Imagine, a groan man, known for being emotionless steel, on his knees in tears from the realization that he had become just like his father. The only difference between the two was the torment of a family, and the torment of a country. Josef Stalin knew he had become what he always feared. Josef absolutely detested authority, believed it to be pointless. Josef saw the flaws in the world around him, and knew things could be better. He would do anything to change the world… even destroy it. Josef Stalin, although known for being a horrid person who slaughtered millions, was actually very sweet and had many good intentions.

Josef Stalin was born as Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in Gori, Georgia on December 18th 1878, to Ekaterina “Keke” Geladze a loving mother, and Vissarion

Dzhugashvili a brutal totalitarian father who drank and treated poor little Soso (Josef’s childhood nickname) like dirt. His mother taught him to love and be kind, his father obliviously taught him to distrust his elders and authority figures. He went to the Gori church school where his Russian teachers mocked the accents of their Georgian students, and regarded their language and culture as inferior. Soso sat back and let people push him around for most of his childhood. He silently toiled away, doing well in school and working hard at his fathers shoe factory. When it finally came time, he graduated top of his class and his mother assumed he would become a priest, like she always wanted. Although a life as a priest with a wife and children appealed to him, he felt like there was something else out there; more he could mean to the world. Soon little Soso would be able to laugh at his father’s insolent cruelty, laugh at the little shoe factory out side of town that couldn’t support a family of insects let alone people. Josef just wanted love and to have fun, but a message of his father was forever imprinted in his brain. Rage, he had bottled up in side for eighteen years, came out in his politics

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Stalin had many wives and mistresses, but the one that stands out most was his first wife who he loved more than any thing in the world, more than breathing, more than life. His disposition and ruling quality changed immensely after she was gone. At her funeral, Stalin allegedly said that any warm feelings he had for people died with her, for only she could melt his ’stony heart’.(Josef Stalin’s heart, Eric Crackler) With his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze, he had one son Vasiliy, and his darling beloved daughter Svetlana who was his pride and joy, especially after Ekaterina was gone. In his early years, many of his mistresses were actually his land ladies who usually stopped making him pay rent once they gained a further title. In his time he had told many women that he loved them, and he believed that at those times but after Ekaterina, even till the day he died he said she was the only one he truly loved. It is a very interesting fact to notice that his loving mother and his loving wife had the same first name.

 Many people believed that Stalin was a good man. This included Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said, “The world has never seen greater devotion, determination, and self sacrifice, that have been displayed by the Russian people and their armies under the leadership of Marshall Joseph Stalin.”  (Stalin Wasn’t Stalin, Rob Lee) Plus Time Magazine named Josef man of the year in 1939. Lenin himself, knowing Josef on a personal level, said “Stalin is exactly the kind of person I need to make this country great.” (Josef Stalin Koba) Why, even today Russia’s youths admire Stalin and believe he was a great leader. In a pole of 1,802 young people Fifty-four percent agreed that Stalin did more good than bad. (Russian youth: Stalin good, migrants must go: poll Thomson Reuters)

As Josef Stalin aged he found himself going over every thing he’d done in life and knew he’d become everything he’d always hated. There was absolutely no way for him to reconcile.  It is even recorded that a young servant boy heard Stalin say after a conversation about starving peasants, “Oh dear god, I have become my father.” After Stalin left his home in Georgia, and joined the Bolsheviks, he never doubted the things he did, he never second guessed himself until then.  Josef Stalin died March 5th 1953, but not before leaving one more mark. On his death bed, right before he died he opened his eyes, looked at his daughter, lifted his arm, pointed his finder upwards and plopped it back down to the bed. Others who were in that room became convinced that was Josef Stalin’s way of leaving some king of curse on them, but his daughter knew that when he looked at her with questioning eyes, that was his why of asking her, “So, do you think I’ll go to heaven?”  and that is why at that very moment she shrugged. She honestly didn’t know.

It is not important to believe that Josef was a sweetheart, or that he indeed did more good things than bad, because that could very well be wrong.

 Don’t be fooled, Stalin did some very horrible things. What is important to think about is maybe He wasn’t as Evil as everyone thinks. We all know Stalin made mistakes but there’s a chance if we knew him back then we might have thought he was a pretty nice guy.

Montefiore, Simon. Young Stalin. Alfred a Knopf Random house, New York 2007
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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalin.htm
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_05_08_corner-archive.asp