Stalin led. Stalin and the sole power
People speak of Stalin as the Leader and General Secretary among the people, less often as the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Government of the USSR. All this is true, but if you ask if Stalin was General Secretary right up to his death, then most of the respondents will be mistaken in saying that Joseph Vissarionovich died in the post of Secretary General. Many historians are also mistaken when they say that Stalin wanted to leave the post of general secretary in the fifties.
The fact is that Stalin liquidated the post of General Secretaries of the CPSU (b) in the thirties and until the sixties, already under Brezhnev, there were no general secretaries (already the Central Committee of the CPSU!) in the USSR. Khrushchev was First Secretary and Head of Government after Stalin's death. What post did Stalin himself hold from the thirties until his death, what post did he want to leave? Let's look into this.
Was Stalin the General Secretary? This question will surprise almost everyone. The answer will follow - of course it was! But if you ask an elderly person who remembers the late 1930s and early 50s about this, whether Stalin was called that then, he will answer: “I don’t remember something. You know, for sure - no.”
On the other hand, we have heard many times that in April 1922, at the plenum of the Central Committee after the 21st Party Congress, "at Lenin's suggestion" Stalin was elected General Secretary. And after that there was a lot of talk about his secretaryship.
Should be sorted out. Let's start from afar.
The secretary, according to the original meaning of the word, is a clerical position. Not a single state or political institution can do without office work. The Bolsheviks, from the very beginning aimed at seizing power, paid much attention to their archives. It was inaccessible to most of the party members, but Lenin often looked into it for his polemics, in other words, scolding. He had no difficulties - Krupskaya kept the archive.
After February Revolution Elena Stasova became secretary of the Central Committee (still with a small letter). If Krupskaya kept the party archive in her desk, then Stasova was given a room in Kseshinskaya's mansion, she got a staff - 3 assistants. In August 1917, after the 6th Congress of the Central Committee, a secretariat was established, headed by Sverdlov.
Further more. Bureaucratization gradually embraced the Bolshevik Party. In 1919, the Politburo and the Orgburo arose. Stalin entered both. In 1920, Krestinsky, a supporter of Trotsky, became the head of the secretariat. A year after the next discussion, it's easier otherwise - squabbles, Krestinsky and other "Trotskyites" were taken out of all the highest bodies of the party. Stalin, as usual, skillfully maneuvered and remained senior in the Orgburo, which included the secretariat.
While Lenin and other "best minds" of the party were engaged in big politics, Stalin, in the words of Trotsky, "outstanding mediocrity", was preparing his army - the party apparatus. Separately, it should be said about Molotov, a typical party official, completely devoted to Stalin. He is in 1921-22. led the secretariat, i.e. was his predecessor.
By April 1922, when Stalin became General Secretary, his position was quite strong. Almost no one noticed this appointment itself. In the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia in the article "VKP(b)" (1928) Stalin is never mentioned separately and there is not a word about any general secretariat. And it was formalized in "working order", among others, "listened-decided", at the suggestion, by the way, of Kamenev.
Most often, the General Secretary was remembered in connection with the so-called "Lenin's Testament" (in fact, the document was called "Letter to the Congress"). One should not think that Lenin only spoke badly about Stalin: "too rude," and offered to replace him with someone else. The most humane person did not say a kind word about any of his "Parteigenosse".
There is an important feature of Lenin's statement about Stalin. Lenin dictated the proposal to remove him on January 4, 1923, after he learned of Stalin's rudeness towards Krupskaya. The main text of the "Testament" was dictated on December 23-25, 1922, and it says rather reservedly about Stalin: "concentrated immense power in his hands," and so on. In any case, not much worse than about others (Trotsky is self-confident, Bukharin is a scholastic, does not understand dialectics, and in general, almost a non-Marxist). So much for the "principled" Vladimir Ilyich. Until Stalin got nasty to his wife, he did not even think about removing Stalin.
I will not dwell on the further history of the Testament. It is important to emphasize that Stalin, by skillful demagogy, flexible tactics, and blockade with various "Tsekists", ensured that the post of General Secretary remained with him. Let us go straight to 1934, when the 17th Party Congress took place.
It has already been written many times that some of the congress delegates decided to replace Stalin with Kirov. Naturally, there are no documents about this, and "memoir evidence" is extremely contradictory. The charter of the party, based on the notorious "democratic centralism", completely excludes any personnel transfers by decision of congresses. The congresses elected only the central bodies, but no one personally. Such issues were resolved in a narrow circle of the party elite.
Nevertheless, the "Testament" was not forgotten, and Stalin could not yet consider himself guaranteed against all sorts of accidents. At the end of the 1920s, the "Testament" was mentioned openly or veiled at various party gatherings. They talked about him, for example, Kamenev, Bukharin and even Kirov. Stalin had to defend himself. He interpreted Lenin's words about his rudeness as praise that he was rude to those who "rudely and treacherously destroy and split the party."
By 1934, Stalin decided to put an end to all talk of the Testament. In the era of the "Great Terror", the possession of this Leninist document began to be equated with counter revolutionary activity. With related findings. Neither at the 17th Congress nor at the subsequent plenum of the Central Committee was the question of the General Secretary raised. Since then, Stalin signed all the documents modestly - the Secretary of the Central Committee, even after the Presovnarkom Molotov. This was until May 1940, when he combined both positions.
