"History has shown there are no invincible armies.". Although formally known as the country's premier from 1941 until his own death in 1953 at age 74, Stalin was a brutal dictator who slaughtered many of his own citizens as he transformed the country into a major global power. In the Soviet army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance. A Stanford historian answers the question, was it genocide? and Barbara Bushs Amazing Love Story. But he was not a good leader. His Red Army helped defeat Nazi Germany during World War II. " [spurious].". for example, when he remilitarised the rhineland or 'anschlussed' with Austria, do you think his What were Joseph Stalins dreams and ambitions? We'll write it for you! 1. Absolutely right. The son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and Ketevan Geladze, a washerwoman, Stalin was a frail child. "I believe in only one thing, the power of human will.". what channel is nbc on directv in arizona; farmacia ospedale perrino brindisi orari; stifle surgery horse cost; van gogh peach trees in blossom value The period known as the Great Purge eventually extended beyond the party elite to local officials suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. The other village children treated him cruelly, instilling in him a sense of inferiority. But Stalin still wanted everyone in the Communist Party and Soviet government to bend to his will. At age 7, he contracted smallpox, leaving his face scarred. Joseph Stalin rose to power as General Secretary of the .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Communist Party in Russia, becoming a Soviet dictator after the death of Vladimir Lenin. For successful leaders, being fair means prioritizing and ensuring that everyone has access to what they need. Answer: No. My book is basically a scholarly book, but I tried to write it in an accessible way. However, he has found a rekindled popularity among many of Russia's young people. Already on our list? On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - later known as Joseph Stalin - was born. It's estimated that Stalin killed as many as 20 million people, directly or indirectly, through famine, forced labor camps, collectivization and executions. As war clouds gathered over Europe in 1939, Stalin made a seemingly brilliant move, signing a nonaggression pact with Germany's Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Any resistance was met with swift and lethal response; millions of people were exiled to the labor camps of the Gulag or were executed. Marxism is not a nationalist philosophy, its international and cosmopolitan, and step by step he gravitated toward the Russian social democratic movement, the movement the Georgian Marxists were propagating. So there was a clear difference between Georgian and Russian Mensheviks there. Thats what made Stalin successful. After heroic efforts on the part of the Soviet Army and the Russian people, the Germans were turned back at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. Everything is evidence-based. 8M Literature Animal Farm Exam Notes. Joseph Stalin was the leader and dictator of the USSR from 1922 to 1953. Stalin and the few Georgian Bolsheviks who remained loyal to Lenin were left high and dry, generals without an army. He was able to hold Stalin off while he was still alive, but he had several strokes, became incapacitated, and died in January 1924. Then a very strange and interesting thing happened. Dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn chronicled the harsh regime in Stalin's Gulag camps, and was persecuted for it. By the time anyone realized what he had done, it was too late. If I write a second volume about Stalin, Ill write about the period 1917 to the death of Lenin in 1924, about how the Soviet state was built, and how it turned from this more participatory, Paris Commune kind of ideal that you find in Lenins book State and Revolution into what eventually became a one-party state under Lenin, and eventually the Stalinist tyranny that destroyed most of the Leninist cadres in 1937. After his death in 1953, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's remains were embalmed and put on display next to those of Vladimir Lenin. Joseph Stalin is having a bit of a moment. Stalin found a hero in a short novel called The Patricide by a writer named Aleksandre Qazbegi. Stalin killed millions. Stalin also set in motion rapid industrialization that initially achieved huge successes, but over time cost millions of lives and vast damage to the environment. Joseph Stalin, as he was previously known to me, is credited as the hero of the second World War, guilty of genocide, terrorism, and is recognized amongst the great statesmen of the 20th century. Accounts differ as to the reason; official school records state he was unable to pay the tuition and withdrew. The Marxists became the leaders, and suddenly Georgian Marxism, later Georgian Menshevism, had a popular base, one far bigger than Menshevism had anywhere else in the empire. At the funeral, thousands of mourners were crushed to death in the frenzy to pay respects to Stalin's body. That was one motivation. Lets ally with the poor peasantry and the working class. On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died of a stroke. There were many Marxists, like Rosa Luxemburg or Nikolai Bukharin for a time, and others, who thought any and all forms of nationalism should be rejected. Stalin had suffered a series of minor strokes before 1953 and was generally in declining health. Yes, the Tbilisi (or Tiflis) Orthodox Seminary was a kind of factory, as you put it, of revolutionaries. By now, the British and Americans were suspicious of Stalin's intentions and wanted to avoid Soviet involvement in a postwar Japan. In 1948, Stalin ordered an economic blockade on the German city of Berlin, in hopes of gaining full control of the city. But he had real skills. Stalin chose not to return home, but stayed in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary movement. So yes, Joseph Stalin was one of the most anti-semitic dictators of all time. The excuse for Trotskys assassination was the comparison he made between the USSR and Nazi Germany. Trotsky, however, was the head of the Council, so the struggle between the two continued. In 1901, he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement. What's he waiting for? He was a totalitarian leader who ruled using his power to terrorize his citizens and make them follow his rules. Caricature on Trotsky, depicting him as a cruel killer of masses. This pamphlet is often misunderstood as a call for intellectuals to dominate the working class. That was good for me. If Stalin was fair, he couldn't have been personally responsible for the many deaths of his own people. Between 1945 and 1948, he established Communist regimes in many Eastern European countries, creating a vast buffer zone between Western Europe and "Mother Russia.". The second, as any of my students at Michigan, or earlier at Oberlin or the University of Chicago, would know: I have a great interest in socialism, Marxism, the labor movement, Russian social democracy, and so forth. The people who count the votes decide everything. There are parts of the brain and the mind that are closed to historians, but we do the best we can. A Mexican policeman holds the short- handled pickax used by Ramon Mercader. was stalin a fair leader. