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| Stalin's whole life was characterized by an unceasing fierce struggle against Russian capitalism, against world capitalism, against imperialism and against the anti-Marxist and anti-Leninist currents and trends which had placed themselves in the service of world reaction and capital. Beside Lenin and under his leadership, he was one of the inspirers and leaders of the Great October Socialist Revolution, an unflinching militant of the Bolshevik Party. | |||
| '''Joseph Stalin''' (] - ]) was the second leader of the ]. His real name was '''Josif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili''', and he was also known as Koba (a ] folk hero) to his intimates. The name "Stalin" (derived from combining Russian ''stal'', "steel" with "Lenin") originally was a conspiratorial nickname; however, it stuck to him and he continued to call himself "Stalin" after the ]. Stalin is also reported to have used at least a dozen other names for the purpose of secret communications, but for obvious reasons most of them remain unknown. | |||
| After the death of Lenin, for 30 years on end, Stalin led the struggle for the triumph and defence of socialism in the Soviet Union. That is why there is great love and respect for Stalin and loyalty to him and his work in the hearts of the proletariat and the peoples of the world. That is also why the capitalist bourgeoisie and world reaction display never-ending hostility towards this loyal discipline and outstanding, resolute co-fighter of V1adimir Ilyieh Lenin. | |||
| Stalin earned his place among the greatclassics of Marxism-Leninism with his stern and principled struggle for the defence, consistent implementation and further development of the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin. With his keen mind and special ability, he was able to find his bearings even in the most dIfficult times, when the bourgeoisie and reaction were doing everything in their power to hinder the triumph of the Great October Sodalist Revolution. | |||
| '''Childhood and early years''' | |||
| The difficulties facing the Russian proletariat in the realization of its aspirations were immense, because capitalism reigned in Russia and the world. But capitalism had already produced its own grave-digger the proletariat, the most revolutionary class which was to lead the revolution. This class was to fulfil its historic mission successfully, in merciless struggle against its enemies, and through this struggle, win its rights and freedoms, and take political power into its own hands. On this course, the proletariat was to wrest political and economic power from its oppressors and exploiters - the capitalist bourgeoisie, and build the new world. | |||
| Marx and Engels created the proletarian science of the revolution and scientific socialism. They founded the International Workingmen's Association, known as the First International. The fundamental principles of this first international association of workers were formulated in its Constitutional Manifesto, which defined the road of the proletariat for the liquidation of private ownership of the means of production, for the creation of the party of the proletariat to seize state power on the revolutionary road, as well as for the struggle the proletariat had to wage against capitalism and opportunism, which presented itself in different <<theoretical>> forms in dIfferent countries. | |||
| Born in Gori, ] to illiterate peasant parents (who had been serfs at birth), his harsh spirit has been blamed on undeserved and severe beatings by his father, inspiring vengeful feelings towards anyone in a position to wield power over him (perhaps also a reason he became a revolutionary). His mother set him on a path to become a priest, and he studied Russian ] until he was nearly twenty. | |||
| Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the brilliant continuer of the work of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, basing himself on their major works and defending them with rare mastery, waged the struggle against the trends of revisionists, opportunists, and other renegades. | |||
| The traitors discarded the great banner of the First International and openly spurned the slogan of the Communist Manifesto: <<Workers of all countries, unite!>>. Instead of opposing the imperialist war, these renegades from Marxism voted credits for it. | |||
| His involvement with the socialist movement began at seminary school, from which he was expelled in 1899. From there on he worked for a decade with the political underground in the ]. He soon followed ]'s ideology of centralism and a strong party of "professional revolutionaries". His practical experience made him useful in Lenin's ] party leading up to the 1917 ] (in which he played no direct part). | |||
| Lenin wrote major works in defence and for the development of Marxism. In particular, he endched the ideas of Marx and Engels on the construction of socialist and communist society. | |||
| Always bearing in mind the materialist development of history, as well as the conditions of the country and the epoch in which he was living, Lenin fought for the creation and consolidation of the Bolshevik Party. Vladimir Ilyich, together with the other bolsheviks, through an intensive revolutionary struggle within Russia and abroad, in the conditions of the decay of czarisn and its army, prepared and launched the Great Proletarian Socialist Revolution. | |||
| '''Rise to power''' | |||