In October 1952, at the plenum after the 19th Congress, the post of General Secretary was abolished - officially, however, there was no information about this. No one should have remembered this story at all.
They revived the General Secretariat many years later, in the Brezhnev era.
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the topic of this note is rather secondary, and in no case should Stalin's unwillingness to be called General Secretary after 1934 be regarded as a sign of his "modesty". This is just his petty maneuver, aimed at quickly forgetting about Lenin's letter and all the vicissitudes associated with it.
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December 18, 1878(according to other versions, December 21, 1879) - was born in the city of Tori, Tiflis province, Russian Empire. Father, Vissarion Ivanovich Dzhugashvili, was a shoemaker and subsequently opened a shoe factory.
1888-1894- Joseph Stalin studied at the Gori Orthodox Theological School.
In September 1894 he graduated from college and entered the Orthodox Tiflis Theological Seminary. At this time, he became acquainted with the ideas of Marxism and began to associate with underground groups of revolutionary Marxists.
1897-1898- began to actively join the social democratic movement, became the leader of an illegal circle in the seminary, was engaged in the propaganda of Marxism.
May 29, 1899, before the exams, Stalin was expelled from the seminary. One of the most likely reasons is his propaganda activity, which the leaders were aware of. educational institution. A certificate was issued to Stalin, according to which he could work as a teacher in elementary public schools.
December 1899- Stalin was hired as a computer-observer at the Tiflis Physical Observatory.
Since the 1900s he began to be even more actively engaged in revolutionary propaganda activities.
April 5, 1902 was arrested for organizing strikes and rallies. After one and a half years of imprisonment in the Kutaisi prison, he was exiled to Siberia, from where he fled.
In 1906 Stalin visited the IV Congress of the RSDLP in Stockholm (Sweden), where he met many famous revolutionaries and entered into a debate with Vladimir Lenin regarding agrarian policy.
July 16, 1906 Joseph Stalin married seventeen-year-old Ekaterina Svanidze in the St. David Church in Tiflis. In 1907 their son Yakov was born.
March 25, 1908 a year later, he was arrested again and imprisoned in the Bayil prison. Being exiled to the city of Solvychegodsk, Vologda province, he again escaped. After the capture, he was again in custody, then again made attempts to escape. The last escape was made on February 29, 1912.
1912-1913 - worked in St. Petersburg in the underground editorial office of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda. After the publication of the first issue of the newspaper, he was arrested and exiled to the Narym Territory. Subsequently, he fled and hid in St. Petersburg, and also engaged in the development of Bolshevik views at the insistence of Lenin.
March 1913.- arrest of Stalin and his exile in the Turukhansk region Yenisei province. From exile he returned to St. Petersburg only in March 1917.
1917- worked in the editorial office of Pravda, took over the management of the St. Petersburg Committee of the Bolsheviks and the Central Committee. Became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. Took part in events October revolution. After the Bolshevik victory, Stalin became a member of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) as People's Commissar for Nationalities.
May 1918- Stalin married for the second time the daughter of a Russian revolutionary, Nadezhda Alliluyeva.
1917-1922- period civil war in Russia. Stalin, on a party assignment, traveled to the south of Russia, supervised the export of Caucasian grain to industrial centers, participated in the defense of Tsaritsyn, was engaged in the preparation of the defense of Smolensk. In 1919, he was appointed People's Commissar of State Control at the suggestion of Lenin. In 1921, Stalin adopted the son of his deceased friend Artyom, and in the same year his second son, Vasily, was born. By 1922, due to Lenin's illness, Stalin was in fact the head of the country.
In 1926 Stalin was again re-elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he continued to develop the ideas of "the victory of socialism in one country." In the same year, Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, was born in Leningrad.
1926-1930- a period of gradual concentration of all power in the hands of Stalin. At party meetings, he equated any disagreement with the party line to a crime.
Since the 1930s, Stalin became the sole leader of the entire people, and all who had previously been part of the anti-Stalinist opposition (Trotsky, Kamenev, Bukharin, Zinoviev, etc.) were expelled from the party and recognized as "enemies of the people."
Forced collectivization was carried out, the so-called. dispossession, mass repressions. Stalin also decided to head for industrialization - industrial facilities were built throughout the country.
In 1932 Stalin's wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, committed suicide, and in 1937 Stalin's mother died, but he did not come to her funeral.
The second half of the 1930s was marked by mass terror. "Enemies of the people" were exiled en masse to camps or were executed in the cellars of the NKVD. Repression affected almost all sectors of society.
August 23, 1939 year, a non-aggression pact was signed with Nazi Germany - the so-called. "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact".
June 22, 1941 German troops invaded the territory of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Stalin was proclaimed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as well as People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, took part in the planning of military operations, led the course of hostilities from Moscow, participated in the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition together with US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill. During the war, Stalin's first son, Yakov, died at the front.
In June 1945 Stalin for military merit received the title of Hero Soviet Union and specially introduced military rank Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. In October of the same year, he was diagnosed with a microstroke.
