The Early Years

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was born in 1879 in the small town of Gori, Georgia. Gerogia was one of the many states within the large Russian Empire. Iosif took the code name Stalin to hide his identity from the Tsar's secret police. The name Stalin, when translated means "Man of Steel." He was the third child, but the only one to survive childhood. His father was a cobbler (a man who fixed shoes and leather goods) and his mother a housecleaner.

Stalin was a good student in the local church school, and this allowed him to win a scholarship to become a priest. Although he was a devout Orthodox Christian he began to spend less time studying religious documents while at the seminary. Stalin, along with many of his fellow students, became became interested in the ideas and writings of Karl Marx. He became so engrossed with the theories of Marx that he finally quit the seminary to organize protests against the Tsar.

Early Radical Years (1899 - 1924)

Attempting to organize protests against the Tsar soon made Stalin a wanted man. The Imperial Police were able to catch him in 1902, and for his efforts against the government he was exiled to Siberia. Siberia, a cold desolate region in the far east of the Russian Empire, was where the Tsars traditionally sent as punishment.

While in exile in Siberia, a fellow political prisoner met and described Stalin in his memoirs. He wrote:

There was nothing striking or noteworthy about Stalin's appearance or his conversation. Thick set, of medium height, with a swarthy face pitted with smallpox, a drooping moustache, thick hair, narrow forehead and rather short legs…he produced the impression of a man of poor intellectual abilities. His small eyes, hidden under bushy eyebrows, were dull and deprived of the friendly, humorous expression, which forms such a feature of his flattering post-revolutionary portraits. His Russian was very poor. He spoke haltingly, with a strong Georgian accent: his speech was dull and dry; and entirely devoid of any color or witticism.

Stalin was able to escape from Siberia and return to organizing protests against the government. For these activities he was arrested and exiled to Siberia once more. During this period, he also met Lenin, and the men began to work together against the state.

The Rise to Power

With his growing friendship of Lenin, Stalin rose in the communist party. He took on the roles of political commissar for the Red Army during the civil war, and was the editor of Pravda translated as "truth," In these capacities, Stalin was able to become a powerful figure within the party , but he did make enemies. One of them was another key revolutionary figure, a man named Leon Trotsky. By 1922, Stalin was powerful enough to take on the role of General Secretary of the Communist Party.

While general secretary, Stalin used his power to place his friends and supporters in key positions within the party. By creating a power base of support, he believed that some day he could take over from Lenin as the leader of Russia.