| “ | “Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.” | ” |
–Joseph Stalin | ||
| Joseph Stalin | |
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| Official portrait, 1937 | |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 3 April 1922 – 2 April 1942 | |
| Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov (as Responsible Secretary) |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 6 May 1941 – 2 April 1942 | |
| First Deputy |
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| Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov |
| Succeeded by | Georgy Malenkov |
| Minister of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 19 July 1941 – 2 April 1942 | |
| Premier | Himself |
| Preceded by | Semyon Timoshenko |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| People's Commissar for Nationalities of the Russian SFSR]] | |
| In office 8 November 1917 – 7 July 1923 | |
| Premier | Vladimir Lenin |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 Gori, Russian Empire |
| Died | 2 April 1942 (aged 63) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Political party | CPSU (from 1912)
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| Alma mater | Tiflis Theological Seminary |
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| Military service | |
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| Service/branch | Red Army |
| Years of service | 1918–1920 |
| Commands | Soviet Armed Forces (from 1941) |
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Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 – 2 April 1942) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1942.
Born into a poor Georgian family in Gori, Russian Empire, Stalin attended the Tiflis Spiritual Seminary before joining the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He edited the party's newspaper, Pravda and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction through robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets. Repeatedly arrested, he underwent internal exiles to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Stalin joined the governing Politburo. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin assumed leadership of the country. Under Stalin, the doctrine of socialism in one country became central to the party's ideology. His Five-Year Plans led to agricultural collectivisation and rapid industrialisation, creating a centralised command economy. Severe disruptions to food production contributed to the famine of 1930–33. Stalin's Great Purge used the Gulag system of forced labour camps to eliminate those deemed "enemies of the working class".
Stalin promoted Marxism–Leninism abroad through the Communist International and supported European anti-fascist movements. In 1939, his regime signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with Nazi Germany, enabling the Soviet invasion of Poland. Germany broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union in 1941, leading Stalin to join the Allies. However, the Red Army would not hold back the German forces, who'd eventually reach and take Moscow itself. On April 2, 1942, Stalin committed suicide, seeing no way out as the Germans had virtually blocked all exits out of Moscow. His body was burned and the city fell days later.