March 19, 1946 Stalin accepted the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the post of Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Starting from 1946 until the early 1950s, a course was set for the accelerated restoration of the country, devastated after the war. Stalin also actively promoted the implementation of the Soviet "atomic project" in the conditions of the "cold war" with the United States.
From August 9, 1951 to February 12, 1952 Stalin was on a long vacation for health reasons. At the end of 1952, Stalin asked to be removed from the post of Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, but the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU rejected his request.
In February 1953 Stalin held his last meeting with Malenkov, Beria, Bulganin and Khrushchev at his residence called "Near Dacha".
March 5, 1953 Stalin died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His body in a sarcophagus was installed in the Mausoleum next to the body of Lenin.
October 31, 1961 year, at the initiative of Khrushchev, Stalin's body was reburied behind the Mausoleum near the Kremlin wall.
I have long wanted to write. The attitude towards Stalin in our country is largely polar. Some hate him, others praise him. I always liked to look at things soberly and try to understand their essence.
So Stalin was never a dictator. Moreover, he was never the leader of the USSR. Do not rush to snort skeptically. Although let's do it easier. I will now ask you two questions. If you know the answers to them, you can close this page. What follows will seem uninteresting to you.
1. Who was the leader after Lenin's death Soviet state?
2. When exactly did Stalin become dictators, at least a year?
Let's start from afar. In each country there is a position, occupying which, a person becomes the head of this state. This is not always the case, but exceptions only prove the rule. And in general, it doesn’t matter what this position is called, the president, the prime minister, the chairman of the great khural, or just the leader and beloved leader, the main thing is that it always exists. Due to certain changes in the political formation of a given country, it can also change its name. But one thing remains unchanged, after the person occupying it leaves his place (for one reason or another), another always takes his place, who automatically becomes the next first person of the state.
So now the next question - what was the name of this position in the USSR? General Secretary? Are you sure?
Well let's look. So Stalin became the General Secretary of the CPSU(b) in 1922. Then Lenin was still alive and even tried to work. But Lenin was never General Secretary. He only held the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. After him, this place was taken by Rykov. Those. what does it mean that Rykov became the leader of the Soviet state after Lenin? I'm sure some of you have never even heard of this name. At the same time, Stalin did not yet have any special powers of authority. Moreover, purely legally, the CPSU (b) was at that time just one of the departments in the Comintern, on a par with the parties of other countries. It is clear that the Bolsheviks gave money for all this anyway, but formally everything was exactly like that. The Comintern was then led by Zinoviev. Maybe he was at that time the first person of the state? It is unlikely that, in terms of his influence on the party, he was far inferior, for example, to the same Trotsky.
Then who then was the first person and leader? The next one is even funnier. Do you think Stalin was already a dictator in 1934? I think you now answer in the affirmative. So this year, the post of General Secretary was abolished altogether. Why how? Well, like this. Formally, Stalin remained a simple secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. By the way, he signed it in all documents later. And in the charter of the party there was no position of general secretary at all.
In 1938, the so-called "Stalinist" constitution was adopted. According to it, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was called the supreme executive body of our country. Which was headed by Kalinin. Foreigners called him the "president" of the USSR. What kind of power he actually had, you all know very well.
Well, think about it, you say. There is also a decorative president in Germany, and the Chancellor rules everything. Yes it's true. But only so it was before Hitler and after him. In the summer of 1934, Hitler was elected Fuhrer (leader) of the nation in a referendum. Incidentally received 84.6% percent of the vote. And only then did he become, in essence, a dictator, i. a person with unlimited power. As you understand, Stalin legally did not have such powers at all. And this greatly limits the possibilities of power.
Well, it's not important, you say. On the contrary, such a position was very advantageous. He, as it were, stood above the fight, did not formally answer for anything and was the referee. Okay, let's move on. On May 6, 1941, he suddenly became Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. On the one hand, this is generally understandable. War is coming soon and we need to have real levers of power. But, the bottom line is that during the war, military power comes to the fore. And the civilian becomes just a part military structure, simply speaking the rear. And just during the war, the military was led by the same Stalin as Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Well, that's okay. The next one is even funnier. On July 19, 1941, Stalin also became the People's Commissar for Defense. This already goes beyond any idea of the dictatorship of one particular person. To make it clearer to you, it's as if CEO(and owner) of the enterprise part-time became also the Commercial Director and the head of the supply department. Nonsense.
People's Commissar of Defense during the war is a very secondary position. For this period, the General Staff takes the main power and, in our case, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, headed by the same Stalin. And the People's Commissar of Defense becomes something like a company foreman, who is responsible for the supply, weapons and other everyday issues of the unit. A very secondary position.
This can at least somehow be understood for the period of hostilities, but Stalin remained People's Commissar until February 1947.
Okay, let's move on. Stalin dies in 1953. Who became the leader of the USSR after him? What are you saying Khrushchev? Since when is a simple secretary of the Central Committee in our country in charge of the whole country?
Formally, it turns out that Malenko. It was he who became the next, after Stalin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers. I saw somewhere on the net where this was clearly hinted at. But for some reason, no one in our country later considered him to be the leader of the country.
