Phenomenon of Joseph Stalin - Essay Example

Stalin Joseph Stalin is considered to be one of the bloodiest dictators of the twentieth century, a person who is responsible for the death of 20 millions of Soviet civilians nevertheless got a very kind nickname in American and European press: “uncle Joe”. The phenomenon of Joseph Stalin has no analogies in world history, as he his personality cannot be compared to Mao Zedung, Pol Pot, Adi Amin and other bloody dictators. Most of other bloody dictators stood at the foundation of their regimes, they were the leaders who led the country to them. Stalin wasn’t. No one in 1910’s could even imagine that some 10 years later Russian empire will be ruled by that reserved and silent Georgian, who had a terrible Caucasian accent, as there was a number of candidates in Russian socialist movement: both from the side of Mensheviks and from the side of Bolsheviks. In the well-known novel The first circle, the author Russian decedent Alexander Solzhenitzin even dedicated 3 chapters to the main hero of the novel, person who was responsible for the broken destinies of millions, person who was responsible for terror, purges and great famine of 1930’s. Of course the style of Solzhenitzin in the narration about Stalin is very different from books written by European historians, as there is a number of reasons for that. Solzhenitzin being an ethnic Russian from a very intelligent family got classic family education based on humanistic values and Christian moral, at the same time it’s important to note that he is from Northern Caucasus region, a historical region of Russian Cossack settlements. So his national consciousness was very high and describing Joseph Stalin he is very biased due to Stalin’s nationality (Stalin was Georgian, Georgia was one of the most backward provinces in Russian empire with population different by customs, language and traditions from Slavic world and from Russian culture). Solzhenitzin and other authors divide Stalin’s life into three periods: youth, years of being a professional revolutionary and the most considerable and bloody period of his life of being secretary general. Stalin was born in the small city of Gori to a family of a heavy-drinking shoemaker and illiterate laundress. It defined his future destiny and his attitudes towards wealthy people. Due to his religious mother efforts Stalin was admitted to seminary, but he didn’t finish it as he was expelled because of disobedience and reading of banned literature. In his own biography, which was printed in the USSR during his office, he stated that he was expelled due to his efforts to spread Marxist ideas among his classmates. In the novel The first circle, Solzhenitzin mentions that Stalin’s reserved nature and dualistic character was observed from his youth years when he studied in seminary as he attended social-democrat group in Tiflis. Social democratic teaching was atheistic as it was mostly focused on studying of Marx’s Capital and at the same time he continued studying bible and religion, which was hypocritical. After being expelled from seminary Jugashvili continued as a professional revolutionist. He organized strikes in the seaport of Batumi was even arrested by secret police and offered a deal to be their informer. Being realized “Koba” (it was his nickname) also took part in shameful “expropriations” organized by some socialist activists countrywide during the years of first Russian revolution of 1905—07. Expropriations were simple blackmailing of rich businessmen, most of whom had illegal business and who mostly represented ethnic minorities Armenians and Jews. This fact from Stalin’s biography is mentioned by Solzhenitzin and it’s also proved by Robert Tucker. These practices were considered to be robbery by socialists and Koba was even expelled from the party for this deeds. At the same time Koba was distinguished by his ability to organize work, fulfill orders and was respectful by his encirclement. He was favored by Vladimir Lenin, the leader of Bolsheviks, because of his energy, attentiveness and faithfulness to ideology. Since that time Koba had been never accused in bribery, corruption or betrayal, which was a common practice among outlaw socialist organizations members. It means that his cooperation with secret police for which he worked as informer was very carefully planned. He sometimes even got missions to European capitals where he got direct orders from Russian socialists who were in immigration and from Lenin in particular. After the Bolshevik revolution Stalin’s career began to grow rapidly. He spent the years of civil war on fronts fighting White guardians (those who wanted restore monarchy or saw Russia as a democratic state) and took the post of the people’s commissar of nationalities affairs. But due to his devotedness, Lenin made him secretary general of the Bolshevik party in 1922. Lenin was seriously ill after assassination made by Dora Kaplan in 1919 and he had a need in a faithful assistant whom he could rely on. He saw faithfulness in Stalin, professional experienced revolutioner from a poor family who never distinguished by brilliance of Marxist knowledge, but who was technocratic and reserved. At that time, Stalin did never distinguish by defending positions which were different from Lenin’s saving his reputation from possible party purges, but often had confrontations with another Lenin’s companion in arms Leon Trotsky, who was more well-known, popular and was one of the Bolshevik revolution ideologists. After Lenin’s death Stalin began his own struggle for centralized power in