Joseph Stalin seized power after the death of Lenin. He ruled the Soviet Union fro 1929 to 1953. His dictatorship marked the expansion of Soviet control over one-fourth of the world.

Josef Dugashelie

JoJo

I. Birth and Early Childhood

A. Born on December 21, 1879

B. Lived in Georgia, in the Caucasus

C. Parents

1. Abused and abandoned by father

2. Supported by mother who worked as a laundress

II. Education

A. Attended parish school at Gori

B. Attended Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1894

1. Joined a secret socialist organization

2. Influenced by ideas of Karl Marx

3. Expelled for radicalism

III. Imprisonment for revolutionary agitation

A. Organized railroad workers and strikes

1. Robbed trains

2. Called Koba after the Georgian "Robin Hood" myth

3. Spied for the Czar's secret service

B. Arrested and sent to Siberia

C. Escaped during the Revolution of 1905.

IV. Follower of Bolshevik Lenin

A. Returned to Georgia

1. Wrote fiery pamphlets

2. Translated Lenin into Georgian

B. Met Lenin at Party Congress in 1905

C. Adopted new name in 1913

1. Became known at Stalin, Man of Steel

2. Edited Pravda

D. Bolshevik Revolution in 1917

1. Supported tactics of Lenin

2. Helped Lenin escape from Ptrograd

E. Became Commissar of nationalities 1917-1922

V. Assumption of Total Power

A. Elected Secretary General of Party, 1922

1. Controlled machinery of the Party (everyday administrative activities)

B. Lenin has heart attack

1. Stalin isolates him by controlling the information he receives

2. Controlled the government through the Party

C. Lenin dies in 1924

D. Defeated Trotsky in 1925 when he expelled him from the USSR

1. Trotsky later assassinated during his exile in Mexico

VI. Struggled to keep power

A. Abolished free expression

B. Begins 5 year plans for Industrialization moving peasant off their farms to the cities

and collectivizes the farms.

C. Kills 70,000 military officers whom he believes may conspire against him

VII. Became absolute dictator from 1929 to 1953

A. From 1929 to 1953 is responsible for 29 million deaths through pogoms and purges.