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Central Intelligence Agency

2022-12-08T00:28:20Z

REDSHIFT: Rewrote for ease of reading, removed unnessecarily loaded language

{{Infobox company|name=Central Intelligence Agency|image=CIA logo.png|caption=Logo|founding_date={{birth date and age|1947|9|18}}
| website = [https://www.cia.gov www.cia.gov]
}}

The '''Central Intelligence Agency''' ('''CIA''') is officially the "civilian foreign intelligence service" of the federal government of the [[United States]], officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). In practice, the CIA has a long history of criminal behaviour, fabricating propaganda, funding and supporting anti-communist movements and "NGOs", and directly and indirectly participating in human rights abuses.

As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.

Unlike the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), which is a domestic security service, the CIA has no law enforcement function and is officially mainly focused on overseas intelligence gathering. According to one of its own officers, [[John Stockwell]], the CIA was responsible for at least six million deaths in its first forty years of existence.<ref>{{Citation|author=John Stockwell|year=1987|title=The Secret Wars of the CIA|publisher=Information Clearing House|title-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630173556/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm}}</ref>

Former CIA case officer Ralph McGehee described the CIA in the following way: "The CIA is not an intelligence agency. In fact, it acts largely as an anti-intelligence agency, producing only that information wanted by policymakers to support their plans and suppressing information that does not support those plans. As the covert action arm of the President, the CIA uses disinformation, much of it aimed at the U.S. public, to mold opinion." McGehee further states: "Instead of gathering genuine intelligence that could serve as the basis for reasonable policies, the CIA often ends up distorting reality, creating out of whole cloth 'intelligence' to justify policies that have already been decided upon. Policymakers then leak this 'intelligence' to the media to deceive us all and gain our support."<ref>Ralph W. McGehee. ''[https://archive.org/details/11-deadly-deceits-my-25-years-in-ralph-w.-mc-gehee Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA]''. 1983. Open Road Integrated Media, New York. </ref>

According to former CIA officer John Stockwell, among the "major functions" of the CIA is the dissemination of false information to the press and the funding of authors to promote CIA propaganda in the U.S. literary sphere. Stockwell said in a 1983 interview that it was common practice to create "totally false propaganda" to create an "illusion" of communist atrocities, such as by planting false stories in newspapers and circulating fake photographs in the media. Citing anti-[[Republic of Cuba|Cuban]] propaganda as an example, Stockwell said, "We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda."<ref name=":0">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY "Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere."] Witness to War. YouTube. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220823212511/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY Archive link].</ref>

== History ==
The CIA was created in 1947 when president [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] signed the National Security Act into law. Its major predecessor was the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS), which was the intelligence agency of the United States during the [[Second World War]]. The success of the British Commandos during World War II prompted U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to authorize the creation of an intelligence service modeled after the [[British Secret Intelligence Service]] (MI6), which led led to the creation of the OSS. The OSS was dissolved in 1945 and its functions were split mainly among the U.S. Department of State and Department of War. After 1945, intelligence functions were carried out by the National Intelligence Authority (NIA), the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and others, until the CIA was eventually created in 1947.

In November 1959, the CIA created a dedicated [[Africa]] division.<ref name=":1">Meyer, Lily. 2021. [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details “CIA Role in Africa Expanded as U.S. Cold War Worries Grew, ‘White Malice’ Details.”] NPR.org. August 12, 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref>

[[Allen Dulles]] was the first civilian CIA Director and the longest-serving CIA Director, serving from 1953 to 1961. As head of the CIA during the early [[Cold War]], he oversaw the [[1953 Iranian coup d'état]], the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]], the [[Lockheed U-2 aircraft program]], the [[Project MKUltra]] mind control program and the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]]. His older brother, [[John Foster Dulles]], was the [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] during the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] Administration.

[[George H.W. Bush]], who served as the 11th Director of Central Intelligence from 1976 to 1977, would later go on to become Vice President under [[Ronald Reagan]] from 1981 to 1989, and 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993.

In the 1989 book "Rollback!" authors Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould explain how in the 1980s, proponents of the imperialist [[rollback]] policy, which sought to "roll back" communism worldwide and prevent revolutions in the [[Third World]] (now more commonly conceptualized as the [[Global North and South|Global South]], with a somewhat different definition), sought to create increased plausible deniability for the CIA by creating an apparatus for bypassing presidential approval and congressional notification for the CIA's actions: <blockquote>For decades the CIA has conducted covert operations that could be “plausibly denied” by the presidency. But legislation in 1974 and 1980 requiring formal presidential approval and congressional notification of covert operations made such deniability difficult. Thus under Reagan, an apparatus was established whose actions could be plausibly denied not only by the president but by the CIA as well. To staff this apparatus, right-wing ideologues inside government-led by CIA Director William Casey and National Security Council staff member [[Oliver North]]-came together with their rollback-oriented companions outside government, most prominently retired Gen. Richard Secord. This rightwing apparatus derived enormous power from its access through Oliver North to National Security Advisor Adm. John Poindexter. As one of the top foreign policy officials, Poindexter--especially with a president widely considered to be incompetent—had the power to place enormous resources of the United States government at the service of the global rollback network.<ref name=":2">Bodenheimer, Thomas; Gould, Robert. [https://archive.org/details/rollbackrightwin00bode/mode/1up "Rollback! : Right-wing Power in American Foreign Policy."] 1989. South End Press, Boston, MA. </ref> </blockquote>The [[Iran–Contra affair]] occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration. The president had declared Iran to be an enemy and terrorist state, but in secret he was selling Iran major shipments of weapons. Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group, in Nicaragua. According to Bodenheimer and Gould, "The secret apparatus itself was nothing new [...] CIA covert operations involving private individuals and companies were part of the conservative elites' tradition. What stood out about Contragate was the loss of control by the conservative elite. [...] The Contragate exposé was the backlash of the conservative elite, who viewed the Right as overly reckless and assuming far too much power." The authors explain that Ronald Reagan and his rollback henchmen drew criticism from Congress and the entire nation, the scope of the investigation remained extremely limited, with the leadership of the House and Senate committees specifically avoiding delving into the history of the CIA-linked proprietaries and public-private networks, "Thus the CIA's capabilities for covert and illegal interventionist operations remained protected for the future, while the 'rogues' of the Right were conveniently and temporarily scapegoated."<ref name=":2" />

In modern times, the CIA has undertaken efforts to try to rebrand itself as being "liberal" and "woke" in a disingenuous effort to appeal to the liberal sensitivities of the American upper-middle class population.<ref>{{News citation|title=The CIA and the New Dialect of Power|url=https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/|newspaper=American Affairs Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215131731/https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/}}</ref> [[Moderate Rebels]] has produced a [[Library:Parody of Woke CIA Recruitment Ad|parody CIA recruitment ad]] ridiculing this trend.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the [[Korean War|Korean war]], the CIA released several formerly classified documents regarding the war in a collection titled "Baptism by Fire" in 2013. Among the released documents, author [[Jeffrey Kaye]] asserted that the "handprint of [[Unit 731]]" was "all over" various documents which made reference to the long-alleged biological warfare conducted by U.S. forces against north Koreans.<ref>Xu Chi. [http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm “Interview: CIA Confidential Files Expose Use of Unit 731-Inspired U.S. Bioweapons in Korean War -- U.S. Author.”] 2021-09-18. News.cn. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220905125247/http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref><ref>Jeffrey Kaye. [https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/a-real-flood-of-bacteria-and-germs-communications-intelligence-and-charges-of-u-s-4decafdc762 "“A real flood of bacteria and germs” — Communications Intelligence and Charges of U.S. Germ Warfare during the Korean War."] 2020-09-17. Medium.</ref>

== Operations by region ==

=== Africa ===
As more and more African nations gained freedom from European colonial powers, the United States grew increasingly concerned with controlling African resources, including access to nuclear material such as uranium, and sought to control public opinion and governments in Africa. Although CIA officers had been present in Africa since the agency's inception, a dedicated Africa division was formed in 1959.<ref name=":1" />

The CIA participated in the overthrow of [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] leaders [[Kwame Nkrumah]] in [[Republic of Ghana|Ghana]] and [[Patrice Lumumba]] in the [[Republic of the Congo (1960–1971)|Congo]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Djibo Sobukwe|newspaper=[[Black Agenda Report]]|title=NATO and Africa|date=2022-07-13|url=https://blackagendareport.com/nato-and-africa|retrieved=2022-07-15}}</ref>

==== Angola ====
In November 1975, the CIA and [[apartheid]] [[South Africa]] invaded [[People's Republic of Angola (1975–1992)|Angola]] when it became independent from [[Portuguese Republic|Portugal]]. [[Fidel Castro]] deployed 350,000 Cubans in Angola who fought until 1989 and defeated the white supremacist forces.<ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=Abayome Azikiwe|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=CIA turned in Mandela in ’62, still undermines Africa|date=2016-05-25|url=https://www.workers.org/2016/05/25544/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211030649/https://www.workers.org/2016/05/25544/|archive-date=2022-02-11|retrieved=2022-10-09}}</ref>

==== Democratic Republic of the Congo ====
Patrice Lumumba was chosen prime minister of the independent [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (then [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Republic of the Congo]]) by the newly-elected parliament following independence from [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgium]] in June 1960. Ideologically an [[African nationalism|African nationalist]] and [[Pan-Africanism|pan-Africanist]], he led the [[Congolese National Movement]] (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination.

