_Joseph Stalin _
By: Dominick Evidente
Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin was born on Dec. 21, 1876 in Gori, Georgia.
Joseph Stalins original name was Iosef Vissaronovich Ozhungashvili, but he
adopted his name to Joseph Stalin which means, man of steel (World Book
825). His fathers name was Vissarion Ivanovich Djugashvili. His father was a
drunk and had a job being a shoemaker. Since Josephs father didnt make much
money Josephs mom, Ekaterina Gleladaz Djugaholi, who became a washerwoman to
help support her family. The Stalins lived in a small shack, and Joseph was
an only child. When Joseph was a young boy Stalins father left him. In 1888
Stalin was sent to a church school in Gori (World Book 825)He spent 5 years
there and was a brilliant student. Stalin received a scholarship at the
religious seminary in Tbilisi. To a surprise, Stalin entered his school to
study priesthood in the Georgian Orthodox Church in the year 1984 (World Book
825). In 1898, Stalin joined a secret Marxist revolutionary group (World Book
825). Stalin got expelled from his school for not appearing for an
examination Stalin joined a Marxist movement and when it split in 1903, he
went with more radical Bolsheviks. In 1904 he married but his wife died of
tuberculosis after 3 years (World Book 825). He married again in 1919, but his
2nd wife killed herself, leaving Stalin with a son and daughter (World Book
825). The son became an alcoholic and his daughter defected to the United
States During Stalins underground career he was arrested at least 6 times
and spent time as an exile in Siberia. He engaged in robbery, murder, labor
agitation, and served as editor and writer for various newspapers, where he
first used the name Stalin (The Red Tsar http.go2net.com). When the
communist come to power in 1922 Stalin got a great position as a Secretary
General of Communist Party (World Book 826). Before Lenin died he thought that
Stalin was too vicious of a man. Lenin wrote a note to Leon Trotsky to succeed
him Stalin had Lenins note suppressed and joined with two other members the
Poliboro to defeat Trotsky. Then Stalin turned on the two who helped him
defeat Trotsky and by 1928 had made himself the dictator of the Soviet Union
(The Red Tsar http.go2net.com). With power in his hand Stalin began his
five-year plan. The plan was to industrialize the country, a program that
went hand-in-hand with a plan to bring all agriculture under state country
This initial attempt to industrialize the country (as compared with later
attempts) was generally successful, but collectivization was extremely
unpopular and was resisted by the peasants. In response Stalin had millions of
them killed, or allowed to starve to death. In 1934 Stalin began a massive
slaughter of party members and military leaders, and in 1937 entered into the
famous nonagression pact with Adolph Hitler (The Red Tsar http.go2net.com).
Hitler later broke the pact and attacked the Soviet Union. 1953 Stalin died
(World Book 828).
_Bibliography _
Bibliography Caulkins, Janet. Joseph Stalin. New York: Franklin Watts, 1990
Joseph Stalin, 1879-1953. Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe, 1998.
Htttp://www.pagesz.net/~stevek/europe/stalin.html (12 May 2000). Kolesnikova,
Valentina. Electric Library. (1st edition), [CD-ROM]. Joseph Stalin: Alls
fair in party warfare. Stalin, Joseph. Encyclopedia America, Vol. 25. 1990
ed. Stalin, Joseph. The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 18. 1991 ed.
Word Count: 500
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