In 1953, the post of party leader was revived. They named her First Secretary. And he became them in September 1953, Khrushchev. But somehow it is very unclear. At the very end of what seemed to be a plenum, Malenkov stood up and asked how the audience looked at electing the First Secretary. The hall answered in the affirmative (this is by the way feature of all the transcripts of those years, remarks, comments and other reactions to certain speeches in the presidium are constantly coming from the audience. Up to the negative. Sleeping with eyes open at such events will already be under Brezhnev. Malenkov proposed to vote for Khrushchev. Which they did. Somehow this bears little resemblance to the election of the country's first person.
So when did Khrushchev become the de facto leader of the USSR? Well, probably in 1958, when he threw out all the old people and also became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Those. can we assume that, in fact, occupying this position and leading the party, a person began to lead the country?
But here's the problem. Brezhnev, after Khrushev was removed from all posts, became only the First Secretary. Then, in 1966, the post of General Secretary was revived. It seems like you can consider what it was then that it actually began to mean complete guide country. But again there are rough edges. Brezhnev became the leader of the party after the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Which. as we all know very well, it was generally quite decorative. Why, then, in 1977, Leonid Ilyich returned to it again and became both the General Secretary and the Chairman? Did he lack power?
But Andropov got enough. He became only Gensekov.
And that's not really all. I took all these facts from Wikipedia. If you go deeper, then the devil will break his leg in all these ranks, positions and powers of the highest echelon of power in the 20-50s.
Well, now the most important thing. In the USSR, the highest power was collective. And all the main decisions, on one or another significant issue, were made by the Politburo (under Stalin it was a little different, but essentially true). In fact, there was no single leader. There were people (like the same Stalin) who, for various reasons, were considered the first among equals. But not more. You can't talk about any dictatorship. It never existed in the USSR and could not exist. The same Stalin simply did not have legal leverage to make serious decisions on his own. Everything has always been taken collectively. On which there are many documents.
If you think that I came up with all this myself, then you are mistaken. This is the official position of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union represented by the Politburo and the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Don't believe? Well, let's move on to the documents.
Transcript of the July 1953 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Just after the arrest of Beria.
From Malenkov's speech:
First of all, we must openly admit, and we propose to write this down in the decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee, that in our propaganda for last years there was a retreat from the Marxist-Leninist understanding of the question of the role of the individual in history. It is no secret that party propaganda, instead of correctly explaining the role of the Communist Party as the guiding force in the construction of communism in our country, strayed into a cult of personality.
But, comrades, it is not only a matter of propaganda. The question of the cult of personality is directly and immediately connected with the question of collective leadership.
We have no right to hide from you that such an ugly cult of personality has led to peremptory individual decisions and in recent years began to cause serious damage to the leadership of the party and the country.
This must be said in order to resolutely correct the mistakes made on this score, to draw the necessary lessons and in the future to ensure in practice collective leadership on the principle basis of the Leninist-Stalinist doctrine.
We must say this so as not to repeat the mistakes associated with lack of collective leadership and with a wrong understanding of the question of the personality cult, for these mistakes, in the absence of Comrade Stalin, will be thrice dangerous. (Voices. Right).
No one alone dares, cannot, must not, and does not want to claim the role of successor. (Voices. That's right. Applause).
The successor to the great Stalin is a tightly knit, monolithic team of party leaders ....
Those. in fact, the question of the cult of personality is not connected with the fact that someone made mistakes there (in this case, Beria, the plenum was devoted to his arrest), but with the fact that making serious decisions on his own is a deviation from the very foundation of party democracy as a principle of governing the country.
By the way, since my childhood as a pioneer, I remember such words as Democratic centralism, election from the bottom to the top. It was purely legal in the Party. Everyone was always elected, from the petty secretary of a party cell to the general secretary. Another thing is that under Brezhnev it became largely a fiction. But under Stalin it was just that.
And of course the most important document is ".
At the beginning, Khrushchev says what the report will actually be about:
Due to the fact that not everyone still imagines what the cult of personality led to in practice, what enormous damage was caused violation of the principle of collective leadership in the Party and the concentration of immense, unlimited power in the hands of one person, the Central Committee of the Party considers it necessary to report materials on this issue to the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union .
Then he scolds Stalin for a long time for deviations from the principles of collective leadership and attempts to subdue everything for himself.
And at the end he concludes with a policy statement:
Secondly, consistently and persistently continue the work carried out in recent years by the Central Committee of the Party on the strictest observance in all Party organizations, from top to bottom, Leninist principles of party leadership and above all the highest principle - collective leadership, to observe the norms of Party life, enshrined in the Rules of our Party, to develop criticism and self-criticism.
Third, fully restore the Leninist principles Soviet socialist democracy expressed in the Constitution of the Soviet Union, to fight against the arbitrariness of persons who abuse power. It is necessary to completely correct the violations of revolutionary socialist legality that have accumulated over a long period as a result of the negative consequences of the cult of personality.
And you say dictatorship. The dictatorship of the party, yes, but not one person. And those are two big differences.
The biography of Stalin is one of the most interesting and often studied. After all, being from a simple family, he managed to become a leader, whom he ruled for 29 years.
Stalin carried out many reforms, raised the economy and in record time transformed the country after total devastation during the Second World War.
Under his rule, the Soviet Union became a superpower with nuclear weapons.
