Sarah Feddersen Ms. Errington English 9 Honors 30 October 2012 The Fearless Dictator Joseph Stalin No retreat, no surrender!

(Haugen 9) four words the troops for the Soviet Union heard frequently. Dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, was cruel and unforgiving. His only want was for the Soviet Union to be the leading country of the world (Ayling 3) (Haugen 9,12). Joseph Stalins childhood and time prior of his rule over Russia molded him to reign as a harsh and fearless Dictator over the Soviet Union (Haugen 9,12). Stalin was not the name Joseph was born with, and he was not born in Russia. He was born Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Joseph Dzhugashvili was born December 6, 1878, in Georgian, a village in Gori. He grew up extremely poor. Josephs mother was Yekaterina: She worked as a domestic servant (Haugen 15). His father was Vissarion Dzhugashvili who worked in a shoe factory (Haugen 16). The village Georgian was very poor and full of disease and death (Haugen 15). Josephs mother was very strict and he often received a beating if he misbehaved (Haugen 15). His father Vissarion who was an angry alcoholic beat Joseph daily because of his drinking issues. As a young child, Joseph once was beaten so badly that the growth was stunted in his left. His left arm from then on was considerably smaller than his right and hung awkwardly. Such violent abuse by Josephs father is one if the contributing factors at to why he had such little compassion for humanity. At seven, Joseph got small pox which left scars in his Feddersen 2

face for the rest of his life, although citizens under his tyrannical rule thought he got the scars while being tortured in Siberia (Haugen 16). Yekaterina Dzhugashvili wanted her son to become a priest and so greatly aspired for him to be one that she sent him away to the Tiflis Theological School at the age of sixteen (Haugen 17). Joseph was very angry with Yekaterina for sending him away and resented her for the rest of his life because of it (Haugen 18). Joseph was recognized at the Tiflis Theological School for his poetry. Although his poetry was at first romantic it quickly turned dark, twisted, and violent. Joseph started to rebel against the school and soon began failing classes (Haugen 19). Joseph then stated sneaking out and reading books that were forbidden at the Tiflis Theological School in order to learn what was happening in the world (Haugen 20). He secretly bought The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, which explains the concept of communism (Haugen 21). Joseph spent all his free time reading The Communist Manifesto (Haugen 22). Joseph carefully figured out the meaning behind the book and was enthralled with the idea of communism (Haugen 23). Karl Marx and The Communist Manifesto is where all of Joseph Stalins ideas and beliefs stemmed from (Haugen 21). He eventually got so involved in his belief of communism that he quit school and started to work on secret revolutionary activities (Haugen 25). After quitting school Joseph went into hiding and became a full time communist revolutionary. Joseph was very involved in revolutionary activities, and he was the main person to set up the first May Day. After that May Day, 1998 he was targeted by the police. He decided to change his identity so he would not be caught. He changed his name to Joseph Koba (Haugen 25). On April 18, 1902, police caught Joseph and he was exiled to Siberia for three years Feddersen 3

(Haugen 26). January 18, 1903, nine months later, Joseph used a sled to escape jail. He rode the sled from Siberia to Irkutsk. After arriving in Irkutsk he then traveled back to Moscow to begin working on more secret revolutionary activities. By 1903, when Stalin came back from Russia the Communist party had split into two groups: the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks groups. The Bolsheviks beliefs were similar to those of Karl Marx. The Bolsheviks were lead by Vladimir Lenin. Joseph sided with the Bolsheviks because they stayed the closest to Marxism which was based off of Karl Marx (Haugen 27). A revolt against Tsar Nicholas II took place in 1905. It was called the 1905 Revolution. Tsar Nicholas gave the people more freedom and legislature, but they still did not give any respect to the lower classes (Haugen 32). Joseph was sent to Siberia seven times between 1902 and 1913. He escaped six different times (Haugen 27). Joseph Stalins best year was in 1904 when he married his fist spouse Yekaterina Svanidze (Haugen 28). She was a Bolshevik and had the same first name as Josephs mother. During their marriage he traveled to Finland, Sweden, and England to raise money for the Russian revolution. Yekaterina and Joseph had one son named Yakov Stalin. Three years after being married happily Yekaterina died of tuberculosis (Haugen 29). She was the one creature who softened my heart of stone. She is dead, and with her have died my last warm feelings for humanity (Haugen 30). Joseph did not have any companions because he was so mean and rude to everyone (Seaton 16). Vladimir Lenin was not Joseph Stalins favorite, but he admired his hard work and determination. In 1912, Lenin named him to the Bolsheviks Central Committee. He started

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editing the Communist party newspaper the Pravda in 1912 (Haugen 30). Josephs last arrest was in 1913, he stayed for three years until 1917, when the Communist party had taken oven, and Joseph was released with other revolutionaries (Haugen 27). In 1914, when WWI started Russia suffered defeat to the hands of Germany and Austria (Haugen 32). Russia was falling apart, there were food and supplies shortages. The people of Russia blamed their defeat on Tsar Nicholas II. In March, 1917, the citizens of Russia revolted and the 15th Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne (Haugen 33). During the 1917 revolution Joseph was in Siberia while many leaders including Vladimir Lenin had fled the country escaping the police (Haugen 34). When Joseph arrived back in Russia he used the other leaders fleeing as an opportunity to take over the Bolsheviks (Haugen 35). Joseph served as a liaison between the Central Committee and the Bolsheviks who worked in factories, in the military, and the government (Haugen 26). The summer of 1917 was filled with protest because Russia was again at war with Germany causing more food and supply shortages (Haugen 27). Hundred of murders, robberies and fights broke out everyday (Cunningham 62). The Communist party took over Petrograd on November 7, 1917. Three years of civil war broke out causing even more food and supply shortages (Haugen 37). When the Bolshevik government was approved Stalin became one of the most powerful men in Russia (Haugen 37). From 1918 Joseph only thought was to turn Russia into the most powerful country in the world (Haugen 12). On April3, 1922 Stalin was named general secretary of the Russian Communist party (Haugen 39)

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Millions of people were murdered, jailed and exiled because of the lack of empathy and lack of compassion had for humanity (Haugen 9,12). Joseph Stalin was called the man of steel: Fearless with no heart (Goltfried 15). Russia turned from farm land to factories and people turned from farmers to factory workers at the hands of Joseph Stalin (Gibson 32,33,34). The violent, harsh and angry childhood made him a physco-path. He had severe physiological issues that made him such a heartless, fearless, and cruel dictator. He most likely had Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Robbins).