Abstract
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."

Tags:Stalin, leadership, charisma

Abstract
Joseph Stalin was a ruthless leader, capable of engendering near-fanatic loyalty in his followers. Nikita Khrushchev, who followed Stalin to power, characterized Stalin's leadership as creating a cult of personality. What was it that gave Stalin such power? Was it his ability to speak convincingly on the benefits of Marxism? The fortunate accident of his rise to power coinciding with the rise of industrialization? Or did Stalin simply create a cult, replacing the religion that he nearly destroyed? This research demonstrates that Stalin's success most likely stemmed from a combination of all three things.

Tags:stalin, bolsheviks, russia

Abstract
This paper looks at social, economic and political aspects of Soviet society during the era of Joseph Stalin. The paper discusses Stalin's paranoid personality, Stalinist terror and the period leading up to Stalin's death. Also discusses are the hardships endured by the Soviet people because of Stalin's policies and the Soviet economic depression in post WWII era. The paper also touches upon Stalin's control of science.

From the Paper
"Many historians credit Stalin's paranoid personality for the horrific course of events that unfolded during his tenure as the head of the Community Party in the USSR. For example, historians argue that Stalin was about to launch another set of purges when he died. Despite the power of Stalin's personality to control so forcefully the apparatus of the state, he never succeeded in destroying this apparatus. At least one historian argues that Stalin's personal power had begun to threaten the political..."

Tags:joseph stalin, stalinism, USSR

Abstract
The paper reveals that the famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, and has become one of the most controversial issues of debate in modern European history. The paper explores whether the Famine was intended as a deliberate policy of oppression and control by Stalin and the Soviet leadership or whether it was an unintended consequence of the structural changes that Stalin was imposing upon the Soviet Union. The paper argues that while the Ukrainian famine must be understood in terms of the Soviet regime's policy of collectivization, the coincidence of the famine with Stalin's perception of himself and his role in history suggests that Stalin bears primary personal responsibility for the famine. The paper shows how the Ukrainian famine was a consequence of two distinct policy directives of the Soviet leadership under Stalin: the total collectivization of agriculture as an element of the modernization plans of the Soviet Union, and use of Terror as a weapon to control unsettled and potentially rebellious populations and groups.

From the Paper
"The Famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, and has become one of the most controversial issues of debate in modern European history. While there is no dispute over the scale of the Famine or over the number of deaths, there remains considerable historical debate over the responsibility of the paramount Soviet leader, Stalin, for the Famine. This debate has focused not so much upon Stalin's reputation for brutality and mass murder, that few historians today question, but instead upon the question of whether the..."

Tags:stalin, famine, ukraine

Abstract
It clearly can be confusing to evaluate Josef Stalin's actions and his role in the events of World War II. There are, nonetheless, some well-documented facts about Stalin's behavior in the wartime period. This essay presents those facts and analyzes why Stalin chose these behaviors and what motivated him. Stalin role and conduct included: heavy personal involvement in the operations of the war, continual thoughts of self-preservation and power, humiliation and intimidation of his own people, and his ability to think several moves ahead in postwar policy goals. Why he did these things is traced to his life before World War II.

From the Paper
"In discussing Stalin's role, motivations, and behavior during World War II, the historian is presented with a problem that must be overcome before beginning. He must decide which accounts of Stalin's role and behavior are most accurate and then, and only then, proceed with the analysis of the motivations and character traits that caused them. There are two schools of thought about Stalin in World War II. The first is exemplified by many traditional historians, who believe that in the 1930s Stalin was focused solely on the internal health of the Soviet Union and had no plans for aggressive Bolshevik expansion. His mistrust of the West in dealing with Hitler's aggression led him to make a defensive alliance with Germany to stop them before they advanced in his direction. In this treaty, Stalin agreed to let Hitler move some steps to the east in return for his allowing Stalin to move Soviet borders to the west; a division of Eastern Europe. As a result, Stalin correctly foresaw that Hitler would fall into conflict with the Western powers and not the USSR. Stalin thereby gained both the time and space he desperately needed for the build-up of his own defenses. This was proceeding when Hitler, buoyed by his quick successes in Western Europe, launched a surprise assault on the Soviet Union in June, 1941. This invasion caught Stalin totally by surprise; he had ignored warnings from many credible sources and refused to question his own assumptions about Hitler. Stalin felt great remorse over his strategic blunder, spent some time in seclusion and stunned inaction, and then finally rose to the challenge. In the coming four years he personally rallied the Soviet Union, its people and soldiers, into a great victory over fascism, one that could not have been possible without the sacrifices and patriotism Stalin inspired in the Soviet citizens. After the war, Stalin felt that the amount of death and suffering his people had endured in the war legitimized his creation of Communist buffer states in Eastern Europe."

