Hester i stalin biography

He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party from to and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from until his death. He initially governed as part of a collective leadership , but consolidated power to become a dictator by the s. Stalin codified his interpretation of Marxism as Marxism—Leninism , while the totalitarian political system he established is known as Stalinism.

He raised funds for Vladimir Lenin 's Bolshevik faction through robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets , and edited the party's newspaper, Pravda. Repeatedly arrested, he underwent internal exiles to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution of , Stalin joined the governing Politburo , and following Lenin's death in , won the struggle to lead the country.

Under Stalin, the doctrine of socialism in one country became central to the party's ideology.

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His five-year plans , launched in , led to agricultural collectivisation and rapid industrialisation , establishing a centralised command economy. Resulting disruptions to food production contributed to a famine in — which killed millions, including in the Holodomor in Ukraine. Between and , Stalin eradicated his political opponents and those deemed " enemies of the working class " in the Great Purge , after which he had absolute control of the party and government.

Under his regime, an estimated 18 million people passed through the Gulag system of forced labour camps , and more than six million were deported to remote regions of the Soviet Union , which together resulted in millions of deaths. Stalin promoted Marxism—Leninism abroad through the Communist International and supported European anti-fascist movements.

Germany broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union in , leading Stalin to join the Allies. Despite huge losses, the Soviet Red Army repelled the German invasion and captured Berlin in , ending the war in Europe. The Soviet Union, which had annexed the Baltic states and territories from Finland and Romania amid the war, established Soviet-aligned states in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as global superpowers , and entered a period of tension known as the Cold War.