(1879-1953): Bolshevik from 1903. Member of Central Committee 1912. People's Commissar of Nationalities after October Revolution. General Secretary of Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Lenin called for his removal in January 1923, but this letter was suppressed. Stalin led centrist faction in Party after Lenin's death, eventually eliminating all opposition. Purged Party of Old Bolsheviks, staging frameup trials in Moscow in 1930s. Led Soviet Union in historic victory over invading Nazi army in the second world imperialist war.

Successor to Lenin as head of the USSR; strongly nationalist view of Communism; represented anti-Western strain of Russian tradition; crushed opposition to his rule; established series of five-year plans to replace New Economic Policy; fostered agricultural collectivization; led USSR through World War II; furthered cold war with Western Europe and the United States; died in 1953. (p. 892)

Stalin was premier of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. He was one of the Big Three in the Allied coalition with Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II.