So, your attention is invited to the biography of Joseph Stalin.
Biography of Stalin
In Soviet times, tons of books were written about Stalin. Today, interest in him still has not cooled down, as he plays one of the critical roles for the global 20th century.
In this article, we will tell you about key events in the biography of Stalin, which made him one of the most famous politicians in the history of mankind.
Childhood
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin ( real name- Dzhugashvili) was born on December 9, 1879 in the Georgian city of Gori. He grew up in a poor family belonging to the lower class.
15-year-old Joseph Dzhugashvili, 1894His father, Vissarion, worked as a shoemaker, and was a very despotic person.
Drunk to unconsciousness, he severely beat his wife, and sometimes Joseph himself.
There was an episode in Stalin's biography when he had to throw a knife at his father in order to protect himself and his mother from beatings.
According to the testimony local residents, once the father beat little Joseph so badly that he almost broke his head.
Stalin's mother, Ekaterina Georgievna, came from a family of a serf, and was poorly educated.
Already with young years she had to earn a living by hard work.
Despite the fact that she also often beat her son, she, at the same time, loved him unconsciously, and protected him from all sorts of worldly unrest.
Stalin's appearance
Iosif Dzhugashvili had various bodily defects. He had fused second and third toes on his left foot, and pockmarks covered his face.
When he was 6 years old, he was run over by a chaise (an open body car) and seriously injured his arms and legs.
Throughout his life, Stalin's left arm did not fully unbend. In the future, because of these injuries, he will be recognized as unfit for military service.
Education
An interesting fact is that until the age of 8, Stalin did not know at all. Years of biography 1886-1888, Joseph, at the request of his mother, was taught Russian by the children of a local priest.
After that, he studied at the Gori Theological School, which he graduated in 1894. Then his mother sent him to the Tiflis Theological Seminary, because she really wanted her son to become a priest.
However, this did not happen. Interestingly, it was in the seminary that Joseph first heard about Marxism.
The new political movement so captivated the 15-year-old teenager that he began to seriously engage in revolutionary activities. On May 29, 1899, in his fifth year of study, Stalin was expelled from the seminary "for failing to appear for exams for an unknown reason."
In 1931, in an interview with the German writer Emil Ludwig, to the question “What prompted you to be in the opposition? Perhaps the mistreatment by the parents? Stalin replied:
"Not. My parents treated me quite well. Another thing is the theological seminary where I studied then. Out of protest against the mocking regime and the Jesuit methods that existed in the seminary, I was ready to become and really became a revolutionary, a supporter of Marxism ... "
Literally immediately after being expelled from the seminary, the young man decides to join the social democratic movement Mesame-dasi.
This led to the fact that in 1901 he became a professional revolutionary.
Stalin's name
In the same year, Dzhugashvili takes on the pseudonym "Stalin", under which he will go down in history. Why he chose such a pseudonym for himself is not known for certain.
Stalin Koba
Stalin's party friends gave him the nickname "Koba", which greatly flattered the young revolutionary.
Koba is a famous character in the adventure story of the Georgian writer Alexander Kazbegi. Koba was an honest robber, fighting for justice.
Stalin at the age of 23, 1901revolutionary activity
The period of Stalin's biography of 1902-1913 was full of various events. He was arrested 6 times and sent into exile, from which he made successful escapes several times.
After the party split into "Mensheviks" and "Bolsheviks" in 1903, Stalin supported the latter. This choice was made largely because he was on the side of the Bolsheviks, whom Stalin admired.
At the direction of Lenin, Koba managed to create quite a lot of underground Marxist circles in the Caucasus.
Beginning in 1906, Stalin was a participant and organizer of various expropriations (deprivation of property). All the stolen money was intended for the needs of the party and the financing of the underground activities of the revolutionaries.
In 1907, Stalin became one of the leaders of the Baku Committee of the RSDLP. Since he was a very literate and well-read person, he also participated in the creation of the newspapers Zvezda and Pravda.
Photo of Stalin after his arrest in March 1908
In 1913, Dzhugashvili wrote an article "Marxism and the national question", which received good reviews from colleagues.
In the same year he was arrested and sent to the famous exile in the Turukhansk region.
October Revolution of 1917
In the spring of 1917, Stalin was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RSDR, and was also a member of the Military Revolutionary Center for leading an armed uprising.
In this regard, he took an active part in the preparation of the coup.
The party was pleased with his actions, as he coped with any task that was entrusted to him, and was absolutely devoted to the ideas of the Bolsheviks.
From the beginning of the Civil War and up to its end, Stalin held many responsible positions.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, no matter what he did, he managed to do his job perfectly.
party work
In 1922, in Stalin's biography, major event. He becomes the first General Secretary of the Central Committee. At the same time, it should be noted that initially this position meant only the leadership of the party apparatus.
However, over time, it was turned by Stalin into a post with great powers. The uniqueness of the post was that it was the Secretary General who had the right to appoint grassroots party leaders.
Thanks to this, the shrewd and cautious Stalin chose for himself the most devoted people. In the future, this will help him create and lead the vertical of power.
power struggle
In 1924, after Lenin's death, many communists from the Central Committee wanted to take his place. Among them was Dzhugashvili. Wanting to become the new leader, he proclaimed a course towards "building socialism."