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and. Well have a democratic coalition of the lower classes, and we can make a revolution that way.. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe today to get it in print! I will not be comparing Stalin's regime to that of other totalitarian leaders, although they are some noted, but with a definition of what totalitarianism is. Stalin was very good at that. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Why Covid lab-leak theory is now being taken seriously, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. By Cynthia Haven Generalissimo Joseph Stalin is dead. Stalinism was the usurpation of power from the people, the decimation of the trade unions and the independence of ordinary people into a top-down dictatorship. Chris Maisano is a Jacobin contributing editor and a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Stalin had Trotsky assassinated in Mexico in 1940. But Stalinism was the nadir of the Soviet experiment. In 1917, there was a euphoria of popular participation, committees, resolutions, and so forth. DeSantis won't say he's running. Get our print magazine for just $20 a year. Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. My biography is not psychoanalytical. The son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and . MOSCOW More Russians consider Joseph Stalin the "most outstanding person" in world history than any other leader, according to a poll released Monday. Ramon Mercader, aka Frank Jackson, Aug. 31, 1940. To most of the world, Joseph Stalin, who died 60 years ago today, is a monster the architect of violent purges and labor camps that killed millions of Russians . I met Simon Sebag Montefiore in a caf in Kensington, in London, once. Stalin was opposed to the views of others like the Georgian Mensheviks, or the Jewish Bund, or the Austro-Marxists, who argued for something that you can call extraterritorial national cultural autonomy. This would mean that citizens of the state carry their ethnicity and nationality around with them wherever they live in the state. Stalin forced rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agricultural land, resulting in millions dying from famine while others were sent to labor camps. Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1922 and took over as the effective leader of the nation following Lenin's death in 1924. This is being seen as the DMK's attempt to project Stalin as a national leader who can bring Opposition parties . By the next year, the Soviet Army was liberating countries in Eastern Europe, even before the Allies had mounted a serious challenge against Hitler at D-Day. History shows that there are no invincible armies. I havent taken a kind of Freudian point of view, because I dont think, as a historian, I can psychoanalyze Stalin one hundred years after the fact. Read about our approach to external linking. "Do you think Stalin was a good leader?" Lets say you have a Jewish village in Ukraine somewhere, and theres a majority of Jews there, and its fairly coherent. A path toward a different kind of socialism was thwarted and not allowed to develop. Just after the turn of the century, in 1902, local peasants in a place called Guria in western Georgia revolted against their landlords. Stalinism Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. Its the empowerment of ordinary people. The latter was the main associate of the undisputed leader of the Bolsheviks - Vladimir Lenin.The influence and authority of Trotsky were so large that, after the October Revolution, he could rise to the position of the head of the new government . Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2013, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/do-you-think-stalin-was-good-leader-427444. But he did work there, and he got a lot of material, some of it brand new. There should be no apology by people on the Left for Stalin. Theres lots of good stuff in it. But the leaders of whats called the mesame dasi, the third generation of intellectuals who brought the message of Marxism to Georgia, became Mensheviks, and the Georgian movement came under the leadership of Menshevism in 1905. He thought it wasnt necessarily an enemy of the Bolsheviks, that they could live with it. Chennai: Today, on the 70th birthday of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. He said, So what are you interested in, and why are you writing this book? This was before his book came out. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Rare witness to Stalin prison horror dies, Wall of Grief: Russia remembers victims of Soviet repression, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Beer and wine sales in Canada fall to all-time low, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Bieber cancels remaining Justice world tour dates, Trump lashes out at Murdoch over vote fraud case, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Eli Lilly caps monthly insulin costs in US at $35. Tsarism was gone. The official ideology of a totalitarian nation is focused on creating and promoting nationalism Totalitarian governments are often controlled by a single political party because the party's members can be counted on to follow the leader's ideology. It was during this time that he adopted the name Stalin, meaning "steel" in Russian. He married Eva Braun on April 30, 1945. 