Soviet Russia, he initiated purges and conflicts inside Bolshevik’s party accusing most of its leaders in betrayal and change of Lenin’s political and economical course as well as divergence in ideology. Such practices allowed him to get the total over the government and to win in the apparatus wars mainly because none considered hi8m to be a dangerous rival and a number of party leaders trusted him. First of all he illuminated Trotsky who escaped in 1929 to Mexico, but was later killed by NKVD. As Robert Tucker writes: “An individual terrorist act perpetrated at this time, on Stalins orders, was the murder of Trotsky. The assassin was a Spanish agent of the NKVD, Ramon Mercader.” (Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941p.586) The years of Stalin being in power are characterized by the growing role of executive power and growing total control over the society. Stalin’s plan of economical development of the USSR required a lot of funds for construction of plants, development of heavy industry and army. The only source for such funds could be the harvst of peasants and grain which was exported abroad. Starting from 1928 Stalin started the collectivization: or a policy of uniting peasant farms into collective state farms or kolkhoz. The biggest part of their property, grain, animals and poultry was expropriated and nationalized. Expropriation norms were extremely high so that peasants had no provision for winter months and were doomed to starvation. During great famine in Ukraine, Belarus, South Russian provinces and North Caucasus grain exports continued to grow and at the same time millions died from hunger inside the country. Famine was supplemented by great purges or repressions, which affected army officers of different ranks starting from marshal and ending with captains or even lieutenants, Communist party and even the apparatus of NKVD were subjected to purges. Russian historian Edward Radzinsky gives the following examples: "... General Kryukov, therefore, got "only" twenty-five years in the camps, and Ruslanova, the countrys favorite entertainer, ten years. A drastic purge of the army was meant to be the final stage of his operation, as it had been in the thirties. ..."( (Stalin : The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russias Secret Archives p.523) As a result the country lost millions of professional and skillful bureaucrats, officers, representatives of intelligentsia. The society was living under eternal shadowing and fear. Many authors as well as Solzhenitzin agree that in many respects Stalin was paranoiac and he was always afraid of plots, that’s why even the party leaders were accused in absurd crimes: “Trotsky, Radek, Bukharin, Rykov, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Piatakov, and others, seeking power at any price, agreed to cede the Ukraine to the Germans, Leningrad, Baku, the Transcaucasus and Caucasus , Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to the British, the Far East and Siberia to Japan” (Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941p. 492) Solzhenitzin writes that on the hand with hatred to Ukrainians, Chechen people, Baltic nations and some small ethnicities, which suffered exile to Siberia or Cold prairies of Kazakhstan Stalin, agreed that only Russians and Jews remained to be faithful to him. To my point of view it’s not true and can be regarded as a subjective point of view of the author. Stalin hated Jews, during his power Jews were proclaimed to be “fifth column” and a number of Jews suffered especially in after war years, a number of Bolsheviks elite representatives and army generals were Jews and nearly all of them suffered in the years of great purges. Most of Soviet historians regard him as a talented general, but at the same time even Soviet generals and marshals admitted that Stalin was very stubborn, hard-to be persuaded in something and illogical. If there had been no purges in Soviet army in prewar period, Soviet army would have superiority over Viermaht troops in 1941. Making a conclusion its important to outline that portrait of Stalin given by Solzhenitzin in the novel The first circle is very accurate and realistic. If the majority of western authors gave only historical evaluation to Stalin and Edward Radzinsky sometimes gives illogical arguments for justification of Stalin’s cruelty, then Alexander Solzhenitzin presents him as an aging tyrant who created an empire based on terror and blood and who understands that it will break immediately after his death. It was his main purpose to show his cruelty, paranoiac power and helplessness at the same moment. He was considered to be country’s leader, the father of people’s and simply a cult, which stood only on the power of terror. It wasn’t accepted by his former ally from Yugoslavia Yosip Broz Tito, and he was mad. The only pleasure Stalin got on his birthday was the murder of Tito’s friend and another Yugoslavian communist Traicho Kostov. Solzhenitzin writes that Stalin was unhappy and that he was a victim of his on schizophrenic ambitions and paranoiac fears, he was the victim of his authoritarian rule based on terror and total shadowing. References: 1. Soltzenitzyn, A. 1997 The first Circle Northwestern University Press 2. Tucker, R. 1992 Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941 W. W. Norton & Company 3. Radzinsky, E. 1997 Stalin : The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russias Secret Archives Anchor 4. Ulam, A. 1987 Stalin : The Man and His Era Beacon Press 5. Conquest, R. 1992 Stalin: Breaker of Nations Penguin Books Read More