| Lenin's plan of genius for the triumph of the revolution was realized. After the Great Revolution, which shook the old world and opened up a new epoch in the history of mankind - the epoch of the liquidation of oppression and exploitation, was crowned with success, Lenin continued the struggle for the construction of the first socialist state. Lenin's devoted collaborator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, fought and worked together with him. It is understandable that the bourgeoisie could not fail to rise against the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin and their correct, resolute and unwavering actions in favour of the working class and the peoples, and it did so, without hesitation, savagely and consistently, never ceasing to aim its various weapons against them. This great, organized hostility of capitalism and the reactionary world bourgeoisie was confronted with the great, organized and invincible strength of the Russian proletariat in unity with the world proletariat. This confrontation was an expression of a fierce class struggle within and outside Russia, which was apparent during that whole period in the clashes with the interventionist forces and the remnants of czarism and Russian reaction. These enemies had to be fought mercilessly. | |||
| The Bolshevik Party had to be tempered, the building of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, as the principal issue of the revolution, had to be completed and the foundations of the socialist economy laid in the course of this class struggle. Therefore, fundamental reforms had to be carried out in all sectors of life, but on a new course, in a new spirit, with a new purpose; Marx's theory on philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism had to be applied in a creative manner and under the concrete conditions of czarist Russia. | |||
| Stalin spent his first years after the revolution secretly building his post as general secretary into the most powerful one in the communist party. After ]'s death in ], a triumvirate of Stalin, ], and ] governed between ] (on the left wing of the party) and ] (on the right wing of the party). Soon after, Stalin switched sides and joined with Bukharin. Together, they fought a new opposition of Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev. By ] (the first year of the ]s) Stalin's supremacy was complete. From this year, he could be said to have exercised control over the party and the country (although the formalities were not complete until the Great Purges of ]-]). | |||
| All these aims were to be realized under the leadership of the proletariat, as the most advanced and most revolutionary class, relying on its alliance the poor and middle peasantry. After the creation of the new state power, a great and heroic struggle had to be waged to improve the economic and cultural life of the peoples liberated from the yoke of czarism and foreign capital of other European countries. In this titanic struggle, Stalin stood firm beside Lenin; he was a front-line fighter. | |||
| The more the new Soviet state became consolidated politically, the more industry developed in all its branches, the more the collective agriculture and the new socialist culture developed in the Soviet Union, the fiercer the resistance of the external enemies and local reaction became. The enemies intensified this struggle especially after the death of V1adimir Ilyich Lenin. | |||
| The final stage of Stalin's rise to power was the ordered assassination of Trotsky in ] in ], where he had lived since ] (he was exiled from the ] in ].). Indeed, after Trotsky's death only two members of the "Old Bolsheviks" (Lenin's ]) remained - Stalin himself and his foreign minister ]. | |||
| Before the body of Lenin, Stalin pledged that he would loyally follow his teachings, would carry out his behests to keep the lofty title of the Communist pure, to safeguard and strengthen the unity of the Bolshevik Party, to preserve and ceaselessly steel the dictatorship of the proletariat, to constantly strengthen the alliance of the working class with the peasantry, to remain loyal to the end to the principles of proletarian internazionalism to defend the first socialist state from the ambitions of the local bourgeois and landowner enemies and the external imperialist enemies, who wanted to destroy it, and to carry the construction of socialism through to the end in one sixth of the earth. | |||
| .Josewph Stalin kept his word. At the head of the Bolshevik Party he knew how to lead the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union and to make the great Homeland of the Russian proletariat and all the peoples of the Soviet Union a colossal base for the world revolution. He showed himself to be a worthy continuer of the work of Marx, Engels and Lenin, and gave brilliant proof that he was a great, clear-minded and resolute Marxist-Leninist. | |||
| '''Purges and mass murders''' | |||
| Stalin consolidated his power base with the ] against his political and ideological opponents, most notably the old cadres and the rank and file of the ]. Measures used against them ranged from imprisonment in work camps (]) to assassination (such as that of Leon Trotsky and ]). Several show trials were held in Moscow, to serve as examples for the trials that local courts were expected to carry out elsewere in the country. There were four key trials from 1936 to 1938, The Trial of the Sixteen was the first (December 1936); then the Trial of the Seventeen (January 1937); then the trial of ] generals, including Marshal Tukhachevsky (June 1937); and finally the ] (including ]) in March 1938. | |||