In order for his fellow party members to support this idea, he often quoted Lenin, emphasizing his commitment to socialism.
Stalin's main opponent in the struggle for power was. However, he managed to outplay him. The majority of party members voted for Stalin's candidacy.
As a result of this, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin became the first person in the country, and almost single-handedly ruled it from 1924 to 1953, until his death.
First of all, he focused his attention on the industrialization of the country and forced collectivization, which was abolished only in the spring of 1930.
In addition, he did everything possible to get rid of the kulaks. During the years of Stalin's rule, millions of people were evicted or sent into exile.
In the future, collectivization led to a wave of protests among the peasants. Riots broke out in one place after another, many of which were put down with weapons.
father of nations
In the mid-30s, Joseph Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet people. Former party leaders such as Trotsky (see), Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev and others were repressed because they took an anti-Stalinist position.
Researchers argue that the period of the biography of 1937-1938 was the bloodiest in the entire history of Stalin's rule.
In a short period of time, millions of Soviet citizens of very different social status were repressed. More people ended up in labor camps.
At the same time, the cult of the personality of the leader began to actively develop. Stalin was called none other than the "father of nations."
The Great Patriotic War
Joseph Stalin represented his country in negotiations with the Allied countries in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945).
As a result of the bloodiest war in history, the loss of military personnel and civilians amounted to more than 26 million Soviet people.
The Soviet army made the greatest contribution to the victory over the Nazis, becoming the main victorious country. It was the soldiers of the USSR who liberated most of the European countries.
It is important to note that immediately after the war, this fact was impossible to deny or dispute, so the allies, at least verbally, expressed their gratitude to the USSR.
However, today, unfortunately, the history of the Second World War is being actively rewritten.
Postwar years
AT post-war years Much has changed in Stalin's biography. After all, he was the main country that defeated world evil.
In this regard, the "father of peoples" wanted to create a world socialist system, which ran counter to the interests of Western countries.
As a result of this and other factors, cold war, which affected politics, economics, military power of countries, etc. The main confrontation took place between the USSR and the USA.
June 27, 1945 Joseph Stalin was awarded the title of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. A year later, he was approved as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
After the end of the war in the Soviet Union, totalitarianism resumed again. The autocratic regime did not allow people to have their own point of view, and freedom of speech was strictly controlled by official censorship.
By order of the leadership, constant purges were carried out, concerning both the state apparatus and ordinary people. At the same time, anti-Semitic sentiments began to appear in society.
Achievements
At the same time, despite the fact that there are many dark spots in Stalin's biography, it is fair to note his achievements.
During the reign of the “father of nations”, by the end of the 40s, it developed so rapidly that by 1950 it was 100% higher than its indicators in relation to 1940.
An interesting fact is that in 2009 he spoke out that under the leadership of Stalin the country "turned from an agrarian into", which is simply impossible to argue with.
In addition, the leader gave great value increase military power USSR. He was also the initiator of the "atomic project", thanks to which the Soviet became a superpower.
Personal life
Stalin's first wife was Ekaterina Svanidze, whom he married in 1906. In this marriage, their son Yakov was born.
However, the very next year, Catherine died of typhus. For Stalin, this was a real tragedy, from which he could not recover for a long time.
Stalin's second wife is Nadezhda Alliluyeva. She gave birth to the leader of two children: Vasily and Svetlana.
Stalin and his wife Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva
Stalin with his children
Death of Stalin
Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin died on March 5, 1953 at the age of 74. There are still heated discussions regarding the causes of his death.
According to the official version, he died as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. After his death, the body of the leader was exhibited in the Moscow House of the Unions so that people could say goodbye to him.
After that, his body was embalmed and placed in the Mausoleum next to Lenin.
However, in 1961, at the 22nd Congress of the CPSU, party members decided that the coffin with Stalin could not be in the Mausoleum, since he "seriously violated Lenin's precepts."
Stalin's biography has caused a lot of controversy over the years. Some consider him "the devil in the flesh", while others say that he was one of the best rulers of Russia, and even the world.
Today, many documents have been declassified that allow a better understanding of the character and actions of the Soviet leader.
Based on this, everyone is able to independently draw conclusions about who Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili-Stalin really was.
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/AND. Stalin/
Stalin (real name - Dzhugashvili) Iosif Vissarionovich, one of the leading figures of the Communist Party, the Soviet state, the international communist and workers' movement, a prominent theorist and propagandist of Marxism-Leninism. Born in the family of a handicraft shoemaker. In 1894 he graduated from the Gori Theological School and entered the Tbilisi Orthodox Seminary. Under the influence of Russian Marxists who lived in Transcaucasia, he joined in revolutionary movement; in an illegal circle he studied the works of K. Marx, F. Engels, V. I. Lenin, G. V. Plekhanov. Since 1898 a member of the CPSU. Being in a social democratic group "Mesame-dashi", led the propaganda of Marxist ideas among the workers of the Tbilisi railway workshops. In 1899 he was expelled from the seminary for revolutionary activity, went underground, and became a professional revolutionary. He was a member of the Tbilisi, Caucasian Union and Baku committees of the RSDLP, participated in the publication of newspapers "Brdzola" ("Struggle"), "Proletariatis Brdzola" ("Struggle of the proletariat"), "Baku Proletarian", "Beep", "Baku Worker", was an active participant in the Revolution of 1905-07. in the Caucasus. Since the creation of the RSDLP, he supported Lenin's ideas of strengthening the revolutionary Marxist party, defended the Bolshevik strategy and tactics of the class struggle of the proletariat, was a staunch supporter of Bolshevism, and exposed the opportunistic line of the Mensheviks and anarchists in the revolution. Delegate of the 1st Conference of the RSDLP in Tammerfors (1905), the 4th (1906) and 5th (1907) Congresses of the RSDLP.
