The Early Years of Ioseph Vissarionovich Stalin

Ioseph Vissarionovich Stalin, better known asparents. His school was taught in Russian (instead
Joseph Stalin, was a paranoid leader whoof his native Georgian language) and he was
butchered more of his own people than anyoneconstantly mocked for his poor accent. Stalin's
other than perhaps Mao.mother wanted him to become a priest, so after
Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovicn Dzhugashvili) isgrammar school, he attended seminary - not
best known as the dictator who brought thebecause he wanted to be a priest himself, but
Communist Party to its full power in Russia. Asbecause other schooling wasn't available. At the
the General Secretary of the Central Committeeseminary, he first became associated with the
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unionsocialist party (specifically, the branch of the party
starting in 1922, Stalin managed to grasp fullthat became the communist party).
power over the Soviet Union and held it until hisHere is where Stalin changes. In 1899, Stalin quit
death on March 5, 1953. The rise of Stalin,the seminary and started propagandizing Marxism.
however, started in a less eventful way.He started working with the political underground
The rise of Stalin started in the Russian state ofbetween 1902 and 1917, resulting in many
Georgia in the year 1878. He was not born withinstances of being jailed and exiled to Siberia.
the name of Stalin, but adopted it in the yearAfter the Revolution of 1905, Stalin was
1913, taking the name from the Russian word forresponsible for leading "fighting squads" in bank
"steel". Much of his early life is not wellrobberies in order to raise funds for the Bolshevik
documented, with few people knowing his history.party. By 1912, he was integral enough to the
His mother was born a serf, and her otherCommunist Party that he was appointed to the
children (Stalin's siblings) died young, leaving him asCentral Committee. From there, he became a
an only child. Stalin's father was a cobbler who lostbrutal, de facto dictator who butchered his people
his own business and was forced to go work in aright and left.
shoe factory. He rarely saw his wife and child, butStalin's early life was one of struggle and
when he did, Stalin's father brutally beat his family.oppression. Given this fact, it is probably not
Joseph Stalin's childhood education took place insurprising that he ruled with an evil, iron fist. Nor is
the Gori Church School, where he was taughtit particularly sudden 'natural" death was probably
alongside the children of richer, more influentialan assassination by Beria, one of his henchmen.