Political Science and International Relations
Fall 2010
Moder political History – PS 120
Mark Wheeler/ Maja Savic
STALIN – man of steel:
fanatical revolutionary and energetic statesman or only a psychopath and a dictator?
AMINA ŠARIĆ
Decembar, 2010.
Stalin – man of steel: fanatical revolutionary and energetic statesman oronly a psychopath and a dictator?
I. Introduction
Joseph Visarionovich Stalin is one of the most complex figures of 20th century . The man who was able to concentrate all the power of the Russian people and tradition, to create and manage the first socialist country in the world, and to transform it from a modest agrarian country into a global …show more content…
Drawing its power from the will of the people, by forcing the greatest sufferings, then thought out propaganda, promising a better tomorrow, he was a cruel, calculated statesman and politician. Although without no real military skills, with his maneuvers and determination, he succeeded in post war negotiations, outplaying Churchill and Roosevelt, he defended the Russian capital and managed to march the Red Army in Berlin, and overthrown Hitler from the throne. Caucasian banditry and political violence, combined with a ruthless ideology, enabled Stalin rule of the Kremlin and the creation of Soviet Union in his own distorted picture, that eventually completely changed world …show more content…
1879, in Gori (Georgia) [1], as a child of peasant shoemaker, Stalin had no predisposition to grow into one of the biggest enigmas and personalities of the 20th century. His childhood was marked by poverty and a bad attitude by his father towards his son. As a result of unfulfilled ambition in shoemaker craft, inability to provide food for his family, and to rise in a reputable member of the middle class,Stalin's father, Besarion Džugašvili became rowdy and a drunkard. Besarion eased his dissatisfaction in excessive enjoyment of alcohol (famous Russian vodka) or the relentless abuse and neglect of his son, who usually did not deserve it, made the boy dark and cruel, like his father. Due to such procedures, Stalin was already at an early age developed a certain animosity towards authority. From his father's cruel insensitivity he defended himself with suspicion, distrust, vigilance, caution, lying and endurance, which will later on come in handy in war, as he learned stratagem early in his life. On the other hand, Stalin's mother, Ekatarina Gelazde, had the endless patience and devotion of the typical oriental peasant. She was not angry at her husband, and focused all her love to her only son. However, such relationship did not satisfy Stalin. After Stalin's father left them, Ekatarina, which found in the church her only consolation in her