Joseph Stalin - Biography

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who was the longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of government) from 1941 until his death. Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, Stalin consolidated his power within the party and state to become a dictator by the 1930s. Ideologically, he formalised his Leninist interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the totalitarian political system which he established is known as Stalinism.