Joseph Stalin was born on December 6, 1878. In June 1894, at the end of school he was awarded the best student and, on the advice of his teachers, in September 1894 he entered the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Tiflis. While studying at the seminary, he read a lot, regularly visited the library, constantly receiving warnings for reading prohibited literature. His first encounter with Marxism dates back to the year 1897, and from there he began to read socialist and Marxist literature closely, a sharp turn on the path of revolutionary developments. He became a member of the social democratic organization called Messameh Ducey. The organisation, whose name means “the third group”, was founded in 1892 and, since it had no nationalistic objectives, the tsarist authorities showed it tolerance and allowed it to operate legally. At the end of 1898, Stalin regularly participated in the meetings of readers of the socialist group “Messameh Ducey”. In the spring of 1899 Stalin increasingly came into conflict with the seminary administration. After receiving several comments about failure to appear for the exam and violations of the regime, he was expelled from the seminar. Then he lost his job, and for a short period he returned home to Gori. At the end of the year he found work and a service apartment at the Tiflis Physical Observatory. Having a cover job, he completely devoted himself to illegal activities and participated in organizing revolutionary speeches. When the Soviet government, after the October Revolution, Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities. He was actively involved in the administrative structure of the marginal areas. His desire for centralization and intolerance often served as a source of c...... middle of paper... collapse. So what was the idea of ​​Stalinist autocracy? How many people died by the will of the tyrant, while he created the machine of repression? From 1929 to 1953, the victims of Stalinist repression were millions of Soviet citizens. Of these, at least a third were sentenced to death or died in camps or in exile. After the war, society at a socio-political level acquired some new characteristics of an obscure bureaucratic and police nature. Stalin managed in every possible way to maintain the external enthusiasm, selfless people who believed that the same shining peaks were about to appear. Instead, they had the constant threat of individual or mass terror. Works Cited Donald Rayfield Stalin and His Executioners Robert Gellately Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe Simon Sebag Montefiore Stalin The Court of the Red Tsar Simon Sebag Montefiore Young Stalin