Joseph Stalin Corruption

Through his corrupt childhood, all the beatings he withstood, his constant jail sentences. Joseph Stalin had still managed to climb the ladder to absolute power, as a dictator, who used fear as a mass murder weapon to control his people. But how did he become the man he was, when he took power of the Soviet Union?

Losif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin, was born December

18th, 1878, in the village of Gori, Georgia, a small town in the Russian empire. He was the only surviving child of Besarion Jughashvili- nicknamed “Beso”- who was Joseph’s father. Beso was a respected cobbler who slid down the path of alcoholism; which ultimately resulted in abusive behavior. His mother, Ketevan Geladze, a washerwoman who pushed

Stalin desired to be the leader of the Communist party, and was willing to manipulate his opponents and play them off against each other, which he did successfully. He first joined forces with Grigory Zinovyev and Leon Kamenev (other replacement candidates) to lead the country. He used them to get rid of the most likely replacement for Lenin’s position, Leon Trotsky. Lenin had always wanted Trotsky to replace him if anything had happened; however Stalin’s heart was hardened and he ended up kicking him out of the political loop. Even in Lenin’s political testament, he worried about Stalin’s mental stability and stated that he should not be chosen to rule (Service 124). Stalin, intelligently, used manipulation, and suppressed his testament. Stalin had power over his two colleagues, and therefore was a more popular candidate for taking Lenin’s place. Stalin had already eliminated some of the most qualified people for Lenin’s job, this raised Stalin’s chance of winning astonishingly. However, manipulation was not the only tool that Stalin used to rise to the top. He also had a lot of luck (Ronald). When Lenin had, tragically, died Trotsky was very sick at the time. Trotsky claims that he was unaware of the time and date of Lenin’s funeral. Trotsky ultimately ended up missing the funeral, and Stalin took advantage of this. He told people that Lenin and Trotsky were not close friends, and because people admired Lenin so much, they did not want a ruler who was much more different than him. Stalin, at the funeral, carried Lenin’s coffin. This made people think that Stalin and Lenin were close friends, which was actually not the case at all (Ronald). This helped kick Trotsky out of the competition, and gave Stalin a huge