Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the quality of charisma in a leader, using Josef Stalin as an example. The paper describes Stalin's rise to power, focusing on the political situation in Russia at the time, and how Stalin used it to his advantage. The author notes that the discontent of the people created fertile ground for Stalin's ideas to gain popularity. The paper weaves the concepts of charisma, changes in leadership and Stalin's rule throughout the paper, showing that despite the changes Stalin claimed to be making, the life style of the masses ultimately changed very little, since their role in society remained the same.

From the Paper:

"When Stalin came to power in 1924 the situation in Russia was unstable on both the economical and political side. The country had experimented a long tsarist period under the rule of an absolute leader that had total control over the country and its citizens. The prolonged domination of the czar that denied people's freedom had brought a wave of discontent among the working class, formed mainly by peasants."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Meyer, A. G., (1984) Communism. New York: Random House
• Riasanovsky, N. V., Steinberg, M. (2004) A History of Russia. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Service, R. (2007) Comrades!: A History of World Communism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Tucker, R.C. (1990). Stalin in Power: The revolution from above, 1929-1941. New York: Norton.
• Van Ree, E. (2002), The political thoughts of Joseph Stalin: A study of the Twentieth-Century revolutionary patriotism. New York: Roudledge Courzon

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