Lumumba was very popular, but too nationalist and seemingly left-leaning for the imperialists. Both [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgium]] and the US were affected by the Cold War in their attitude to Lumumba, as they feared he was increasingly subject to communist influence. CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized a fund of up to $100,000 to replace Lumumba's government with a pro-Western regime. With CIA help, Lumumba was deposed, first by President [[Joseph Kasavubu]], and later by Army strongman (cultivated by the CIA) [[Mobutu Sese Seko]]. The CIA made a plan to assassinate Lumumba with poison carried from the United States by CIA operative Sid Gottlieb. The poisoning plan was aborted, but Lumumba was caught and murdered.<ref name=":2" /> After Lumumba's murder, Mobutu Sese Seko ruled until 1996 as a CIA puppet.<ref name=":3" />

==== Ghana ====
On 24 February 1966, the CIA overthrew Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, who was a staunch supporter of Lumumba.<ref name=":3" />

==== Libya ====
In 2011, [[Barack Obama]] sent hundreds of CIA operatives to [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]] to organize airstrikes against [[Muammar Gaddafi]]'s socialist government.<ref name=":3" />

=== Asia ===
Following the surrender of [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] in the Second World War, the U.S. sought to dominate [[East Asia]] and the [[Oceania|Pacific]]. A conflict over a policy of aggressive total rollback of communism vs. containment of communism was taking place among the U.S. ruling class, but regardless of tactics preferred by either end of the spectrum, the need to establish U.S. influence in Asia was a priority, whether it was with the long-term rollback goal encapsulated by containment policy (isolate communist countries so they eventually collapse on their own), or the aggressive immediate rollback policy that would entail surrounding China and the Soviet Union to invade and attack them. One of the first major conflicts in which the CIA, created in 1947, was involved, was the occupation of the [[Korea|Korean peninsula]] by U.S. forces, the establishment of a [[Republic of Korea|puppet government in the south]], and the subsequent [[Korean War]]. Relatedly, the CIA has had extensive involvement of shaping the course of Japanese politics ever since the end of World War II, with the CIA spending millions to support right-wing parties in Japan and to infiltrate the [[Japan Socialist Party]], and placing agents in youth groups, student groups and labor groups.<ref>Weiner, Tim. [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-to-support-japanese-right-in-50-s-and-60-s.html “C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50’S and 60’S."] The New York Times. Published 1994. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220922181753/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-to-support-japanese-right-in-50-s-and-60-s.html Archived] 2022-09-22.</ref>

The [[Phoenix Program]] was designed and coordinated by the CIA during the [[Vietnam War]]. Regarding CIA and US imperialist activity in [[Southeast Asia]], Bodenheimer and Gould state, "Because of the interrelatedness of the 1958-70 events in Southeast Asia, and the resolve of the United States to keep control of all governments in that region, the rollback activities in Southeast Asia can be considered as one complex, prolonged, major covert operation working in conjunction with the overt Vietnam War."<ref name=":2" />

=== Europe ===

=== North America ===
The CIA's activities in [[North America]] have been heavily concentrated in [[Central America]] and the [[Caribbean]], although some victims of [[Project MKUltra|MKUltra]] and related projects which aimed to develop procedures and identify psychoactive drugs that could be used in interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture were inflicted on U.S. and [[Canada|Canadian]] citizens.

==== Guatemala ====
In [[Republic of Guatemala|Guatemala]] in February 1953, the government of [[Jacobo Arbenz]] expropriated almost 400,000 acres of unused [[United Fruit Company]] land as part of a moderate land reform program. Compensation was offered, which United Fruit rejected. United Fruit approached the CIA to take action. The CIA trained a small army, and arranged for the CIA-run airline Civil Air Transport to conduct bombing raids. The main thrust of the operation was psychological warfare. A CIA radio station was set up to create rumors making the government and population think that a major rebellion was taking place. As a result, the small CIA army and a few bombing raids created a panic.<ref name=":2" /> General [[Ydigoras Fuentes]] took power in 1958. In 1960, the CIA crushed progressive elements of the Guatemalan military, and a guerrilla movement began in the countryside, led by former military officers who had attempted the uprising of 1960. Fuentes lost U.S. support when he allowed former progressive leader [[Juan José Arévalo]] to return to the country, and he planned to step down in 1964 and allow an election. In March 1963 the United States organized another coup, and Colonel [[Enrique Peralta Azurdia|Enrique Peralta]] overthrew Fuentes. However, the U.S. was not entirely satisfied with the policies of Peralta, either, and backed [[Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro]] in the election held in March 1966.<ref>William Blum (2004). ''[https://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope Killing Hope]'': [https://williamblum.org/chapters/killing-hope/guatemala 'Guatemala, 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized “final solution”']. Common Courage Press. ISBN 9781567512526</ref>

==== Jamaica ====
In 1972, [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] [[Michael Manley]] was elected prime minister of [[Jamaica]]. Henry Kissinger initiated measures to destabilize the government, including a withdrawal of U.S. aid and the sending of CIA-trained Cuban exiles to Jamaica to instigate violent incidents which had a devastating effect on the tourist business, critical to the Jamaican economy. CIA-trained labor leaders also engaged in anti-government strikes. In addition to the CIA activities, U.S. aluminum companies reduced their Jamaican production, further damaging the economy. The United States closed Jamaica out of the international public and private lending market. Economic austerity measures initiated by the U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund led to price increases and wage freezes.<ref name=":2" /><ref>cganemccalla. [https://newsone.com/543415/how-the-cia-created-the-jamaican-shower-posse/ “How the CIA Created the Jamaican Shower Posse.”] NewsOne. June 3, 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20221002052114/https://newsone.com/543415/how-the-cia-created-the-jamaican-shower-posse/ Archived] 2022-10-02.</ref><ref>Saul Landau. [https://www.tni.org/es/node/7503 “Behind the Violence in Jamaica.”] Transnational Institute. July 18, 2005. Originally Published on ZNet, 26 July 2001. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220529191052/https://www.tni.org/es/node/7503 Archived] 2022-05-29.

‌</ref> This pattern of economic destabilization coupled with electoral rollback by any means possible is a typical one seen with U.S imperialism.

=== South America ===
The CIA has been involved in numerous coups, color revolutions, destabilization efforts, and right-wing death squads and regimes in [[South America]], and throughout [[Latin America]] in general. During [[Operation Condor]], a terrorist campaign conducted in multiple South American countries throughout the 1970s and 1980s, "the CIA and top-ranking US officials supported, laid the groundwork for, and were even directly involved in Condor’s crimes."<ref>[https://jacobin.com/2020/11/operation-condor-cia-latin-america-repression-torture “The CIA’s Secret Global War against the Left.”] Jacobin.com.</ref>

==== Chile ====
On September 4, 1970, socialist candidate [[Salvador Allende]] received the plurality of votes in the [[Republic of Chile|Chilean]] election. A congressional runoff election was required to decide between the top two candidates, and Allende's victory in Congress was assured because he had the support of the third-place candidate. On September 8, [[Henry Kissinger]] ordered a "cold blooded assessment" of "the pros and cons and problems and prospects involved should a Chilean military coup be organized now with U.S. assistance...." On September 15, President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] told CIA Director Richard Helms and Henry Kissinger that they must do everything possible to prevent Allende from assuming power.

As a result of the Nixon order, CIA operatives were sent into Chile to pass money and weapons to right-wing Chilean military officers to assassinate Allende. A quarter of a million dollars was authorized to bribe members of the Chilean Congress to vote against Allende. The CIA and U.S. Army attaché Col. Paul Wimert contacted two groups of right-wing Chilean officers, headed by Gens. Roberto Viaux and Camilo Valenzuela, to arrange a coup or assassination. On October 22, Gen. René Schneider was murdered by Viaux's people in the hopes that the resultant upheavals in the military would precipitate action against Allende; Schneider was a moderate and opposed any military action against Allende. However the Schneider killing angered Chilean moderates, thus ensuring Allende's election in the October 24 congressional vote.

Following this failure, the United States began a policy of economic destabilization, using organizations such as [[The World Bank]] to shut Chile out of international credit markets. While U.S. economic aid disappeared, aid to the military and U.S. training of military personnel increased. CIA covert tactics continued at the cost of several million dollars per year. The CIA financed long strikes, particularly in the trucking industry, disrupting distribution of consumer goods and creating shortages of necessities. The CIA trained members of the extreme rightist organization [[Patria y Libertad]] in bombing and guerrilla warfare. The CIA recruited agents within the Chilean military. The CIA sponsored the spreading of false rumors about the government. Right-wing newspaper [[El Mercurio]] received considerable CIA funds. The CIA collected names of pro-Allende individuals to be targeted for arrest after a coup and supplied plans for which installations should be occupied during a coup. During the September 1973 coup, U.S. military attachés were in the field with the Chilean army, a Navy commando team landed in Chile, U.S. ships were in Chilean waters, and U.S. fighter planes were at an Argentine base just across the Chilean border. Following the coup which installed Gen. [[Augusto Pinochet]]'s military dictatorship, Richard Helms, CIA Director during the Chilean operation, denied in sworn testimony that the CIA had tried to overthrow Allende. Helms was later indicted for perjury and pleaded no contest.<ref name=":2" />

=== Oceania ===

== Functions of the CIA ==

=== Influencing public opinion ===
The CIA, through numerous agents and front organizations, plays a large role in disseminating disinformation and attempting to influence public opinion.

In addition to disseminating false stories and fake photos to the press, the CIA has also been involved in the printing of an untold number of books that contain CIA talking points regarding topics such as history and Marxism. According to Stockwell, a thousand of such books were printed during the Vietnam War, and many of the authors who produced these books under the auspices of the CIA went on to become respected figures in academia.<ref name=":0" />

The CIA and its front organizations have also taken an interest in funding and being involved with particular ideological currents and philosophical schools, such as can be seen with the CIA's interest in the [[Non-Communist Left]] and the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] as well as promotion of the [[Frankfurt School]] and influencing the development of [[critical theory]].<ref>Gabriel Rockhill. [https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ “The CIA & the Frankfurt School’s Anti-Communism.”] MR Online. July 6, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220911102147/https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ Archived] 2022-09-11.</ref>

The [[National Endowment for Democracy]] (NED) is a notable CIA-related organization used for influencing and supporting anti-communist projects.

Media organizations such as [[Voice of America]], [[Radio Free Asia]], and [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]] also promote CIA propaganda.

