New Year Party in 1935: Arvo Poika Tuominen (1894-1981) was a Finnish Communist revolutionary and later a social democratic editor and politician. ...

In recent years, support of Stalin has resurged. Millions of Russians, exasperated with the downfall of the economy and political instability after the breakup of the Soviet Union, want Stalin back. A recent controversial poll revealed that over thirty-five percent of Russians would vote for Stalin if he were still alive.[16] This is seen by some as a return of Stalin's cult. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

Recently a 400 m² Stalin memorial has been inaugurated in Krasnoyarsk, with a statue exactly the size of the so-called Leader of the People in the middle. The memorial had been closed from 1961 up to this day. (Postimees, April 20, 2006)

Policies and accomplishments

Supporters argue that under Stalin's rule the Soviet Union was transformed from an agricultural nation to a global superpower. The USSR's industrialisation was successful in that the country was able to defend against and eventually defeat the Axis invasion in World War II, though at an enormous cost of human lives. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1726 KB) Stalin monument in Grutas park, Grutas village, Lithuania. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1726 KB) Stalin monument in Grutas park, Grutas village, Lithuania. ... Grutas Park is home to only one monument of Stalin, originally set up in Vilnius. ... Location Ethnographic region DzÅ«kija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights 1387 Vilnius ( (helpÂ· info), Belarusian: , Polish... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

However, historian Robert Conquest and other Westerners claim that the USSR was bound for industrialisation, and that its speed along this course was not necessarily improved by Bolshevik influence. It has also been argued that Stalin was partially responsible for the initial military disasters and enormous human causalities during WWII, because Stalin eliminated many military officers during the purges, and especially the most senior ones, and rejected the massive amounts of intelligence warning of the German attack.[17] Dr. George Robert Ackworth Conquest (born July 15, 1917), British historian, became one of the best-known writers on the Soviet Union with the publication in 1968 of his classic account of Stalins purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror. ...

While Stalin's social and economic policies laid the foundations for the USSR's emergence as a superpower, the harshness with which he conducted Soviet affairs was subsequently repudiated by his successors in the Communist Party leadership, notably in the denunciation of Stalinism by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1956. In his "Secret Speech", On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, delivered to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his cult of personality, and his regime for "violation of Leninist norms of legality". On the Personality Cult and its Consequences , commonly known as the Secret Speech was a report to the 20th Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, in which he denounced the actions of Joseph Stalin. ...

However, his immediate successors continued to follow the basic principles of Stalin's rule -- the political monopoly of the Communist Party presiding over a command economy and a security service able to suppress dissent. The large-scale purges of Stalin's era were never repeated, but the political repression continued.

Informants

During the early 1930s Stalin conceived the idea of having informants. An informant was anyone who reported others to the KGB. Informants were everywhere. Their main task was to report suspected anti-government activities.

Other names

His first name is also transliterated as Josif. His original surname, ჯუღაშვილი (Jughashvili), is also transliterated as Jugashvili. The Russian transliteration is Джугашвили, which is in turn transliterated into English as Dzhugashvili and Djugashvili; – შვილი – shvili is a Georgian suffix meaning "child" or "son". Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one script into another script. ...

There are several etymologies of the ჯუღა (jugha) root. In one version, it is the Ossetian for "rubbish"; the name Jugayev is common among Ossetians, and before the revolution the names in South Ossetia were traditionally written with the Georgian suffix, especially among Christianized Ossetians. In a second version, the name derives from the village of Jugaani in Kakhetia, eastern Georgia. Map of Ossetia Ossetia is a region in the northern Caucasus Mountains, inhabited by the Ossetians, an Iranian people who speak the Ossetic language, (an Iranian Language). ... Official language Ossetian Capital Tskhinvali President Eduard Djabeevich Kokoity Prime Minister Igor Viktorovich Sanakoyev Area â€“ Total â€“ % water 3,900 kmÂ² n/a Population â€“ Total â€“ Density (2004) 70,000 (approx) 18/kmÂ² Independence â€“ Declared â€“ Recognition From Georgia â€“ November 28, 1991 â€“ none Currency Russian... Kakheti is a province in Eastern Georgia. ...

An article in the newspaper Pravda in 1988 claimed that the word derives from the Old Georgian for "steel" which might be the reason for his adoption of the name Stalin. Сталин (Stalin) is derived from combining the Russian сталь (stal), "steel", with the possessive suffix –ин (–in), a formula used by many other Bolsheviks, including Lenin and Bukharin. This article describes the Soviet/Russian newspaper. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin ( Russian: Николай Иванович Бухарин), ( October 9 ( September 27 Old Style) 1888 – March 13, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and intellectual, and later a Soviet politician. ...

It has also been said that, originally, "Stalin" was a conspiratorial nickname which stuck with him. A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Tom is short for Thomas). ...

Like other Bolsheviks, he became commonly known by one of his revolutionary noms de guerre, of which Stalin was only the most prominent. He was also known as Koba (after a Georgian folk hero, a Robin Hood-like brigand); and he is reported to have used at least a dozen other names for the purpose of secret communications. Most of them remain unknown. A pseudonym or allonym is a name (sometimes legally adopted, sometimes purely fictitious) used by an individual as an alternative to their birth name. ... Koba was a Georgian folk hero whose legend bears a resemblance to Robin Hood. ... Heroine, the feminine of hero, should not be confused with heroin, the drug. ... Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the medieval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for his robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. ...

Directly following World War II, as the Soviets were negotiating with the Allies, Stalin often sent directions to Molotov as Druzhkov. Among his other nicknames and aliases were Ivanovich, Soso or Sosso (mainly his boyhood name), David, Nizharadze or Nijeradze, and Chizhikov.

Stalin was nicknamed "Uncle Joe" by the Western media. When told of this nickname by Franklin D. Roosevelt, he almost walked out of the Yalta Conference. FDR redirects here. ... The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. ...

Stalin in the arts

Robert Steadman (born April 1, 1965) is a British composer and conductor of classical music who mostly works in a post-minimalist style but also writes lighter music, including musicals, and compositions for educational purposes. ... Soviet redirects here. ... ... We Didnt Start the Fire is a song by Billy Joel which chronicles 120 well-known events, people, things, and places widely noted during his lifetime, from 1949 to 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. ... Billy Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. ...

Notes

Gori Fortress as of 1642, by an Italian missionary Cristoforo di Castelli Gori is an industrial city in the Shida Kartli province of Georgia. ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ... This article describes the Soviet/Russian newspaper. ... The Right Honourable Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897â€“ January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary during World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1950s. ... Arvo Poika Tuominen (1894-1981) was a Finnish Communist revolutionary and later a social democratic editor and politician. ...

Contents

Childhood and early years

Marriages and family

Rise to power

Campaign against the Left and Right Opposition

Stalin and changes in Soviet society

Industrialization

Collectivization

Science

Social services

Culture and religion

Purges and deportations

The purges

Deportations

Death toll

World War II

Post-war era

Stalin as theorist

Death

Cult of personality

Policies and accomplishments

Informants

Other names

Stalin in the arts

Notes

Further reading

See also

References

External links

Contents

Childhood and early years GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Marriages and family

Rise to power

Campaign against the Left and Right Opposition

Stalin and changes in Soviet society

Industrialization

Collectivization

Science

Social services

Culture and religion

Purges and deportations

The purges

Deportations

Death toll

World War II

Post-war era

Stalin as theorist

Death

Cult of personality

Policies and accomplishments

Informants

Other names

Stalin in the arts

Notes

Further reading

See also

References

External links

Childhood and early years