During the period of underground revolutionary activity, he was repeatedly arrested and exiled. In January 1912, at a meeting of the Central Committee elected by the 6th (Prague) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP, he was co-opted to the Central Committee in absentia and introduced to Russian Bureau of the Central Committee. In 1912-13, while working in St. Petersburg, he actively collaborated in newspapers "Star" and "Truth". Participant Krakow (1912) meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party workers. At this time, Stalin wrote the work "Marxism and the National Question", in which he highlighted the Leninist principles for resolving the national question, criticized the opportunist program of "cultural-national autonomy". The work was positively evaluated by V. I. Lenin (see Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 24, p. 223). In February 1913, Stalin was again arrested and exiled to the Turukhansk region.
After the overthrow of the autocracy, Stalin returned to Petrograd on March 12 (25), 1917, was introduced to the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) and to the editorial board of Pravda, took an active part in expanding the work of the party in the new conditions. Stalin supported the Leninist course of developing the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one. On the 7th (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) elected member of the Central Committee(since that time he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the party at all congresses up to and including the 19th). At the 6th Congress of the RSDLP (b), on behalf of the Central Committee, he delivered a political report of the Central Committee and a report on the political situation.
As a member of the Central Committee, Stalin actively participated in the preparation and conduct of the Great October Socialist Revolution: he was a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the Military Revolutionary Center - the party body for leading the armed uprising, in the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee. At the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 26 (November 8), 1917, he was elected to the first Soviet government as People's Commissar for Nationalities(1917-22); simultaneously in 1919-22 headed People's Commissariat of State Control, reorganized in 1920 into the People's Commissariat Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate(RCT).
During the period of the Civil War and foreign military intervention of 1918-20, Stalin carried out a number of responsible assignments of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Soviet government: he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, one of the organizers defense of Petrograd, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern, Western, Southwestern fronts, representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense. Stalin showed himself to be a major military-political worker of the party. Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919 awarded the order Red Banner.
After the end of the Civil War, Stalin actively participated in the party's struggle for the restoration of the national economy, for the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP), for strengthening the alliance between the working class and the peasantry. During the discussion about trade unions, imposed on the party Trotsky, defended the Leninist platform on the role of trade unions in socialist construction. On the 10th Congress of the RCP (b)(1921) made a presentation "The Immediate Tasks of the Party in national question» . In April 1922, at the Plenum of the Central Committee, Stalin was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee Party and held this post for over 30 years, but since 1934 he was formally Secretary of the Central Committee.
As one of the leading workers in the field of nation-state construction, Stalin took part in the creation of the USSR. However, initially in solving this new and complex problem, he made a mistake by putting forward autonomy project(the entry of all republics into the RSFSR on the rights of autonomy). Lenin criticized this project and substantiated the plan to create a single union state in the form of a voluntary union of republics with equal rights. Taking into account the criticism, Stalin fully supported Lenin's idea and, on behalf of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), spoke at 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets(December 1922) with a report on the formation of the USSR.
On the 12th Party Congress(1923) Stalin delivered an organizational report on the work of the Central Committee and a report "National Moments in Party and State Building".
V. I. Lenin, who perfectly knew the cadres of the party, had a huge influence on their education, sought the placement of cadres in the interests of the general party cause, taking into account their individual qualities. AT "Letter to the Congress" Lenin gave a description of a number of members of the Central Committee, including Stalin. Considering Stalin one of the outstanding figures of the party, Lenin at the same time wrote on December 25, 1922: “Comrade. Stalin, having become General Secretary, concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to use this power carefully enough” (ibid., vol. 45, p. 345). In addition to his letter, on January 4, 1923, Lenin wrote:
“Stalin is too rude, and this shortcoming, which is quite tolerable in the environment and in communications between us communists, becomes intolerable in the position of general secretary. Therefore, I suggest that the comrades consider a way to move Stalin from this place and appoint another person to this place, who in all other respects differs from Comrade. Stalin with only one advantage, namely, more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to comrades, less capriciousness, etc.” (ibid., p. 346).
By decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), all delegations were familiarized with Lenin's letter 13th Congress of the RCP (b), which took place in May 1924. Given the difficult situation in the country, the severity of the struggle against Trotskyism, it was considered expedient to leave Stalin in the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee, so that he would take into account criticism from Lenin and draw the necessary conclusions from it.