The CIA has also experimented with mind control techniques, such as with Project MKUltra.

=== Running secret wars ===
According to Stockwell, one of the CIA's principal functions is to run secret wars.<ref name=":0" /> As the CIA is an arm of the U.S. imperialist bourgeoisie, the primary objective in these wars is to keep countries open for U.S. capitalist interests. The CIA engages in the covert aspect of this goal.

The countries targeted for these wars are countries who seek full independence from the economic, political, or military interests of the United States. They may be socialist, revolutionary nationalist, or simply uncooperative with U.S. business interests. They may be targeted with other forms of interference, for instance with economic sanctions, in addition to a covertly CIA-led or CIA-instigated war.

=== Drug trafficking and arms dealing ===
The CIA has regularly been accused of drug trafficking and arms dealing in connection with its other covert activities. Arms dealing and drug trafficking serve the dual purpose of funding covert activities and organizations while also sewing chaos in targeted regions.

== Blowback ==
The issue of blowback, which refers to the unwanted side-effects of a covert operation, is a common result of covert activities. To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations, the effect typically manifests itself as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause; because the public—in whose name the intelligence agency acted—are unaware of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge (counter-attack) against them.

“Blowback” is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a now declassified report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government of [[Mohammed Mossadegh]] in [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]]. It is a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities that have been kept secret from the U.S. public.<ref>Chalmers Johnson. [https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blowback/ “Blowback.”] The Nation. September 27, 2001. [https://archive.ph/lstHj Archive.ph]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220628002237/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blowback/ Archive.org] 2022-06-28.</ref>

One example of blowback is the CIA's financing and support for the [[Mujahideen]] to fight an anti-Communist proxy guerrilla war against the USSR in Afghanistan. The Mujahideen would later become [[Al Qaeda]] which would commit the [[9/11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]].

Due to the CIA's function as an anti-communist organization, it typically relies on right-wing groups to achieve its policy goals, either by latching on to and supporting pre-existing anti-communist groups and leaders or helping to create them. This leads to the spread of fascism, terrorism, and increased instability in regions where the CIA has used their influence, even after the CIA has ceased actively using them to achieve specific goals.

== See also ==

* [[Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell]]
* [[List of atrocities commited by the United States of America|List of atrocities committed by the United States of America]]
* [[United States imperialism]]
*[[National Endowment for Democracy]]
*[[United States Department of State]]
*[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]]
*[[Radio Free Asia]]
*[[Voice of America]]
*[[Project MKUltra]]
*[[CIA Tibetan program]]
*[[Colour revolution]]
*[[Operation Gladio]]
*[[Operation Mockingbird]]
*[[Operation Paperclip]]
*[[Contras]]
*[[Operation Aerodynamic]]
*[[Vault 7]]
*[[Prague Spring]]
*[[Timber Sycamore]]
*[[Operation Cyclone]]

== External links ==
{{External links|Wikipedia=Central Intelligence Agency|Leftypedia=Central Intelligence Agency|EcuRed=CIA}}
[[Category:Imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Intelligence agencies]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:United States of America]]
[[Category:Far-right groups in the United States]]

Topic:X8cryx7v99zuhbfn

2022-12-07T23:45:32Z

REDSHIFT (talk | contribs) commented on "We should consider deleting this page." (An extremely scant and terrible wiki in it's own right and I do not see any reason to keep this up.)

George W. Bush

2022-12-07T23:33:11Z

REDSHIFT:

{{Infobox politician
|name=George W. Bush
|nationality=[[Statesian]]
|birth_name=George Walker Bush
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1946|7|6}}
|birth_place=New Haven, [[Connecticut]], [[United States of America]]
|image=George-W-Bush.jpg
|image_caption=White House portrait of George W. Bush in the year 2009.
}}

'''George W. Bush''', more commonly known as George Bush, was the 43rd President of the [[United States of America]] from 2001 to 2009, serving two terms under affiliation with the Republican party. He is the son of former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] Director and 41st President of the United States, [[George H. W. Bush]], often called Bush Senior.

==Presidency==

===The 2003 Iraq War===

George Bush is best remembered for starting the 2003 [[Iraq War|invasion of Iraq]] under false pretences,[''source?''] protecting the perpetrators of abuse and torture at [[Abu Ghraib]] and intensifying the [[War in Afghanistan|invasion of Afghanistan]].

By all metrics, he is a war criminal but he has never been tried as such.

Prague Spring

2022-12-07T23:26:43Z

REDSHIFT:

The '''Prague Spring'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Czech: ''Pražské jaro'', Slovak: ''Pražská jar''</ref> was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-backed[''source?''] attempted [[counterrevolution]] against the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948–1989)|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] in 1968. It consisted of [[Liberalism|liberal]] reforms enacted by [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]] General Secretary [[Alexander Dubček]], but Czech economist Ota Šik admitted that the goal was complete [[capitalism]]. It was defeated by a military intervention of the [[Warsaw Pact]] in August 1968. In the weeks before the Warsaw Pact intervention, over 10,000 [[Federal Republic of Germany|West Germans]] went to Prague.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Nikos Mottas|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=The 1968 Prague Spring — Counterrevolution as the “Trojan Horse” of Imperialism|date=2022-08-20|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2022/08/the-1968-prague-spring-counterrevolution-as-the-trojan-horse-of-imperialism.html|retrieved=2022-08-20}}</ref>

== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Attempted Colour Revolutions]]

Socialist Republic of Romania (1947–1989)

2022-12-07T23:13:10Z

REDSHIFT: Rewrote for ease of reading

{{Infobox country|name=Romanian People's Republic {{small|(1947–1965)}} {{small|Republica Populară Romînă|paren=omit}}<hr>Socialist Republic of Romania {{small|(1965–1989)}} {{small|Republica Socialistă România|paren=omit}}|image_flag=Flag of Romania (1965–1989).png|life_span=1947-1989|motto=Proletari din toate țările, uniți-vă!|englishmotto=Workers of the World, Unite!|national_anthem=Zdrobite Cătușe (1948 - 1953) Te slăvim, Românie (1953 - 1977) Trei Culori (1977 - 1989)|image_map=Map of the Socialist Republic of Romania.png|image_coat=Coat of arms of SR Romania.png|capital=[[Bucharest]]|official_languages=Romanian|mode_of_production=Socialism|government_type=Unitary [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] socialist republic|title_leader=General Secretary|year_leader1=1944-1954|leader1=[[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]]|year_leader2=1954-1955|leader2=[[Gheorghe Apostol]]|year_leader3=1955-1965|leader3=Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej|year_leader4=1965-1989|leader4=[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]|title_representative=President|year_representative1=1947-1952 (first)|representative1=[[Constantin Ion Parhon]]|year_representative2=1967-1989 (last)|representative2=Nicolae Ceaușescu|title_deputy=Prime Minister|year_deputy1=1947-1952 (first)|deputy1=[[Petru Groza]]|year_deputy2=1982-1989 (last)|deputy2=[[Constantin Dăscălescu]]|legislature=[[Grand National Assembly (Romania)|Grand National Assembly]] (Marea Adunare Națională)|established_event1=Proclamation of the Republic|era=[[Cold War]]|established_date1=30 December 1947|established_event2=First Constitution|established_date2=13 April 1948|established_event3=Second Constitution|established_date3=24 September 1952|established_event4=Third Constitution|established_date4=21 August 1965|established_event5=''De facto'' disestablished|established_date5=27 December 1989|established_event6=''De jure'' disestablished|established_date6=8 December 1991|area_km2=238,397|population_estimate=23,151,564|population_estimate_year=1989|population_density_km2=97.11 per|HDI_year=1989|HDI=0.863|currency=Romanian Leu|calling_code=40}}
The '''Socialist Republic of Romania''' (Romanian: Republica Socialistă România, '''RSR''') was a [[socialist state]] that existed from 1947 to 1989. Prior to 1965, the nation's official name was the '''Romanian People's Republic''' (''Republica Populară Romînă'' (until 1964) or ''Republica Populară Română'' (to 1965), '''RPR'''). The [[Marxist-Leninist]] government ruled until 1989, when the Romanian leader [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] was overthrown and the government replaced with one aligned with [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|Western capitalist]] interests.

== History ==

=== August 1944 coup d'état ===
On the night of the 13–14 June 1944, representatives of the [[Romanian Communist Party]] (PCR) presented their plan for the removal of [[Fascism|fascist]] leader [[Ion Antonescu]] from power to the representatives of the King.

The proposed plan would have King Michael order Antonescu to sign an armistice with the Allies and, if he refused, have him arrested on the spot.[[File:Ion Antonescu's Execution.jpg|thumb|Antonescu's execution at Jilava]]
The coup was carried out on 23 August 1944, following the plan proposed by the PCR. After an hour-long discussion with the King, Antonescu refused to sign the armistice, and was arrested by a colonel and four soldiers. Antonescu was executed two years later, on 1 June 1946.

After Antonescu's arrest, the Romanian army switched sides and began fighting against the [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazis]] along with the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Patricia Gorky|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Romania: 30 years removed from socialism|date=2019-12-26|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/romania-30-years/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319072442/https://www.liberationnews.org/romania-30-years/|archive-date=2022-03-19|retrieved=2022-10-08}}</ref> Following this, a government formed by the National Democratic Front (consisting of the [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist Party]], as well as the [[National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875)|National Liberal Party]] (PNL), the [[National Peasants' Party]] (PNȚ) and the [[Romanian Social Democratic Party|Social Democratic Party]] (PSD)) would take power.<ref>{{Citation|author=Silviu Brucan|year=1993|title=The Wasted Generation: Memoirs of the Romanian Journey from Capitalism to Socialism and Back|page=20-21|publisher=Westview Press}}</ref>

=== Socialist rule ===
In 1946, Romania held its largest election ever and nearly 7 million people voted for the Communist-led National Democratic Front. The new government forced King Michael to abdicate. In 1947, the PCR and PSD merged to form the Romanian Workers' Party, led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. The country began an electrification plan and confiscated farmland, mansions, and castles from the [[nobility]]. Under socialism, industrial output increased by more than seven times and the life expectancy rose by 30 years. By 1980, the socialist government had built 4.6 million houses.

