Joseph Stalin

On OS 16 July 1906, Joseph Stalin married Ketevan "Kato" Svanidze at the Saint David's Cathedral. The couple had one son, Yakov Iosifovich Jugashvili, born on OS 18 March 1907. Kato died seven months later on OS 22 November 1907 from typhus.

In 1919, Stalin married a second time. His wife, Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva, bore him two children; Vasily Iosifovich Stalin (1921) and Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva (1926). In 1932, Nadezhda allegedly committed suicide after a spat with Stalin at a public dinner. Svetlana later defected to the USA, causing a furor.

Stalin’s health began to deteriorate towards the end of the Second World War. In October 1945, he had a severe heart attack, but he continued to perform his duties, leading his usual lifestyle. On March 2, he suffered cerebral hemorrhage caused by hypertension and also a stomach hemorrhage; he died from these on 5 March 1953. His death was so sudden that many believed it to be a case of assassination.

Joseph Stalin was born as Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Russian version: Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) on OS December 18 (NS December 6), 1878 in Gori, Georgia. At that time, it was a small town in the Tiflis Governorate under the Russian Empire.

His parents, Besarion “Beso” Jughashvili and Ekaterine "Keke" (nee Geladze) came from Orthodox Christian serf families. Beso was a cobbler, who eventually established his own workshop. He had a severe drinking problem, which not only affected his work, but also made him vey abusive towards his family.

Ioseb was the youngest of the couple’s three children. With his elder siblings, Mikhail and Giorgi, dying in infancy, he was also their only surviving son and therefore, Beso wanted him to learn the trade of shoemaking. But Keke insisted that he should have proper education.

When in 1888, Ioseb received a scholarship, Keke enrolled him at Gori Theological School against her husband’s wishes. Enraged, Beso went on a drunken rampage, attacking not only his wife, but also the police chief, as a result of which, he was banished from Gori.

In 1894, fifteen-year-old Ioseb graduated from school first in class and entered Tiflis Spiritual Seminary with a scholarship. But by the year end, he had become an atheist and began to read forbidden materials, especially the works of Karl Marx. However, he continued his studies at the Seminary.

After leaving the seminary, Ioseb became a clerk at Tiflis Metropolitan Observatory. Although the monthly salary of 20 roubles was relatively low, it gave him plenty of time for his political activities, which were mostly confined to giving speeches, leading demonstrations, and organizing strikes.

When on the night of 3 April 1901 many of his comrades were arrested, Ioseb went underground, living on donations from well-wishers. From then on, he became a full-time revolutionary.

In October 1901, he moved to Batumi, where he received employment at an oil refinery owned by the Rothschilds. Here too he continued with his political activities, organizing series of strikes, resulting in a number of deaths. It led to his first arrest on 8 April 1902.

After a prolonged enquiry, he was finally sent to the Siberian village of Novaya Uda, reaching the place on 9 December 1903. It was here in Siberia that he adopted his new surname, Stalin, which in Russian means steel. However, some biographers believe that he took up the name much later in 1912.

In August 1903, the Social-Democratic Labour Party split into two factions with Vladimir Lenin forming the Bolsheviks and Julius Martov forming the Mensheviks. When Stalin came to know of this, he obtained false papers and with that he left Siberia on 17 January 1904 with the intention of joining the Bolsheviks.

On reaching Tiflis on 27 January, he immersed himself in party work, organizing strikes as well as writing and distributing propaganda materials. He also raised funds through bank heists, kidnappings, and extortions. Among that, the most spectacular was the holdup he helped to plot in Tiflis on OS June 12, 1907.

His organizing skill and ability to convince people brought him close to Lenin and enabled him to rise quickly through the ranks of the Bolsheviks. In January 1912, he was co-opted in the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, subsequently becoming editor of ‘Pravda.’

Stalin was arrested six more times, several of which culminated into exile to Siberia. In February 1917, during his last exile near the Arctic zone, he was conscripted in the army, but was rejected on medical grounds. Thereafter he spent the last few days of his exile at Achinsk.