| Under the pretext of constructing `] in one country', Stalin terrorized large segments of the Soviet population, such as the ] (prosperous farmers), who were disinherited when agriculture was collectivized. He also orchestrated a massive famine in the ] in which an estimated 5 million people died. It is believed that with the purges, forced famines, state terrorism, labor camps, and forced migrations, Stalin was responsible for the death of as many as 40 million people within the borders of the Soviet Union. According to former National Security Advisor to US President ], ], Stalin murdered an estimated 20 million people. | |||
| '''World War II''' | |||
| In ] Stalin agreed to the ] with ] which divided ] between the two powers. The official Allied version has been: In ], however, ] broke the pact and invaded the ] (see ]). Under Stalin's leadership the Soviet ] put up fierce resistance, but were ineffective against the advancing ] forces. | |||
| Stalin was, up to this point, very wary of the Germans, and would not permit his armies even to assume defensive positions for fear of sending the wrong signals to Hitler. Up to the final moment, and the invasion by the Germans, he held out hope that the Molotov-Rippentrop Pact would buy him time to modernize and strengthen his military forces (recently weakened by purges). | |||
| The Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow in December 1941, but were stopped by an early winter and a Soviet counter-offensive. At the ] in 1942-43, after sacrificing an estimated 1 million men, the Red Army was able to regain the initiative in the fighting. With military eqipment aid from their allies the Soviet forces regained their lost territory and pushed their over-stretched enemy back to ] itself. | |||
| From the end of 1944 large sections of eastern Germany came under Stalin's Soviet Union occupation and on ] 1945, the German capital city ] was taken. | |||
| By some estimates, ''one quarter'' of the Russian population was wiped out in the war. There was, then, a huge shortage of men of the fighting-age generation in Russia. As a result, to this day, World War II is remembered very vividly in Russia, and ], Victory Day, is one of its biggest national holidays. | |||
| '''Post-war era''' | |||
| Following ] Stalin continued his genocidal policies while exerting ruthless control over the Soviet Union and its satellite states until his death (5 March ]). | |||
| Over fifteen million Germans were removed from eastern Germany and pushed into central Germany (later called GDR (])) and western Germany (later called FRG (])). Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs and others were then moved onto German land. Other ethnic groups, like the ] ] and the ] Germans, were moved to the Asian part of the Soviet Union. Millions of German ]s and Soviet ex-POWs were sent to the Gulags. The eastern European states occupied by the Red Army were established as communist ]s. | |||
| '''Policies and accomplishments''' | |||
| Stalin is often credited with successfully industrializing the Soviet Union. What can be said without controversy is that by the time of ], the Soviet economy had been industrialized to the point that the Soviets could resist the German invasion. That Stalin or his policies are to be credited for this is contended. | |||
| Stalin is also generally credited with destroying the concept of communal socialism (communism) and with "stealing the revolution" (although Lenin started this work). | |||
| See also: | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| Other topics to be added: | |||
| *Family life | |||
| *Opinions | |||
Revision as of 10:34, 16 December 2002
Stalin's whole life was characterized by an unceasing fierce struggle against Russian capitalism, against world capitalism, against imperialism and against the anti-Marxist and anti-Leninist currents and trends which had placed themselves in the service of world reaction and capital. Beside Lenin and under his leadership, he was one of the inspirers and leaders of the Great October Socialist Revolution, an unflinching militant of the Bolshevik Party. After the death of Lenin, for 30 years on end, Stalin led the struggle for the triumph and defence of socialism in the Soviet Union. That is why there is great love and respect for Stalin and loyalty to him and his work in the hearts of the proletariat and the peoples of the world. That is also why the capitalist bourgeoisie and world reaction display never-ending hostility towards this loyal discipline and outstanding, resolute co-fighter of V1adimir Ilyieh Lenin. Stalin earned his place among the greatclassics of Marxism-Leninism with his stern and principled struggle for the defence, consistent implementation and further development of the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin. With his keen mind and special ability, he was able to find his bearings even in the most dIfficult times, when the bourgeoisie and reaction were doing everything in their power to hinder the triumph of the Great October Sodalist Revolution. The difficulties facing the Russian proletariat in the realization of its aspirations were immense, because capitalism reigned in Russia and the world. But capitalism had already produced its own grave-digger the proletariat, the most revolutionary class which was to lead the revolution. This class was to fulfil its historic mission successfully, in merciless struggle against its enemies, and through this struggle, win its rights and freedoms, and take political power into its own hands. On this course, the proletariat was to wrest political and economic power from its oppressors and exploiters - the capitalist bourgeoisie, and build the new world. Marx and Engels created the proletarian science of the revolution and scientific socialism. They founded the International Workingmen's Association, known as the First International. The fundamental principles of this first international association of workers were formulated in its Constitutional Manifesto, which defined the road of the proletariat for the liquidation of private ownership of the means of production, for the creation of the party of the proletariat to seize state power on the revolutionary road, as well as for the struggle the proletariat had to wage against capitalism and opportunism, which presented itself in different <<theoretical>> forms in dIfferent countries. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the brilliant continuer of the work of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, basing himself on their major works and defending them with rare mastery, waged the struggle against the trends of revisionists, opportunists, and other renegades. The traitors discarded the great banner of the First International and openly spurned the slogan of the Communist Manifesto: <<Workers of all countries, unite!>>. Instead of opposing the imperialist war, these renegades from Marxism voted credits for it. Lenin wrote major works in defence and for the development of Marxism. In particular, he endched the ideas of Marx and Engels on the construction of socialist and communist society. Always bearing in mind the materialist development of history, as well as the conditions of the country and the epoch in which he was living, Lenin fought for the creation and consolidation of the Bolshevik Party. Vladimir Ilyich, together with the other bolsheviks, through an intensive revolutionary struggle within Russia and abroad, in the conditions of the decay of czarisn and its army, prepared and launched the Great Proletarian Socialist Revolution. Lenin's plan of genius for the triumph of the revolution was realized. After the Great Revolution, which shook the old world and opened up a new epoch in the history of mankind - the epoch of the liquidation of oppression and exploitation, was crowned with success, Lenin continued the struggle for the construction of the first socialist state. Lenin's devoted collaborator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, fought and worked together with him. It is understandable that the bourgeoisie could not fail to rise against the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin and their correct, resolute and unwavering actions in favour of the working class and the peoples, and it did so, without hesitation, savagely and consistently, never ceasing to aim its various weapons against them. This great, organized hostility of capitalism and the reactionary world bourgeoisie was confronted with the great, organized and invincible strength of the Russian proletariat in unity with the world proletariat. This confrontation was an expression of a fierce class struggle within and outside Russia, which was apparent during that whole period in the clashes with the interventionist forces and the remnants of czarism and Russian reaction. These enemies had to be fought mercilessly. The Bolshevik Party had to be tempered, the building of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, as the principal issue of the revolution, had to be completed and the foundations of the socialist economy laid in the course of this class struggle. Therefore, fundamental reforms had to be carried out in all sectors of life, but on a new course, in a new spirit, with a new purpose; Marx's theory on philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism had to be applied in a creative manner and under the concrete conditions of czarist Russia. All these aims were to be realized under the leadership of the proletariat, as the most advanced and most revolutionary class, relying on its alliance the poor and middle peasantry. After the creation of the new state power, a great and heroic struggle had to be waged to improve the economic and cultural life of the peoples liberated from the yoke of czarism and foreign capital of other European countries. In this titanic struggle, Stalin stood firm beside Lenin; he was a front-line fighter. The more the new Soviet state became consolidated politically, the more industry developed in all its branches, the more the collective agriculture and the new socialist culture developed in the Soviet Union, the fiercer the resistance of the external enemies and local reaction became. The enemies intensified this struggle especially after the death of V1adimir Ilyich Lenin. Before the body of Lenin, Stalin pledged that he would loyally follow his teachings, would carry out his behests to keep the lofty title of the Communist pure, to safeguard and strengthen the unity of the Bolshevik Party, to preserve and ceaselessly steel the dictatorship of the proletariat, to constantly strengthen the alliance of the working class with the peasantry, to remain loyal to the end to the principles of proletarian internazionalism to defend the first socialist state from the ambitions of the local bourgeois and landowner enemies and the external imperialist enemies, who wanted to destroy it, and to carry the construction of socialism through to the end in one sixth of the earth. .Josewph Stalin kept his word. At the head of the Bolshevik Party he knew how to lead the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union and to make the great Homeland of the Russian proletariat and all the peoples of the Soviet Union a colossal base for the world revolution. He showed himself to be a worthy continuer of the work of Marx, Engels and Lenin, and gave brilliant proof that he was a great, clear-minded and resolute Marxist-Leninist.