Joseph Stalin

He refused to promise to allow free elections in Eastern Europe.

to encourage a fighting spirit in the soviet people

Great Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, 1932-1933; over 5 mln. murdered

Stalin wanted to build Lenin's memory up as almost god-like pretty much so that he could be perceived that way too when he took over from Lenin.

Because he is the leader of USSR and the government approved it

Stalin responded very violently. He executed many Kulaks and soon began mass deportations that carried out through-out the years. Many of the Kulaks died from the results of being deported.

People seem to call him a madman because of the power and control that he had during his time as leader of Russia, many think that he was obessed with power and it was shown during his "Stalinization" of Russia where his face would be nearly on everything and he also shown his might during the time of the 2nd World War.

a change you can believe in.

Two of Stalin's famous quotes are "Socialism in one country." This actually is a description of his version of one aspect of Marxian philosophy.

The other slogan, actually a quote is "Where there's a problem, there's a man. No man. No problem." This is a rather cold blooded description on how to solve problems.

During the period of Lenin's semi-retirement Stalin acted as his intermediary with outside world. During this time their relationship declined as Lenin despised Stalin's authoritative style and lack of manners. He also did not like Stalin's political views and his ambition for absolute power. He also recommended in his testament that Stalin be removed from the post of Secretary General of the ruling party. However Stalin managed to conceal this testament from exposure and after Lenin's death he successfully gained power.

totalitarian

yes

Stalin's first major policy was "socialism in one country." This was a substantial change from standard Marxist-Leninist doctrine which stated that a single socialist country could not survive if surrounded by capitalist countries. This meant that there was a need for what Leon Trotsky called "permanent revolution."

It was also why Lenin created the Communist International, an organization designed to coordinate and support communist groups in as many other countries as it could.

Stalin also had other policies such as "collectivization" and "dekulakization."

first answer: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."-Some old guy somewhere The U.S. along with Britain were not left with many choices at that point. The U.S.S.R. was a massive military power, if for no other reason than Stalin would send battalion after battalion of men, poorly trained and armed, into the German lines. While these three nations did not see eye to eye and the U.S. pursued a ABC (Anything But Communism) policy after the war, during the war it was necessary. Allying with the USSR opened up a Eastern front and relieved some of the pressure on Britain. It can be argued with success that the USSR really won the WWII (in Europe anyhow) as the Germans sent more of their forces into the Eastern front. Why fight two great powers when you can only fight one? It made tactical and practical sense at the time. You must also realize that the USSR did not ask to be allied with the US and the US did not invite them to join the war. Germany attacked the Soviet Union and Germany declared war on the US. After that, the two countries were automatically on the same side.

It needs to be said that in August of 1939, Stalin and Hitler signed the famous Russian-German Nom-Aggression Pact. Under a secret clause in the treaty, it was agreed that if Hitler invaded Poland, and he did in September of 1939, the Soviets would "occupy" eastern Poland. There they carried out massive executions of Polish soldiers, 15,000 at least. It was in 1940, when Hitler invaded the USSR that the Sovoet Union joined with Great Britain as an ally. Later in 1941 the Western alliance was complete. The US, Great Britain and the USSR.

second answer: The above is correct. I would add the thought that there is another way of viewing the US & British relationship with the Soviet Union during the Second World War: Instead of "Ally", consider the more accurate description "Co-Belligerent". The Soviet Union was never a true ally of Britain & America. Stalin had his own agenda during the war and his troops did not fight "alongside" British & Americans, nor did the Soviet Union's military forces operate with the US, Britain or France in a unified or cooperative command structure. On the other-hand, the United States, Britain, and lesser extent France did actually operate as true allies. Their troops, air forces & navies did work together towards common goals under unified commands. There were many instances that the Soviets actually worked against the US & Britain during the war. This often required Churchill & Roosevelt to remain calm & remember their common goal of defeating Hitler.

They meet because they wanted to post an agenda about to post war Germany.

Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler were both Communists.

"Collectivization" is an agricultural economic policy that Joseph Stalin instituted in the late 1920s to stimulate grain production and stop grain hoarding. The idea was to combine, or collect, as many small individual farms that had been permitted under Lenin's New Economic Policy into larger ones called collectives.

There were two kinds of collectives, kolkhozes and sovkhozes. In a kolkhoz, the farmers rented the land from the government and worked it according to their own methods provided they met their quotas. Sovkhozes were owned by the state and the farmers were like wage employees who had no say in how the collective farm was run.

Stalin imposed it by force and violence.

By betraying it

didnt believe in discussions

democratic voting

individualism

Joseph Stalin sent millions to Gulag labor camps.

Because he wasn't asked to help on his terms.

creating powerful secret police, he also used propoganda he controlled newspapers, radios, and anyother sources of info and he also moved against reliegion. he controlled every asspect of their lives.

Stalin had two sets of purges by "show trials." The first was directed against rival political figures like Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin and other leading Bolshevik/Communist Party rivals. The second set was directed against officers of the Red Army. The purge of the party members kept Stalin in power. The purge of the army officers nearly lost it for him, because when World War 2 broke out, most of the experienced and capable officers had been eliminated.

Stalin was on the wanted list of both the Tsarist police and secret police several times for escaping from his exile locations and for fomenting revolutionary ideas.