After Lenin's death, Stalin actively participated in the development and implementation of the policy of the CPSU, plans for economic and cultural development, measures to strengthen the country's defense capability and conduct the foreign policy of the party and the Soviet state. Together with other leading party leaders, Stalin waged an uncompromising struggle against the opponents of Leninism, played an outstanding role in the ideological and political defeat of Trotskyism and right-wing opportunism, in defending Lenin's teaching on the possibility of the victory of socialism in the USSR, and in strengthening the unity of the party. Stalin's works were of great importance in the propaganda of Lenin's ideological heritage. "On the Foundations of Leninism" (1924), "Trotskyism or Leninism?" (1924), "To Questions of Leninism" (1926), "Once More About the Social-Democratic Deviation in Our Party" (1926), "On the right deviation in the CPSU (b)" (1929), "On the issues of agrarian policy in the USSR"(1929) and others.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the Soviet people carried out the Leninist plan for building socialism and carried out revolutionary transformations of gigantic complexity and world-historical significance. Stalin, together with other leading figures of the Party and the Soviet state, made a personal contribution to the solution of these problems. The key task in building socialism was the socialist industrialization, which ensured the economic independence of the country, the technical reconstruction of all sectors of the national economy, the defense capability of the Soviet state. The most complex and difficult task of the revolutionary transformations was the reorganization Agriculture on socialist lines. When conducting collectivization of agriculture errors and omissions were made. Stalin also bears responsibility for these mistakes. However, thanks to decisive measures taken by the party with the participation of Stalin, the mistakes were corrected. Of great importance for the victory of socialism in the USSR was the implementation cultural revolution.
In the context of the impending military danger and in the years Great Patriotic War 1941-45 Stalin took a leading part in the multilateral activities of the party to strengthen the defense of the USSR and organize the defeat Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan. However, on the eve of the war, Stalin made a certain miscalculation in assessing the timing of a possible attack by Nazi Germany on the USSR. May 6, 1941 he was appointed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR(from 1946 - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR), June 30, 1941 - Chairman State Committee defense ( GKO), July 19 - People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, August 8 - Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
As head of the Soviet state, he took part in Tehran (1943), Crimean(1945) and Potsdam (1945) conferences heads of three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. In the post-war period, Stalin continued to work as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. During these years, the Party and the Soviet government did a tremendous job of mobilizing the Soviet people to fight for recovery and further development National economy, carried out a foreign policy course aimed at strengthening the international positions of the USSR, the world socialist system, at uniting and developing the international working and communist movement, at supporting the liberation struggle of the peoples of colonial and dependent countries, at ensuring peace and security of peoples throughout the world.
In Stalin's activities, along with the positive aspects, there were theoretical and political mistakes, and some traits of his character had a negative effect. If in the first years of work without Lenin he considered critical remarks addressed to him, then later he began to deviate from the Leninist principles of collective leadership and the norms of party life, to overestimate his own merits in the successes of the party and people. Gradually took shape Stalin's personality cult which entailed gross violations of socialist legality, caused serious harm to the activities of the party, to the cause of communist construction.
20th Congress of the CPSU(1956) condemned the personality cult as a phenomenon alien to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism, the nature of the socialist social order. In the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of June 30, 1956 "On overcoming the cult of personality and its consequences" the party gave an objective comprehensive assessment of Stalin's activities, a detailed criticism of the cult of personality. The cult of personality did not and could not change the socialist essence of the Soviet system, the Marxist-Leninist character of the CPSU and its Leninist course, did not stop the natural course of development Soviet society. The Party worked out and implemented a system of measures that ensured the restoration and further development of the Leninist norms of Party life and the principles of Party leadership.
Stalin was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1919-52, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1952-53, a member of the Executive Committee of the Comintern in 1925-43, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 1917, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR from 1922, a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st-3rd convocations . He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1939), Hero of the Soviet Union (1945), Marshal of the Soviet Union (1943), the highest military rank - Generalissimo of the Soviet Union (1945). He was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, 2 Orders of Victory, 3 Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 1st degree, and medals. After his death in March 1953, he was buried in the Lenin-Stalin Mausoleum. In 1961, by decision of the XXII Congress of the CPSU, he was reburied on Red Square.
Works: Soch., vol. 1-13, M., 1949-51; Questions of Leninism, and ed., M., 1952: On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 5th ed., M., 1950; Marxism and questions of linguistics, [M.], 1950; Economic problems of socialism in the USSR, M., 1952. Lit.: XX Congress of the CPSU. Stenographic report, vol. 1-2, M., 1956; Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On overcoming the cult of personality and its consequences." June 30, 1956, in the book: CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses. Conferences and plenums of the Central Committee, 8th ed., vol. 7, M., 1971; History of the CPSU, vol. 1-5, M., 1964-70: History of the CPSU, 4th ed., M., 1975.
Events during the reign of Stalin:
- 1925 - the adoption of a course towards industrialization at the XIV Congress of the CPSU (b).
- 1928 - the first "five-year plan".
- 1930 - beginning of collectivization
- 1936 - adoption of the new constitution of the USSR.
- 1939 –1940 - Soviet-Finnish war
- 1941 –1945 - The Great Patriotic War
- 1949 - Creation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA).
- 1949 - successful test of the first Soviet atomic bomb, which was created by I.V. Kurchatov under the direction of L.P. Beria.
- 1952 - renaming of the CPSU (b) in the CPSU