Romania joined the [[Warsaw Pact]] in 1955. With [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] support, it negotiated the removal of Soviet soldiers from Romania and was neutral during the [[Sino-Soviet Split]].

Gheorghiu-Dej died in 1965 and Nicolae Ceaușescu succeeded him as General Secretary. Ceaușescu ran the country on a platform of Romanian [[nationalism]], wanting to make Romania a world power, and sought out Western financial aid from institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and [[The World Bank|World Bank]]. In the 1980s, Romania had to ration electricity and food due to IMF austerity measures.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Illustration issued by the PCR, calling the population to arms.jpg|thumb|"Everything for the front, everything for victory - The Patriotic Defence" An illustration issued by the PCR, calling the population to arms.]]

=== Counterrevolution ===
In April 1989, Romania finished paying its debt to the IMF and banned taking any further loans from the West. On 21 December 1989, Ceaușescu announced he would raise wages and pensions.<ref name=":0" />

In December 1989, protestors attacked police and began a brief civil war that overthrew the socialist government of Romania. Hundreds of police and soldiers were killed as well as 142 protestors. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-backed [[Bourgeois media|Western media]] claimed that Romania killed over 60,000 peaceful protestors.<ref>{{Citation|author=Austin Murphy|year=2000|title=The Triumph of Evil|chapter=The Documented Facts about Eastern Europe and Communism: A Refutation of Popular Myths about the True Good Guys|page=74|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf|city=Fucecchio, [[Italy]]|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980026}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Former socialist states]]

Ukraine

2022-12-07T23:10:01Z

REDSHIFT: Additional information

{{Infobox country|name=Ukraine|native_name=Україна|image_flag=Flag of Ukraine.svg|image_map=Ukraine map disputed.png|map_width=290|map_caption=Claimed territories controlled by Russia in light green|official_languages=Ukrainian|largest_city=Kyiv|image_coat=Ukrainian coat of arms.svg|capital=Kyiv|government_type=Unitary republic|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Volodymyr Zelensky]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=Denys Shmyhal|area_km2=603,628|population_estimate=41,487,960|established_event1=Secession from USSR|established_date1=1991 August 24|established_event2=[[Orange Revolution]]|established_date2=22 November 2004|established_event3=[[Euromaidan coup]]|established_date3=2014 February 22}}
'''Ukraine''' is a country in [[Eastern Europe]]. It has previously been part of [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|USSR]] as the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Ukraine, together with [[Republic of Belarus|Belarus]] and the leadership of the then [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|RSFSR]] played a central role in the dissolution of the USSR.

Current [[Socialism|socialist]] and [[Communism|communist]] political parties in Ukraine include the [[Communist Party of Ukraine]] and the [[Union of Communists of Ukraine]].

== History ==

=== Soviet era ===
The concept of Ukraine has only come into being since the beginning of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Union]], when the Soviet government decided to unite what had previously been nine separate districts in the Russian Empire. The region was named after the term "Ukraine" ("borderlands" in Russian). Much of the western part of Ukraine was part of [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Poland]], annexed for the first time into either Russia or Ukraine during the [[Second World War]]. [[Crimea]] was incorporated into Ukraine for the first time in 1954, after having been in the [[Russian SFSR]] since the start of the Soviet Union, and having been part of different districts since before even the [[Tsardom of Russia|Tsardom]].

=== Transition to capitalism ===
On August 24, 1991, the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]] seceded from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{News citation|date=1991-08-24|title=Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine|newspaper=Verkhnovna Rada of Ukraine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203430/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Rres_Declaration_Independence_rev12.htm|archive-date=2009-09-30}}</ref> After seceding, [[Leonid Kuchma]] and [[Leonid Kravchuk]] began mass privatization programs.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Evan Reif|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=What the U.S. Government and The New York Times Have Quietly Agreed Not to Tell You About Ukraine|date=2022-07-29|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/29/what-the-u-s-government-and-the-new-york-times-have-quietly-agreed-not-to-tell-you-about-ukraine/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804035237/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/29/what-the-u-s-government-and-the-new-york-times-have-quietly-agreed-not-to-tell-you-about-ukraine/|archive-date=2022-08-04|retrieved=2022-08-06}}</ref> Their neoliberal policies decreased life expectancy by three years, which did not recover until 2010,<ref>{{Citation|author=United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division|year=2019|title=World Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition|title-url=https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/3_Mortality/WPP2019_MORT_F07_1_LIFE_EXPECTANCY_0_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|publisher=United Nations}}</ref> and poverty increased from 2% in the late 1980s to 63% in the mid-1990s.<ref>{{Citation|author=Branko Milanovic|year=1998|title=Income, Inequality and Poverty during the Transition from Planned to Market Economy|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321231809/https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Centers/LIS/Milanovic/papers/Income_ineq_poverty_book.pdf|city=Washington, D.C.|publisher=World Bank}}</ref>

The Communist Party of Ukraine won elections in 1994 and 1998, but Kuchma and Kravchuk kept them out of power with support from [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] and [[Boris Yeltsin]]. Kuchma proposed over 6,000 changes to the constitution and threatened to dissolve parliament if the Communist Party did not agree to the changes. Kuchma rigged the 1999 election to stay in power and convinced factions of the CPU to split.<ref name=":0" />

=== Orange Revolution ===
[[Viktor Yushchenko]] won the 2002 presidential election as part of the [[Our Ukraine]] coalition, which included the far-right [[Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists]]. Yushchenko was backed by the [[United States of America|United States]] and wanted Ukraine to join NATO as quickly as possible. Viktor Yanukovych won the 2004 election by a narrow margin. [[Orange Revolution|Protests]] began against Yanukovych, which were supported by oligarchs such as [[Petro Poroshenko]] and [[Yulia Tymoshenko]], and the Ukrainian constitutional court ordered a redo of the election. [[John McCain]], [[Henry Kissinger]], and [[Zbigniew Brzeziński|Zbigniew Brzezinski]] visited Kyiv and supported Yushchenko. Yushchenko won the second round of the election and took power.<ref name=":0" />

=== 2008 financial crisis ===
During the [[Great Recession|2008 financial crisis]], Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine, unemployment tripled, and many bank failed. Yushchenko's popularity rate dropped to only 5%. Yanukovych and his [[Party of Regions]] won 48% of the vote in 2010, and Yulia Tymoshenko won 45%.<ref name=":0" />

=== 2014 coup d'état ===
In 2014, the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] asked Ukraine to raise taxes and cut social spending. Yanukovych's government refused because the changes could cause hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.<ref name=":0" />

In 2014, the United States of America helped finance and arm the Euromaidan coup d'état to overthrow the government of Ukraine, because of its allegiance to [[Russian Federation|Russia]]. As a result there has been a subsequent rise of [[Neo-Nazism|Nazism]] in Ukraine, especially in the government of Ukraine, two regions ([[Donetsk People's Republic|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic|Luhansk]]) have seceded to form their own governments, and Crimea has voted to rejoin the Russian Federation. After the coup, the Ukrainian government banned communist symbols, and anyone who sings the [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union|anthem of the USSR]] may be sent to prison for up to five years.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Alec Luhn|date=2015-05-21|title=Ukraine bans Soviet symbols and criminalises sympathy for communism|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/21/ukraine-bans-soviet-symbols-criminalises-sympathy-for-communism|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2012-12-30}}</ref> The coup led to reduced social spending in Ukraine and increase of over 400% in the military budget.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Ross|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=The United States Is Waging a New Cold War: A Socialist Perspective|date=2022-09-13|url=https://thetricontinental.org/the-united-states-is-waging-a-new-cold-war-a-socialist-perspective/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104225555/https://thetricontinental.org/the-united-states-is-waging-a-new-cold-war-a-socialist-perspective/|archive-date=2022-11-04|retrieved=2022-11-19}}</ref>

=== 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict ===
{{Main article|2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict}}
In 2022, Ukraine banned the Communist Party of Ukraine and ordered the seizure of its funds and assets.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Ukraine court confirms ban on the Communist Party, orders its property's seizure|date=2022-07-06|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2022/07/ukraine-court-confirms-ban-on-communist-party-orders-its-property-seizure.html|retrieved=2022-07-06}}</ref>

== Foreign relations ==
From the genesis of the new Ukrainian state in 1991 to 2014, the government of Ukraine held a relatively neutral status.

From the coup in 2014 til now, the government in Ukraine has been within NATO's sphere of influence.

