The Early Years of Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin's full name is Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili He was born on December 18, 1878 in Gori, Georgia, which was a small part of the Russian Empire. When he grew up he chose the name Stalin, which in Russian meant "man of steel". Stalin grew up in a poor family and was an only child. When he was little, Stalin contracted smallpox, which left scars on his face that he would have for life. He got a scholarship to enroll in a university in the city of Tbilisi. When he was there, he was secretly reading the book titled “Communist Manifesto,” written by the social philosopher Karl Marx. He became interested in the radical movement against the Russian monarchy. Stalin was eventually expelled from school due to the disappearance, however he claimed it was for Marxist propaganda. Stalin gains power In 1912, Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, chose Joseph Stalin to help in the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. A few years later, in November 1917, the Bolsheviks remained in control in Russia. The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, with Lenin as its first leader. During this period, Stalin had continued to move up the government chain, and in 1922 he became general secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, this role allowing him to assign his allies to government posts and create a base of political support. Lenin died in 1924, and Stalin eventually outmaneuvered his opponents and won the fight for control of the Communist Party. In the late 1920s he became dictator of the Soviet Union. The Condition of Soviet Russia under Stalin Joseph Stalin began a series of five-year plans in the 1920s aimed at transforming the Soviet Union from a society filled with peasants into an industrialized society... ... middle of paper ..... . 1950, gave North Korea's Kim Il Sung, communist leader of North Korea, approval to attack South Korea. This is what triggered the Korean War. Stalin became increasingly paranoid as he aged. He died at the age of 74, on March 5, 1953, the victim of a stroke. It is estimated that he was responsible for 20 million deaths during his cruel rule. This graph shows the number of deaths in the events of the story. Stalin accounts for the third highest death toll at 20 million. Stalin as a leader Joseph Stalin was a very cruel leader. His reign of terror led to many deaths. He used violence to get rid of anyone or anything that opposed him. The murder initiated by Stalin was sometimes harmful to the economy, because it killed many farmers who were unable to provide sufficient crops for the nation. Overall, Stalin was a ruthless leader who had no sympathy for the people he ruled.