Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Iosif Stalin (1879 – 1953) is certainly the most important political figure in the entire history of the Slavic people, more specifically the Russian ethnic group. Many will not know that Joseph was born in Gori, Georgia, under the rule of the Russian Tsars. He was born into a somewhat unhappy family (his father was an alcoholic).

His passage through history and political books is not unworthy of mention , because Stalin, in addition to creating a state of almost total domination over the citizens, transformed Russia from a feudal character to an economic and military power, thanks to his agrarian reforms promoted under Soviet communism, the militarization and modernization of the army and the great responsibility that had its role in the end of World War II (1939 – 1945).

Brief biography and the emergence of Stalin

Joseph Stalin was orphaned in his teens, and when his father could not take care of his education (he was poor and often beat his son), he entered a religious boarding school. From a good start he stood out for his insubordination and contempt at school before the authorities of the teaching staff.

At that time, Stalin joined the ranks of the socialist revolutionary struggles and activities, opposing the absolutism of the tsars. In 1903, the Russian Social Democratic Party split in two, with Yosif following the insignia of the more radical “Bolshevik” wing.

It was at that moment that Iósif acquired the name “Stalin”, which means “man of iron” , to honor his implacable character when it came to carrying out his ideas, resorting to practices of dubious legitimacy, such as the purge he initiated against another revolutionary like Leon Trotsky, his archenemy in the struggle for power.

Founded the Social Democratic Party as a Communist Party , Stalin became the General Secretary in 1922, after the triumph of the Russian Revolution in 1917, he saw in the chaos the opportunity to rise in power and become the strongman of change.

The USSR and Stalinism

The Union of Soviet Republics was established in 1922, until it collapsed in 1991. The idea of the Marxist republic was the emergence of a socialist world power and to extend geographically in its area of influence. This meant its assimilation in the whole Eurasian part, reaching even the Arab and Latin American countries.

As it could not be otherwise, Iosif Stalin was its maximum defender and exponent of such a project, and with much cunning he knew how to impose his law. He turned the country into not only an economic or military power, but also an ideological one . It meant a meteoric evolution on an industrial level for Russia, competing with the United States for world hegemony.

However, everything has a price. Price that had to be paid by the local population, submitted to a police state , with oppressive touches and eliminating any kind of political dissidence. He purged his most direct collaborators, imposed harsh labor laws to accelerate technological development and tyrannized the rest of the Satellite States (countries under the communist regime).

Model for some, oppressor for others

Joseph Stalin did not leave – nor does he leave – anyone indifferent. Admirers boast of him and even pay tribute to him annually in his native Georgia, turning the rite into a kind of pilgrimage. On the other hand, many are those who qualify him as one of the most bloodthirsty dictators history has ever known.

The socio-economic measures carried out by the “man of iron” are indisputable: agrarian reform, the technological revolution, the development of the aeronautical industry that led the Russians to be the first to orbit space, and the collectivization of the means of production, marked a before and after on an international level that lasts until today.

He also achieved all this with an iron fist, by decimating individual rights such as freedom of expression, the ban on exile and by creating fearsome secret services such as the K.G.B. He is said to have murdered more Communists than his own enemies.

His death in 1953 from natural causes, meant the decline of the Socialist Union and of its degree of supremacy, contributing to the so-called “Cold War”, where the USSR would gradually lose influence and power until it came to an end in 1991.