=== Biological weapons research ===
In 2005, Ukraine signed an agreement for the USA Department of Defense to control various biological research facilities in Ukraine.<ref>{{News citation|title=AGREEMENT between the DoD and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine|url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/05-829-Ukraine-Weapons.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303132406/https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/05-829-Ukraine-Weapons.pdf}}</ref> Since then the USA's military has opened 26 biological research facilities in Ukraine.<ref>{{News citation|date=08-Mar-2022|title=China urges U.S. to disclose more details about biolabs in Ukraine|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-08/China-urges-U-S-to-disclose-details-about-biolabs-in-Ukraine-18eA7VpwQRG/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=[[Regis Tremblay]] and [[Vladimir Kozin]]|newspaper=[[Regis Tremblay]]|title=Russia Demands Answers on US Biolabs in Ukraine - The Narrative is Crumbling|date=2022-06-14|url=https://youtu.be/p1mbjqoVkTA}}</ref>

The Security Service of Ukraine denied the existence of such research facilities in 2020<ref>{{News citation|date=May 8, 2020|title=SBU: No US biological laboratories in Ukraine|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sbu-no-us-biological-laboratories-in-ukraine.html}}</ref>, before their existence being later confirmed by USA Under Secretary Victoria Nuland.<ref>{{News citation|date=09-Mar-2022|title=U.S. acknowledges existence of bio research facilities in Ukraine|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-09/U-S-acknowledges-existence-of-bio-research-facilities-in-Ukraine-18gyZt3PWww/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref>

== Soviet Nostalgia ==
Despite the anti-communist laws, many people say life was better under socialism. Only 30% of Ukrainian's supported the change to a multiparty system and less than a quarter believe that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was good for Ukraine.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Neli Esipova, Julie Ray|date=2013-12-19|title=Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx|newspaper=Gallup|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2021-12-30}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=|year=2009|title=End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=|title-url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/end-of-communism-cheered-but-now-with-more-reservations/|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Ukrainian communist leaders have been arrested and are likely to be executed by the anti-communist Kiev regime.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=C. J. Atkins|date=2022-03-07|title=Ukrainian Communist youth leaders arrested by government, reportedly targeted for death|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ukrainian-communist-youth-leaders-reportedly-arrested-by-government-targeted-for-death/|newspaper=[[People's World]]}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]

Joseph Stalin

2022-12-07T23:04:58Z

REDSHIFT: Fixed a typographical error

{{Infobox revolutionary
| name = Josef Stalin
| native_name = Иосиф Сталин იოსებ სტალინი
| image = File:Joseph-Stalin-1950.jpg
| image_size = 225px
| caption = Portrait of comrade Stalin
| nationality = Georgian
| birth_name = Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|12|21}}
| birth_place = Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1953|3|5|1878|12|18}}
| death_place = Moscow, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_cause = Cerebral hemorrhage
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]
}}
'''Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili''' {{Datebio|birthmonth=December|birthday=21st|birthyear=1878|deathmonth=March|deathday=5th|deathyear=1953}}, better known as '''Joseph Stalin''' was a Georgian revolutionary, Marxism-Leninist theorist, as well as the democratically elected<ref>{{Citation|author=Glover Furr|year=2019|title=Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform|title-url=http://marxism.halkcephesi.net/Grover%20Furr/stalin_1.htm|quote=This article outlines Joseph Stalin's attempts, from the 1930s until his death, to democratize the government of the Soviet Union.|pdf=https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/clogic/article/download/191861/188830/218717|trans-lang=English}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Pat Sloan|year=1937|title=Soviet Democracy|title-url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Soviet_Democracy.html?id=UeGRyAEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description|section=Democracy and Dictatorship|page=9|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/pat-sloan-soviet-democracy-victor-gollancz-1937.pdf|isbn=9781092297394|trans-lang=English}}</ref> leader of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]], being the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Soviet Union]] from the 3 April 1922 to the 16th October 1952. He played a central role in the revolutionary activities of the [[Bolsheviks|bolshevik party]] and later served as the head of the Soviet Union during the great period of [[collectivization]] and industrialization which lifted the USSR to superpower status by the late 1930s. Stalin has a complicated history and equally complicated public image largely the result of decades of [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] propaganda. In the common history of the west he is considered a dictator and authoritarian, despire clear evidence to the contrary, as even the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] admitted to there being collective leadership during his time in office.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Central Intelligence Agency|title=Comments on the Change in Soviet Leadership|date=2008-02-26|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A006000360009-0.pdf}}</ref>

== Pre-revolution ==

=== Early life ===

Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili was born on 21 December, 1878<ref group="lower-alpha">Although some historians claim he was born in 18th December, his birthday was officially celebrated on 21st December.</ref> in Gori<ref group="lower-alpha">The city of Gori was part of the Tiflis Governorate, which was one of the administrative divisions of the [[Russian Empire]].</ref> a city of the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]], in the family of a craftsman, later a worker of a shoe factory. Like his parents, Stalin was an ethnic [[Georgia|Georgian]], and he grew up speaking the Georgian language. Both his father and his mother came from a family of serfs.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ian Grey|year=1979|title=Stalin, man of history|chapter=|section=|page=9|quote=Vissarion, his father, came from the village of Didi-Lilo, near Tiflis, where his parents, like their forebears, had been peasant serfs. For Vissarion emancipation meant that he was free to follow his trade as a cobbler. Around 1870 he moved to Gori, where in 1874 he married Ekaterina Georgievna Geladze, daughter of a serf family from a nearby village. She was about eighteen years of age, some five years younger than her husband. They were humble working people, poor and illiterate.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=A341F7377CB157DD7730A9A416CDC302|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Stalin's revolutionary activities can be traced to his time as a student after 1894, when he joined the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1949|title=Joseph Stalin: a political biography|page=5|quote=In the autumn of 1888 Stalin entered the church school in Gori, from which, in 1894, he passed to the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.

This was a period when, with the development of industrial capitalism and the attendant growth of the working-class movement, Marxism had begun to spread widely throughout Russia. The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, founded and led by Lenin, had given a powerful stimulus to the Social-Democratic movement all over the country.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|year=1931|title=[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig]]|quote=I joined the revolutionary movement at the age of fifteen, when I became connected with certain illegal groups of Russian Marxists in Transcaucasia. These groups exerted a great influence on me and instilled in me a taste for illegal Marxian literature.}}</ref> In 1896 and 1897, Stalin was a part of Marxist study groups in the seminary, and in August 1898, he formally joined the Tiflis branch of the [[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party]] (RSDLP) and began to conduct [[propaganda]] work among the workers in the Tiflis railway workshops. An avid reader, he read ''[[Capital, vol. I|Capital]]'' and the ''[[Manifesto of the communist party]]'', written by [[Marx|Karl Marx]], subsequently taking a profound interest in [[Marxism]]. At that time, he became acquainted with some of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s articles criticizing the [[Narodniks]] and the "Legal Marxists".<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1945|title=Joseph Stalin: a short biography|page=5|quote=Jn 1896 and 1897, Stalin conduoled Marxist study circles in the seminary, and in August 1898 he formally enrolled as a member of the Tiflis Branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. [...]

Stalin worked hard to broaden his knowledge. He studied Capital, the Communist Manifesto and other works of Marx and Engels. He acquainted himself with Lenin's polemical writings against Narodism, "Legal Marxism" and "Economism." His theoretical interests were extremely broad. He studied philosophy, political economy, history and natural science. He read widely in the classics. He thus trained himself to he an educated Marxist. Even at this early date Lenin's writings made a deep impression on him. "I must meet him al all costs," one of Stalin's friends. reports him to have said. after reading an article by Tulin (Lenin).|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=034C4C1A4DBC437BC939DCF13A1D9EBD}}</ref> In 1899 I. V. Stalin was expelled from the seminary for the propaganda of Marxism, he went to an illegal position and became a professional revolutionary.

=== Revolutionary activities ===
While organizing in the [[Caucasus]], Stalin exposed the [[Mensheviks]] as [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[Reformism|reformists]]. He met Lenin in person for the first time at a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] conference in Tampere, [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Finland]] in 1905.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm}}</ref> In 1912, the party elected Stalin to the Central Committee even though he was in exile at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Stolypin Reaction. The Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves an Independent Marxist Party|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch04.htm}}</ref> In 1912, Stalin helped found the newspaper ''Pravda''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party during the New Rise of the Working Class Movement before the First Imperialist War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch05.htm}}</ref>

After the [[February Revolution]], Stalin returned from exile in [[Siberia]]. He called for an overthrow of the [[Russian Republic (1917–1918)|provisional government]] and opposed the [[Imperialism|imperialist]] [[First World War]]. At a party conference in April 1917, he argued with [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]] and [[Georgy Pyatakov|Pyatakov]], who did not support the right of [[Nation|nations]] to [[self-determination]]. In September, Stalin opposed participating in the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] [[Provisional Council of the Russian Republic|Provisional Council]] and called for a revolution instead.

On 29 October 1917, the Central Committee elected Stalin as head of the Party Center to direct the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Preparation and Realization of the October Socialist Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch07.htm}}</ref>

== Post-revolution ==

=== Civil War ===
In summer 1919, the Central Committee sent Stalin, [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]], [[Sergo Orjonikidze|Orjonikidze]], and [[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] to the southern front, where he organized an attack against [[Anton Denikin]] from the [[Donbass]]. The [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] defeated Denikin in October 1919 and liberated all of [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukraine]] by early 1920.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Foreign Military Intervention and Civil War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch08.htm}}</ref>

=== Creation of the U.S.S.R. ===
After the defeat of the interventionists and the [[civil war]], when in connection with the transition to a peaceful economic construction of the anti-party groups launched a struggle against the party line developed by Lenin, Stalin defended the [[Leninist]] line and fought against anti-party groups and factions ([[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]], "workers' opposition"). At the X Congress of the Party (1921) Stalin presented "The Report on the next tasks of the Party in the [[national question]]". After the 11th Party Congress (1922) the Plenum of the Party Central Committee elected Joseph Stalin as the Secretary General of the Central Committee.

Under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, the Party during this period carried out extensive work on the creation of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. Lenin believed that the USSR should be a voluntary union of equal and sovereign [[Soviet republic|union republics]]. On this question, Stalin at first took the wrong stand, putting forward the project of so-called "autonomization", i.e., the entry into the RSFSR of other Soviet republics on the rights of autonomous units. V. I. Lenin strongly opposed this proposal, criticized Stalin's mistakes in conducting the national policy, his partiality to the manifestations of great-power [[chauvinism]]. The Leninist principles were accepted by the Central Committee and formed the basis of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The report on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922) was made at the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR by the order of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) by I.V. Stalin in view of Lenin's illness.