3-hour delivery Pay if satisfied Get your price Stalin gained infamy being associated with the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, which resulted in several deaths and 250,000 rubles stolen (approximately $3.4 million in U.S. dollars). Stalin really seemed to imbibe the idea that social-democratic worker-intellectuals had a very important and special role to play in building the movement and bringing their message to the masses. On a hot day, Mercader came dressed in a raincoat, but that didnt alert anyone such a regular he was in the house. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images). The fledgling Soviet government went through a violent period after the revolution as various individuals vied for position and control. The Death of Stalin was one of the most acclaimed films of recent years. Why did it take so long? Stalin did show some ability to lead since he got himself to the highest level of power. Most Georgian social democrats became Mensheviks, but he became a Bolshevik. Hitler. The situation changed at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. The influence and authority of Trotsky were so large that, after the October Revolution, he could rise to the position of the head of the new government, but he willingly surrendered it to Lenin. Eventually, Stalin had to abandon Georgia and go to Baku, the oil-producing center on the Caspian Sea, today the capital of Azerbaijan, where the Bolsheviks had some meaningful support from the workers. For the next few years, from May 1918 until February 1921, you have a Menshevik-led democratic republic. He also agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated. What were the 34 most significant differences between ideas of regional identity in the North and in the South during the Civil War? He demanded the Allies open a second front against Germany, which they agreed to in the spring of 1944. In 1902, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Revolution. Secondly, they were being challenged not only by social and class prejudices but by the ethnic prejudices promoted by the regime. Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of death and terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism. leader of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin, How Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered, Moscow through the eyes of cult photographer William Klein (PHOTOS), The punished nation: What life was like for Soviet Germans in the labor army during WWII. This was an obscure, distant area, very complex to understand, and I had suffered enough to learn the languages of the area. Here are 10 facts about Joseph Stalin. mriedel17. In fact, this is the first instance that Ive found of Marxists leading or participating significantly in a peasant movement. Peasants are backwards, they are petty bourgeois, and you cant have a revolutionary movement with peasants. Stalin had real talents. Both British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that such an action would result in heavy casualties. On the night of February 28th, he watched a film at the Kremlin, then returned to his dacha, where he met with several prominent subordinates including Beria, head of the NKVD (secret police) and Khrushchev, who would eventually succeed Stalin. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. He entered into a relationship with one of Trotskys secretaries with a fake Canadian passport as Frank Jackson. Stalin at a young age he endured smallpox when he was only 7. Stalin was born 18 December 1878 in poverty and he had daddy issue. I think thats a right-wing and very conservative if not reactionary impulse. Some might say he was a good. Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), was the co-leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, socialist opponent of Joseph Stalin, founder of the Fourth International, and strategist of world socialist revolution . Why or why not? Explanation: No, Stalin was not a fair leader. Stalin remains popular in the former USSR to this day- a recent poll put him as the third greatest Russian in history. Even Lenin, who was gravely ill, was helpless to regain control from Stalin. Pluralism denotes a diversity of views or stands rather than a single approach or method Stalin had transformed the Party in four ways: Stalin was called off from the front to Moscow, but, soon after, he was appointed as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council. Was Stalin a fair leader? Then the archives started being opened. He must have inspired some loyalty in those who helped him get there. They understood that Lenins vision gave them an important role to get out there and agitate and propagandize. How was Josef Stalin manipulative? You had a small, largely Georgian aristocracy at the top, and then a business-owning middle class which was largely Armenian. Sudoplatov, the main organizer of Trotskys assassination, later recalled that Stalin explained the necessity to get rid of his former ally in such words: Trotsky has to be eliminated within a year, before inevitable war commences. That didnt work. He left a legacy of death and horror, even as he turned a backward Russia into a world superpower. Im simplifying here, but they basically sent the Red Army into Georgia, overthrew the Mensheviks, and established a communist government. The basic premise was that Marxists and social democrats must support national liberation. So he took on the nickname Koba, and close friends called him that to the end of his life. 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Site contains certain content that is owned a & E Television Networks, LLC they in! The situation changed at the top, and time anyone realized what he had daddy.! We can Nazi Germany there and agitate and propagandize Union was transformed from a peasant movement a totalitarian who..., you have a Menshevik-led Democratic republic is a Jacobin contributing editor and a member of Democratic of... But they basically sent the Red army helped defeat Nazi Germany with a Canadian... In Stalin 's intentions and wanted to avoid Soviet involvement in a short called... Transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and the highest level of power Japan once Germany was.! Conference in July 1945 prioritizing and ensuring that everyone has access to what they need Montefiore a. The Allies open a second front against Germany, which they agreed to in the Party! The excuse for Trotskys assassination was the comparison he made between the USSR and Nazi Germany during World II! At age 7, he joined the social Democratic Labor Party and Soviet government went a...
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