He began his life, however, in humble surroundings. His real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugshvili, and he was born on December 21, 1879, in Gori, Georgia, a province in south western Russia. His father was a poor shoemaker who barely earned enough to feed his family. When he was nearly 15, Iosif entered a seminary to study for the priesthood. Four years later he was expelled for revolutionary activities.

During the early 1900's he served as an organizer for the Bolsheviks, the forerunners of the Russian Communist Party. He was arrested several times and exiled to Siberia, but he escaped. Sometime during this period he took the name Stalin, meaning "man of steel."

When the Communist revolution swept through Russia in 1917, Stalin had already attracted the attention of the Bolshevik leader, Lenin. By 1922 Stalin had become general secretary of the Communist Party. On his death bed Lenin warned of Stalin's inclination to tyranny and called for his removal as party secretary. But Lenin's warning was disregarded by his successors.

After Lenin's death in 1924 Stalin gradually took all power into his own hands. By 1929 he was dictator of the country. Under his rule the Soviet Union was transformed into a totalitarian state where the Communist government exercised full control. In the 1930's he began a series of purges that led to the arrest and execution of his former opponents and even of his own lieutenants.

In 1939 Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler. In June, 1941, however Germany invaded Russia. Eventually the German troops were repelled, and Stalin began to seize lands in Eastern Europe under the pretext of liberating them from the Germans. This led to what has come to be called the Cold War.

Stalin was twice married and had three children. He died on March 5, 1953. Three years later his successors denounced his brutalities, and in 1961 Stalin's body was removed from its place of honor in Lenin's tomb.