After Lenin's death, the Communist Party, under the leadership of the Central Committee, firmly and confidently led the Soviet people along the path of implementation of Lenin's precepts, on the path of building socialism. At this time, Stalin made a number of works that were of great importance in the protection and propaganda of Leninism and in the ideological defeat of the currents hostile to Leninism. In this respect, a great role was played by Stalin's work "On the Foundations of Leninism" (1924), which set forth the basic issues of Leninism and disclosed the new things that Lenin contributed to Marxism. The defense by I. V. Stalin, together with other leaders of the Party, of the Leninist theory of the possibility of the victory of socialism initially [[Socialism in one country|in one, separate country]], and of the possibility of the victory of socialism in the USSR in the capitalist encirclement, was of particular importance in the struggle against the Trotskyists.

=== 14th Party Congress ===
Based on the instructions of V. Lenin, who developed a scientifically sound program for building socialism in the USSR, the party set a course for the [[socialist industrialization]] of the country. This line was set out in the political report of the Central Committee at the XIV Party Congress (1925), made by Stalin. The report emphasized that the essence of [[industrialization]] was the priority development of [[heavy industry]], and first of all the [[mechanical engineering]], the fundamental difference of socialist industrialization, which was inextricably linked with the improvement of the working people's material condition, from the capitalist one, which was held by means of colonial seizure, robbery and ruthless exploitation of the working people.

In early 1926 he published a book of Stalin "Toward Leninism", which was criticized opportunistic views of [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinovievites]], who were descending to the ideological positions of Trotskyism and wanted wanted the Soviet Union to stay mostly [[Agriculture|agricultural]] and import its industry from [[Capitalism|capitalist]] countries.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Transition to the Peaceful Work of Economic Restoration|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch09.htm}}</ref> At the 15th Party Conference (November 1926) Stalin made a report "On the Social Democratic bias in our party" and at the VII Extended Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (December 1926) with the report "About the Social Democratic bias in our party again". Both these reports played an important role in rallying the party ranks under the banner of Leninist ideas and in exposing the Trotskyites, their capitulation to capitalism and their disorganizing activities.

=== Collectivization ===
Based on the successes of socialist industrialization and guided by Lenin's [[cooperative plan]], the 15th Congress of the CPSU (b) (1927) put forward [[collectivization]] of the [[agriculture]] as the most important task of the Party and Soviet people. These questions were covered in the political report of the Central Committee of the Party, made at the Congress by I. V. Stalin. During this period, an anti-party group of [[Opportunism|right-wing opportunists]]—[[Bukharin]], [[Alexei Rykov|Rykov]], [[Mikhail Tomsky|Tomsky]] and others—openly opposed the general line of the Party. In the reports of Stalin "On the industrialization of the country and the right deviation in the CPSU (b)" (1928), "On the right - the deviation in the CPSU (b)" (1929), etc. exposed the line of the right opportunists, which expressed the ideology of the [[kulak]], rich peasant class.

In 1930, Stalin released the ''Pravda'' article "Dizzy with Success," criticizing people who were overenthusiastic about [[collectivization]] and forced [[Peasantry|peasants]] onto collective farms. This issue was most severe in [[Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Transcaucasia]] and Central Asia, where collectivization was not scheduled to finish until 1933.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle for the Collectivization of Agriculture|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch11.htm}}</ref>

At the XVI Congress of the CPSU(b) (1930) and XVII Congress of the CPSU(b) (1934) Stalin made reports on the work of the Central Committee of the Party. During this period, the Communist Party and the Soviet state carried out an all-out offensive of socialism against the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] elements. Under the conditions of a tense international situation, the country overcame enormous difficulties in order to put an end to the technical and economic backwardness within the shortest historical period. In pursuing a course of priority and predominant development of heavy industry, the Party made decisive progress in the socialist industrialization of the country and the collectivization of agriculture.

=== 1936 Constitution and later ===
Stalin helped draft the [[1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union]], which the Eighth Congress of Soviets approved in November 1936.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle to Complete the Building of the Socialist Society. Introduction of the New Constitution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch12.htm}}</ref> This constitution remained in effect until 1977.

In 1938 Stalin wrote his work "On dialectical and historical materialism", which gives a brief coverage of the foundations of Marxist-Leninist philosophy and shows its importance for the practical work of the Party.

In March 1939 the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was held. In the report of the Central Committee at the Congress Stalin outlined the program developed by the Central Committee of the struggle of the party and the Soviet people for the completion of building a socialist society in the gradual transition from socialism to communism.

=== Second World War ===
Joseph Stalin became [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]] in 1941, a position he would hold until his death.<ref>{{Citation|author=Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop|year=2008|title=Dictionary of Genocide: A–L|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313346422}}</ref> At the beginning of the [[Second World War|Great Patriotic War]] of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and remained in these positions until the victorious end of the war. The great victory over the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitlerite]] coalition was won by the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party and its Central Committee, headed by Stalin.

However, on the eve of the Great Patriotic War he misjudged the international situation. Overestimating the value of the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty Stalin did not believe the information about direct preparation of German troops to invade the USSR. He rejected all the suggestions about the necessity to put the Soviet frontier districts on alert. It was one of the reasons why for the Soviet troops in the western regions the attack of Hitlerite armies was sudden. Soviet troops, covering the state border, made heroic resistance to the invaders, but being insufficiently prepared to repulse the attack and forced to fight in a very unfavorable situation, they suffered heavy losses in men and equipment, which led to a sharp change in the balance of forces in favor of the enemy.

During the war the Party and the government organized military production on a large scale in the eastern regions of the country. Thanks to the great advantages of the socialist system, the presence of highly developed industry, and the dedication of the people of the Soviet Union in the short term managed to create an advantage over the enemy in the quantity and quality of weapons; to disrupt the Nazi plans for "lightning war", to ensure a turning point in the war and to prepare the conditions for the defeat of Hitler's invaders. The Communist Party and its Central Committee were the organizing and guiding force of the heroic nationwide struggle against the Nazi invaders. The Communist Party united and directed the activity of all party, Soviet, economic, social organizations and military bodies. The members of the Central Committee of the Party, prominent Soviet military leaders, local party and Soviet organizations unfolded a huge organizational, political, economic and military work. Thanks to the resilience and heroism of the Soviet soldiers, the activities of the outstanding commanders of the Soviet Army were prepared and successfully conducted unprecedented in their scale, skill and courage of the plan the military operations that led to total victory over the enemy.

During the war Joseph Stalin as a head of the Soviet government took part in the conferences of the leaders of the three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - in Teheran (1943), in Yalta and Berlin (1945). During these years I.V. Stalin maintained everyday correspondence with the presidents of the USA and the prime-ministers of Great Britain, in which he insistently fought for strengthening of anti-Hitler coalition, consistently defended the national interests of the peoples of the countries which were subject to Hitlerite aggression.

=== Postwar ===
In the postwar period I. V. Stalin published his works "Marxism and questions of linguistics" (1950) and "Economic problems of socialism in the USSR" (1952), which considers important questions of Marxist-Leninist theory. "The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR" had a great influence on the development of some positions in the political economy of socialism. I.V. Stalin stressed the objective character of economic laws in socialism; based on the classical Marxism-Leninism statements, he formulated the main economic law of socialism, the law of systematic and proportional development of national economy; noted the importance of priority growth of means of production for the expanded socialist reproduction. At the same time, the work contains a number of erroneous and controversial positions (e.g.: assertion that commodity circulation begins to hinder the development of productive forces of the country and the gradual transition to product exchange is necessary; underestimation of the law of value in production, especially with regard to means of production; the statement about inevitability of reduction of the volume of capitalist production after World War II and about inevitability of wars between capitalist countries in the current conditions).

In October 1952 the 19th Congress of the CPSU was held. At the closing session of the Congress Stalin made a speech. The Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which took place after the Congress, elected Joseph Stalin a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Outstanding work of Stalin was highly appreciated by the Soviet Union. Stalin's outstanding activities were highly appreciated by the Soviet government. He was awarded the ranks of a Hero of Socialist Labor (1939), a Hero of the Soviet Union (1945) and Generalissimo of the Soviet Union (1945). He was awarded with three Orders of Lenin, the Order of Victory, the Order of the Red Banner, Suvorov of the 1st degree and medals.

On March, 5, 1953 after a serious hemorrhagic stroke Stalin died.

== Common myths ==

===Antisemitism===

While anti-semitism has been a historical tool of the [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Fascism|fascists]] in particular, "judeo-bolshevism" and "cultural bolshevism" being classic fascist conspiracy theories linking the comminist movement with the anti-semetic beliefs of jewish cabals plotting world domination or ethnic domination, some historians still claim that Stalin too was an [[Anti-Semitism|anti-Semite]]. While [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]] has had a long and troubled history with [[Mikhail Bakunin|anti-semetism]] pre-revolution, there is no evidence that Stalin held these views himself. The below letter from Stalin opposes this notion.

{{Quote|In answer to your inquiry:

National and racial chauvinism is a vestige of the misanthropic customs characteristic of the period of cannibalism. Anti-semitism, as an extreme form of racial chauvinism, is the most dangerous vestige of cannibalism.

Anti-semitism is of advantage to the exploiters as a lightning conductor that deflects the blows aimed by the working people at [[capitalism]]. Anti-semitism is dangerous for the working people as being a false path that leads them off the right road and lands them in the jungle. Hence Communists, as consistent internationalists, cannot but be irreconcilable, sworn enemies of anti-semitism.

In the U.S.S.R. anti-semitism is punishable with the utmost severity of the law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Under U.S.S.R. law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty.|J. Stalin|Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States {{Refn|Stalin: ''Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States'' [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1931/01/12.htm MIA link]}}}}

=== Personality cult ===
While there is no doubt that Stalin was a revered figure in the USSR, there is no evidence to suggest he made any active efforts to build up a cult of personality around himself. In fact, in 1938 he requested the destruction of a book that portrayed him too positively and stated that the theory of "heroes" was an [[Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries|SR]] and not a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] theory.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1938|title=Letter on Publications for Children Directed to the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Youth|title-url=https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/stalin-on-the-cult-of-personality/|city=London|publisher=Red Star Press|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/02/16.htm}}</ref>

== Popular support ==
In a poll made in 2019, 70% of [[Russian Federation|Russians]] said they had a positive view of Stalin's role in history. This was a 12 percentage point increase from 58% in 2015.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin|date=2019-04-17|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093512/https://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-date=2021-06-29}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />
[[Category:Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:Marxist theorists]]
[[Category:Former heads of state]]
[[Category:Targets of bourgeois media]]

Joseph Stalin

2022-12-07T23:04:11Z

REDSHIFT: Rewrote some sections to "neutralize" some loaded language. Rewrote for ease of reading, added some information.

