Joseph Stalin became a Communist (a Bolshevik) in 1903. He later became an editor of the Pravda, the Bolshevik newspaper. WWI placed enormous stress on the Russian economy, which had not reached a modern level of industrialization; Russian soldiers fought without adequate food, clothing, or weapons in the freezing trenches of the Eastern Front.

In 1917, the Russian Revolution took place. In towns across Russia, groups of workers and soldiers joined Soviets, and the Communists gained power within these organizations. In November, the Bolsheviks overthrew Russia’s provisional government and seized power.

From 1917 to 1922, the Bolshevik Dictatorship, led by Lenin, controlled Russia; it withdrew Russia from WWI (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and nationalized means of production. Trade was forbidden, and work was made compulsory. The Cheka, the secret police, (later replaced by a series of agencies: the OGPU, the NKVD, and the KGB) crushed resistance through mass executions and as many as 140,000 were killed in the “Red Terror”.

The Bolsheviks’ Red Army also defeated the White Army (opponents of the Bolsheviks including landowners, some members of the former provisional government, Mensheviks, Cossacks, and some foreign contingents). Ten million lost their lives in the conflict.

In 1919, the Comintern was formed. Censorship was instituted and the educational system nationalized and its curriculum reformed. The atheist Communist state began to take shape; the “Living Church” was allowed to exist, under state control; it survived into the 1940s. Peasants, who could not sell their grain, chose to plant less, and this led to a famine in 1921, causing the death of over 5 million people.

Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP: 1921-28) was introduced to restore economic stability. In 1922, Stalin became the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Party and began to defy Lenin’s wishes. The USSR was also formed on December 30, 1922. Lenin was dead by 1924, and Stalin exiled his other rival, Leon Trotsky in 1928 (he was assassinated at Stalin’s orders in 1940 in Mexico).

The NEP was never totally successful, and Stalin replaced it with the first 5-year plan (1928-32). Three more 5-year plans were to follow. Gosplan, a planning office, oversaw the programs. The goals of the plans were industrialization, agricultural collectivization, and military buildup. The results of the 5-year plans were significant; increases in production of electricity, coal, oil, and steel, improvements in transportation, and growth of heavy industry. By 1939, the USSR was the world’s third largest industrial economy.

Kulaks (wealthier peasants) as well as other peasants resisted collectivization and were killed or sent to the Gulag (a system of forced labor camps). The suffering continued in Ukraine, where the Great Famine (1932-33) led to the death of 3.9 million Ukrainians; as many as 5 million died overall. There were 5 million prisoners in the Gulag from 1936 to the end of Stalin’s rule. In addition to peasants, intellectuals, those suspected of having anti-Communist sympathies, and others were sent to the Gulag.

In the 1930s, Stalin consolidated his power, conducting a series of purges involving torture and forced confessions. Early Bolshevik leaders, military officers, those who had worked closely with Trotsky, and others were accused of treason. As many as a million were sent to the Gulag, and perhaps 750,000 were executed. Many artists and writers were among the intellectuals sent to the Gulag; all creations of artists and writers were carefully scrutinized to make sure that they were in full accord with Communist ideology.

The official accepted style was Socialist Realism. Heroes of the Revolution, peasants, and urban industrial workers were celebrated, as well, of course, as Stalin himself. While Lenin had resisted having a cult of personality created surrounding him, Stalin created a Lenin-cult after Lenin’s death. This allowed Stalin to attach his own cult to the already-existing one.

Stalin promoted himself as a philosopher and an heir to the tradition of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. He was seen as infallible, and his image was everywhere, including in schools. Education improved in the USSR — children had 11 years of compulsory schooling and literacy increased Children joined youth groups such as the Little Octobrists, the Young Pioneers, and the Komsomol.

In 1917, the equality of men and women was declared. A Women’s Department was established (the Zhenotdel) to coordinate outreach to women, but this was disbanded in 1930 on the grounds that it was no longer necessary and its work was complete. Under Stalin, the cult of motherhood was celebrated. Women were also employed in agriculture, industry, and the military. During WWII, Soviet women served both in factories and in combat.

Stalin maintained a chilly foreign policy with China, refusing to help China develop nuclear weapons and possibly deliberately sabotaging an opportunity to end the Korean War in order to weaken China. He signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler in 1939, but when Hitler invaded Russia, Stalin joined the Allies. In the Tehran Conference, Stalin made demands for territory in the Baltic. At Yalta, he promised to allow free elections in the areas that had been occupied by the USSR. He did not keep this promise, however.

On August 8, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan, possibly hastening Japan’s decision to surrender. After the war, Stalin blockaded Berlin in an attempt to prevent the British, French, and American zones of Germany from moving toward unification. This led to the Berlin Airlift.

Soviet Spies infiltrated Canadian, British, and American businesses and agencies, stealing electronic designs, aircraft plans, and ultimately information connected to the atomic bomb. Stalin died in 1953 of a stroke, at the age of 74. His state can be described not only as authoritarian but as totalitarian given the deep penetration of his control into almost every aspect of Soviet life.