It was during this time that he adopted the name Stalin, meaning 'steel' in Russian.

In 1902, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Revolution. In 1901, he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement. For a time, he found work as a tutor and later as a clerk at the Tiflis Observatory. Stalin chose not to return home, but stayed in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary movement. It's also speculated he was asked to leave due to his political views challenging the tsarist regime of Nicholas II. Accounts differ as to the reason official school records state he was unable to pay the tuition and withdrew. Though he excelled in seminary school, Stalin left in 1899. Some of the members were socialists who introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Stalin did well in school, and his efforts gained him a scholarship to Tiflis Theological Seminary in 1894.Ī year later, Stalin came in contact with Messame Dassy, a secret organization that supported Georgian independence from Russia. In 1888, she managed to enroll him in church school in Gori. Stalin's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a priest. He also developed a cruel streak for those who crossed him. Because of this, Stalin began a quest for greatness and respect. The other village children treated him cruelly, instilling in him a sense of inferiority. At age 7, he contracted smallpox, leaving his face scarred.Ī few years later he was injured in a carriage accident which left arm slightly deformed (some accounts state his arm trouble was a result of blood poisoning from the injury). The son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and Ketevan Geladze, a washerwoman, Stalin was a frail child. On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - later known as Joseph Stalin - was born. His Red Army helped defeat Nazi Germany during World War II.

Stalin forced rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agricultural land, resulting in millions dying from famine while others were sent to labor camps. Joseph Stalin rose to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party in Russia, becoming a Soviet dictator after the death of Vladimir Lenin.

Stalin successor