{{Infobox revolutionary
| name = Josef Stalin
| native_name = Иосиф Сталин იოსებ სტალინი
| image = File:Joseph-Stalin-1950.jpg
| image_size = 225px
| caption = Portrait of comrade Stalin
| nationality = Georgian
| birth_name = Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|12|21}}
| birth_place = Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1953|3|5|1878|12|18}}
| death_place = Moscow, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_cause = Cerebral hemorrhage
| political_line = [[Marxism-Leninism]]
}}
'''Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili''' {{Datebio|birthmonth=December|birthday=21st|birthyear=1878|deathmonth=March|deathday=5th|deathyear=1953}}, better known as '''Joseph Stalin''' was a Georgian revolutionary, Marxism-Leninist theorist, as well as the democratically elected<ref>{{Citation|author=Glover Furr|year=2019|title=Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform|title-url=http://marxism.halkcephesi.net/Grover%20Furr/stalin_1.htm|quote=This article outlines Joseph Stalin's attempts, from the 1930s until his death, to democratize the government of the Soviet Union.|pdf=https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/clogic/article/download/191861/188830/218717|trans-lang=English}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Pat Sloan|year=1937|title=Soviet Democracy|title-url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Soviet_Democracy.html?id=UeGRyAEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description|section=Democracy and Dictatorship|page=9|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/pat-sloan-soviet-democracy-victor-gollancz-1937.pdf|isbn=9781092297394|trans-lang=English}}</ref> leader of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]], being the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Soviet Union]] from the 3 April 1922 to the 16th October 1952. He played a central role in the revolutionary activities of the [[Bolsheviks|bolshevik party]] and later served as the head of the Soviet Union during the great period of [[collectivization]] and industrialization which lifted the USSR to superpower status by the late 1930s. Stalin has a complicated history and equally complicated public image largely the result of decades of [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] propaganda. In the common history of the west he is considered a dictator and authoritarian, despire clear evidence to the contrary, as even the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] admitted to there being collective leadership during his time in office.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Central Intelligence Agency|title=Comments on the Change in Soviet Leadership|date=2008-02-26|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A006000360009-0.pdf}}</ref>

== Pre-revolution ==

=== Early life ===

Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili was born on 21 December, 1878<ref group="lower-alpha">Although some historians claim he was born in 18th December, his birthday was officially celebrated on 21st December.</ref> in Gori<ref group="lower-alpha">The city of Gori was part of the Tiflis Governorate, which was one of the administrative divisions of the [[Russian Empire]].</ref> a city of the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]], in the family of a craftsman, later a worker of a shoe factory. Like his parents, Stalin was an ethnic [[Georgia|Georgian]], and he grew up speaking the Georgian language. Both his father and his mother came from a family of serfs.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ian Grey|year=1979|title=Stalin, man of history|chapter=|section=|page=9|quote=Vissarion, his father, came from the village of Didi-Lilo, near Tiflis, where his parents, like their forebears, had been peasant serfs. For Vissarion emancipation meant that he was free to follow his trade as a cobbler. Around 1870 he moved to Gori, where in 1874 he married Ekaterina Georgievna Geladze, daughter of a serf family from a nearby village. She was about eighteen years of age, some five years younger than her husband. They were humble working people, poor and illiterate.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=A341F7377CB157DD7730A9A416CDC302|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Stalin's revolutionary activities can be traced to his time as a student after 1894, when he joined the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1949|title=Joseph Stalin: a political biography|page=5|quote=In the autumn of 1888 Stalin entered the church school in Gori, from which, in 1894, he passed to the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis.

This was a period when, with the development of industrial capitalism and the attendant growth of the working-class movement, Marxism had begun to spread widely throughout Russia. The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, founded and led by Lenin, had given a powerful stimulus to the Social-Democratic movement all over the country.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=26C959185500A43A5CFF3947ECEF2FCB}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|year=1931|title=[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig]]|quote=I joined the revolutionary movement at the age of fifteen, when I became connected with certain illegal groups of Russian Marxists in Transcaucasia. These groups exerted a great influence on me and instilled in me a taste for illegal Marxian literature.}}</ref> In 1896 and 1897, Stalin was a part of Marxist study groups in the seminary, and in August 1898, he formally joined the Tiflis branch of the [[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party]] (RSDLP) and began to conduct [[propaganda]] work among the workers in the Tiflis railway workshops. An avid reader, he read ''[[Capital, vol. I|Capital]]'' and the ''[[Manifesto of the communist party]]'', written by [[Marx|Karl Marx]], subsequently taking a profound interest in [[Marxism]]. At that time, he became acquainted with some of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s articles criticizing the [[Narodniks]] and the "Legal Marxists".<ref>{{Citation|author=Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute|year=1945|title=Joseph Stalin: a short biography|page=5|quote=Jn 1896 and 1897, Stalin conduoled Marxist study circles in the seminary, and in August 1898 he formally enrolled as a member of the Tiflis Branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. [...]

Stalin worked hard to broaden his knowledge. He studied Capital, the Communist Manifesto and other works of Marx and Engels. He acquainted himself with Lenin's polemical writings against Narodism, "Legal Marxism" and "Economism." His theoretical interests were extremely broad. He studied philosophy, political economy, history and natural science. He read widely in the classics. He thus trained himself to he an educated Marxist. Even at this early date Lenin's writings made a deep impression on him. "I must meet him al all costs," one of Stalin's friends. reports him to have said. after reading an article by Tulin (Lenin).|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=034C4C1A4DBC437BC939DCF13A1D9EBD}}</ref> In 1899 I. V. Stalin was expelled from the seminary for the propaganda of Marxism, he went to an illegal position and became a professional revolutionary.

=== Revolutionary activities ===
While organizing in the [[Caucasus]], Stalin exposed the [[Mensheviks]] as [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[Reformism|reformists]]. He met Lenin in person for the first time at a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] conference in Tampere, [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Finland]] in 1905.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm}}</ref> In 1912, the party elected Stalin to the Central Committee even though he was in exile at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the Stolypin Reaction. The Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves an Independent Marxist Party|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch04.htm}}</ref> In 1912, Stalin helped found the newspaper ''Pravda''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party during the New Rise of the Working Class Movement before the First Imperialist War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch05.htm}}</ref>

After the [[February Revolution]], Stalin returned from exile in [[Siberia]]. He called for an overthrow of the [[Russian Republic (1917–1918)|provisional government]] and opposed the [[Imperialism|imperialist]] [[First World War]]. At a party conference in April 1917, he argued with [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]] and [[Georgy Pyatakov|Pyatakov]], who did not support the right of [[Nation|nations]] to [[self-determination]]. In September, Stalin opposed participating in the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] [[Provisional Council of the Russian Republic|Provisional Council]] and called for a revolution instead.

On 29 October 1917, the Central Committee elected Stalin as head of the Party Center to direct the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Preparation and Realization of the October Socialist Revolution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch07.htm}}</ref>

== Post-revolution ==

=== Civil War ===
In summer 1919, the Central Committee sent Stalin, [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]], [[Sergo Orjonikidze|Orjonikidze]], and [[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] to the southern front, where he organized an attack against [[Anton Denikin]] from the [[Donbass]]. The [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] defeated Denikin in October 1919 and liberated all of [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukraine]] by early 1920.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Foreign Military Intervention and Civil War|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch08.htm}}</ref>

=== Creation of the U.S.S.R. ===
After the defeat of the interventionists and the [[civil war]], when in connection with the transition to a peaceful economic construction of the anti-party groups launched a struggle against the party line developed by Lenin, Stalin defended the [[Leninist]] line and fought against anti-party groups and factions ([[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]], "workers' opposition"). At the X Congress of the Party (1921) Stalin presented "The Report on the next tasks of the Party in the [[national question]]". After the 11th Party Congress (1922) the Plenum of the Party Central Committee elected Joseph Stalin as the Secretary General of the Central Committee.

Under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, the Party during this period carried out extensive work on the creation of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. Lenin believed that the USSR should be a voluntary union of equal and sovereign [[Soviet republic|union republics]]. On this question, Stalin at first took the wrong stand, putting forward the project of so-called "autonomization", i.e., the entry into the RSFSR of other Soviet republics on the rights of autonomous units. V. I. Lenin strongly opposed this proposal, criticized Stalin's mistakes in conducting the national policy, his partiality to the manifestations of great-power [[chauvinism]]. The Leninist principles were accepted by the Central Committee and formed the basis of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The report on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922) was made at the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR by the order of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) by I.V. Stalin in view of Lenin's illness.

After Lenin's death, the Communist Party, under the leadership of the Central Committee, firmly and confidently led the Soviet people along the path of implementation of Lenin's precepts, on the path of building socialism. At this time, Stalin made a number of works that were of great importance in the protection and propaganda of Leninism and in the ideological defeat of the currents hostile to Leninism. In this respect, a great role was played by Stalin's work "On the Foundations of Leninism" (1924), which set forth the basic issues of Leninism and disclosed the new things that Lenin contributed to Marxism. The defense by I. V. Stalin, together with other leaders of the Party, of the Leninist theory of the possibility of the victory of socialism initially [[Socialism in one country|in one, separate country]], and of the possibility of the victory of socialism in the USSR in the capitalist encirclement, was of particular importance in the struggle against the Trotskyists.

=== 14th Party Congress ===
Based on the instructions of V. Lenin, who developed a scientifically sound program for building socialism in the USSR, the party set a course for the [[socialist industrialization]] of the country. This line was set out in the political report of the Central Committee at the XIV Party Congress (1925), made by Stalin. The report emphasized that the essence of [[industrialization]] was the priority development of [[heavy industry]], and first of all the [[mechanical engineering]], the fundamental difference of socialist industrialization, which was inextricably linked with the improvement of the working people's material condition, from the capitalist one, which was held by means of colonial seizure, robbery and ruthless exploitation of the working people.

In early 1926 he published a book of Stalin "Toward Leninism", which was criticized opportunistic views of [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinovievites]], who were descending to the ideological positions of Trotskyism and wanted wanted the Soviet Union to stay mostly [[Agriculture|agricultural]] and import its industry from [[Capitalism|capitalist]] countries.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Transition to the Peaceful Work of Economic Restoration|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch09.htm}}</ref> At the 15th Party Conference (November 1926) Stalin made a report "On the Social Democratic bias in our party" and at the VII Extended Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (December 1926) with the report "About the Social Democratic bias in our party again". Both these reports played an important role in rallying the party ranks under the banner of Leninist ideas and in exposing the Trotskyites, their capitulation to capitalism and their disorganizing activities.

=== Collectivization ===
Based on the successes of socialist industrialization and guided by Lenin's [[cooperative plan]], the 15th Congress of the CPSU (b) (1927) put forward [[collectivization]] of the [[agriculture]] as the most important task of the Party and Soviet people. These questions were covered in the political report of the Central Committee of the Party, made at the Congress by I. V. Stalin. During this period, an anti-party group of [[Opportunism|right-wing opportunists]]—[[Bukharin]], [[Alexei Rykov|Rykov]], [[Mikhail Tomsky|Tomsky]] and others—openly opposed the general line of the Party. In the reports of Stalin "On the industrialization of the country and the right deviation in the CPSU (b)" (1928), "On the right - the deviation in the CPSU (b)" (1929), etc. exposed the line of the right opportunists, which expressed the ideology of the [[kulak]], rich peasant class.

In 1930, Stalin released the ''Pravda'' article "Dizzy with Success," criticizing people who were overenthusiastic about [[collectivization]] and forced [[Peasantry|peasants]] onto collective farms. This issue was most severe in [[Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Transcaucasia]] and Central Asia, where collectivization was not scheduled to finish until 1933.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle for the Collectivization of Agriculture|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch11.htm}}</ref>

At the XVI Congress of the CPSU(b) (1930) and XVII Congress of the CPSU(b) (1934) Stalin made reports on the work of the Central Committee of the Party. During this period, the Communist Party and the Soviet state carried out an all-out offensive of socialism against the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] elements. Under the conditions of a tense international situation, the country overcame enormous difficulties in order to put an end to the technical and economic backwardness within the shortest historical period. In pursuing a course of priority and predominant development of heavy industry, the Party made decisive progress in the socialist industrialization of the country and the collectivization of agriculture.

=== 1936 Constitution and later ===
Stalin helped draft the [[1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union]], which the Eighth Congress of Soviets approved in November 1936.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle to Complete the Building of the Socialist Society. Introduction of the New Constitution|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch12.htm}}</ref> This constitution remained in effect until 1977.

In 1938 Stalin wrote his work "On dialectical and historical materialism", which gives a brief coverage of the foundations of Marxist-Leninist philosophy and shows its importance for the practical work of the Party.

In March 1939 the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was held. In the report of the Central Committee at the Congress Stalin outlined the program developed by the Central Committee of the struggle of the party and the Soviet people for the completion of building a socialist society in the gradual transition from socialism to communism.

=== Second World War ===
Joseph Stalin became [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]] in 1941, a position he would hold until his death.<ref>{{Citation|author=Samuel Totten, Paul Bartrop|year=2008|title=Dictionary of Genocide: A–L|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313346422}}</ref> At the beginning of the [[Second World War|Great Patriotic War]] of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and remained in these positions until the victorious end of the war. The great victory over the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitlerite]] coalition was won by the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party and its Central Committee, headed by Stalin.

However, on the eve of the Great Patriotic War he misjudged the international situation. Overestimating the value of the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty Stalin did not believe the information about direct preparation of German troops to invade the USSR. He rejected all the suggestions about the necessity to put the Soviet frontier districts on alert. It was one of the reasons why for the Soviet troops in the western regions the attack of Hitlerite armies was sudden. Soviet troops, covering the state border, made heroic resistance to the invaders, but being insufficiently prepared to repulse the attack and forced to fight in a very unfavorable situation, they suffered heavy losses in men and equipment, which led to a sharp change in the balance of forces in favor of the enemy.

During the war the Party and the government organized military production on a large scale in the eastern regions of the country. Thanks to the great advantages of the socialist system, the presence of highly developed industry, and the dedication of the people of the Soviet Union in the short term managed to create an advantage over the enemy in the quantity and quality of weapons; to disrupt the Nazi plans for "lightning war", to ensure a turning point in the war and to prepare the conditions for the defeat of Hitler's invaders. The Communist Party and its Central Committee were the organizing and guiding force of the heroic nationwide struggle against the Nazi invaders. The Communist Party united and directed the activity of all party, Soviet, economic, social organizations and military bodies. The members of the Central Committee of the Party, prominent Soviet military leaders, local party and Soviet organizations unfolded a huge organizational, political, economic and military work. Thanks to the resilience and heroism of the Soviet soldiers, the activities of the outstanding commanders of the Soviet Army were prepared and successfully conducted unprecedented in their scale, skill and courage of the plan the military operations that led to total victory over the enemy.

During the war Joseph Stalin as a head of the Soviet government took part in the conferences of the leaders of the three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - in Teheran (1943), in Yalta and Berlin (1945). During these years I.V. Stalin maintained everyday correspondence with the presidents of the USA and the prime-ministers of Great Britain, in which he insistently fought for strengthening of anti-Hitler coalition, consistently defended the national interests of the peoples of the countries which were subject to Hitlerite aggression.

=== Postwar ===
In the postwar period I. V. Stalin published his works "Marxism and questions of linguistics" (1950) and "Economic problems of socialism in the USSR" (1952), which considers important questions of Marxist-Leninist theory. "The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR" had a great influence on the development of some positions in the political economy of socialism. I.V. Stalin stressed the objective character of economic laws in socialism; based on the classical Marxism-Leninism statements, he formulated the main economic law of socialism, the law of systematic and proportional development of national economy; noted the importance of priority growth of means of production for the expanded socialist reproduction. At the same time, the work contains a number of erroneous and controversial positions (e.g.: assertion that commodity circulation begins to hinder the development of productive forces of the country and the gradual transition to product exchange is necessary; underestimation of the law of value in production, especially with regard to means of production; the statement about inevitability of reduction of the volume of capitalist production after World War II and about inevitability of wars between capitalist countries in the current conditions).

In October 1952 the 19th Congress of the CPSU was held. At the closing session of the Congress Stalin made a speech. The Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which took place after the Congress, elected Joseph Stalin a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Outstanding work of Stalin was highly appreciated by the Soviet Union. Stalin's outstanding activities were highly appreciated by the Soviet government. He was awarded the ranks of a Hero of Socialist Labor (1939), a Hero of the Soviet Union (1945) and Generalissimo of the Soviet Union (1945). He was awarded with three Orders of Lenin, the Order of Victory, the Order of the Red Banner, Suvorov of the 1st degree and medals.

On March, 5, 1953 after a serious hemorrhagic stroke Stalin died.

== Common myths ==

===Antisemitism===

While anti-semitism has been a historical tool of the [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Fascism|fascists]] in particular, "judeo-bolshevism" and "cultural bolshevism" being classic fascist conspiracy theories linking the comminist movement with the anti-semetic beliefs of jewish cabals plotting world domination or ethnic domination, some historians still claim that Stalin too was an [[Anti-Semitism|anti-Semite]]. While [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]] has has had a long and troubled history with [[Mikhail Bakunin|anti-semetism]] pre-revolution, there is no evidence that Stalin held these views himself. The below letter from Stalin opposes this notion.

{{Quote|In answer to your inquiry:

National and racial chauvinism is a vestige of the misanthropic customs characteristic of the period of cannibalism. Anti-semitism, as an extreme form of racial chauvinism, is the most dangerous vestige of cannibalism.

Anti-semitism is of advantage to the exploiters as a lightning conductor that deflects the blows aimed by the working people at [[capitalism]]. Anti-semitism is dangerous for the working people as being a false path that leads them off the right road and lands them in the jungle. Hence Communists, as consistent internationalists, cannot but be irreconcilable, sworn enemies of anti-semitism.

In the U.S.S.R. anti-semitism is punishable with the utmost severity of the law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Under U.S.S.R. law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty.|J. Stalin|Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States {{Refn|Stalin: ''Reply to an inquiry of the Jewish News Agency in the United States'' [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1931/01/12.htm MIA link]}}}}

=== Personality cult ===
While there is no doubt that Stalin was a revered figure in the USSR, there is no evidence to suggest he made any active efforts to build up a cult of personality around himself. In fact, in 1938 he requested the destruction of a book that portrayed him too positively and stated that the theory of "heroes" was an [[Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries|SR]] and not a [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] theory.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1938|title=Letter on Publications for Children Directed to the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Youth|title-url=https://mltheory.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/stalin-on-the-cult-of-personality/|city=London|publisher=Red Star Press|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/02/16.htm}}</ref>

== Popular support ==
In a poll made in 2019, 70% of [[Russian Federation|Russians]] said they had a positive view of Stalin's role in history. This was a 12 percentage point increase from 58% in 2015.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin|date=2019-04-17|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093512/https://www.idcommunism.com/2019/04/anticommunism-fails-70-of-russians-have-positive-view-on-joseph-stalin.html|archive-date=2021-06-29}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

=== Notes ===
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[[Category:Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:Marxist theorists]]
[[Category:Former heads of state]]
[[Category:Targets of bourgeois media]]