Tags:communism, Josef, Russia, Soviet, Stalin, two, Union, war, world, history, motivation

Abstract
This papers examines the power struggle in the Soviet Union between Malenkov and Khrushchev after Stalin's death. It discusses the idea that foreign policy and not domestic policy was the key to Khrushchev's eventual victory.

From the paper:

"It was the debate over Soviet foreign policy that allowed Khrushchev to gain the upper hand and eventually take charge of the Soviet Union. After Stalin's death in 1953, Georgii Malenkov was seemingly heir apparent to Soviet power. As Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Malenkov was head of government, as both Lenin and Stalin had been. Quickly after Stalin's death, however, Khrushchev had moved to acquired the position of First Secretary, putting him in charge of the Party organization. At the same time in the US, the debate over containment versus a "new world order" was playing out between President Eisenhower and his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles."

Tags:stalin, parliament, government, leader, president, party, election

Abstract
This essay examines and analyzes the greatest tragedy of 20th century Russia: the show trials, purges, and terror of the 1930s. The essay asks the following question: How did the destruction of over 10 million innocent citizens by their own countrymen ever happen? Recent research proves the Stalin was the mastermind of this insane "witch-hunt," but Stalin was not insane: he had clear and practical motivations behind the slaughter. As unjustified as they are, they do exist and are the focus of discussion and analysis in this paper.

From the Paper
"The Great Purges of the Soviet Union began in 1934 with Kirov's assassination and ended in late 1938. To this day, they remain "the greatest riddle of Stalin's reign." (Radzinsky 319). This self-inflicted mass murder and "witch-hunt" consumed at least 8 million victims, people from all walks of society who were either executed or sent to labor camps where the survival rate was less than ten percent. Beginning with the show trials of old Bolsheviks, the purges moved on through the ranks of industrial managers, military leaders, scientists, artists, cultural figures, and finally well into the mass of common people, thus terrorizing the entire country. The arrests and killings eventually started to paralyze the Soviet Union and were soon in no one's self-interest; they began to drain the USSR physically and economically. Engineers and managers were killed, slowing the economy. So many Red Army officers were killed that the Soviets were largely unprepared for World War II (Hochschild 96). By the end of 1938, the country was no longer ruled by the Party, nor even by Stalin. It was ruled by fear (Radzinsky 356). Only then did Stalin relax the purges and order the execution of the leader of the NKVD, Yezhov."

Tags:communism, great, Josef, purges, Russia, Soviet, Stalin, Union, 1930's, Kirov

Abstract
The paper examines the positive and negative aspects of the rule of Josef Stalin and concludes that he was a ruthless tyrant who killed millions of his countrymen.

From the Paper
"History has given birth to many controversial figures, among whom Josef Stalin would certainly be listed. While most of the world outside of the former Soviet Union for much of its lifetime saw Stalin as a dictator, a murderer of his own people and a militaristic adventurer who wanted to extend the Soviet sphere of influence throughout as much of Europe as possible, others in the Soviet Union and elsewhere regarded him as the Soviet patriot and leader whose determination to stave..."

Tags:Josef Stalin, Soviet Union, repression

Abstract
This paper discusses how Joseph Stalin's murderous autocracy in the Soviet Union subverted its own socialist ideals in the name of progress and modernization. The paper explains how his succession of Five Year Plans, though successful in bringing the USSR into the modern age, nonetheless cost tens of millions of peasant lives.

From the Paper
"Joseph Stalin, the autocratic ruler of the Soviet Union for nearly three decades, remains infamous for crushing millions of his own people beneath the massive grinding wheel of the Communist Party that he so completely controlled. Stalin's succession of Five Year Plans were designed to rapidly pull the new Soviet Union into the industrial age and in the process mold the Russian people into a strong, independent and modern nation able to counter the might of the highly industrialized Western world."

Tags:joseph stalin, collectivization, gulag, world war II, industrialization, Soviet Union, five year plan

Abstract
This paper analyzes the life and accomplishments of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin. The writer of this paper examines Stalin's role as the leader responsible for the conversion of communism in the Soviet Union from an egalitarian revolutionary movement into that of an authoritative bureaucratic governmental system, while focusing on his political and military career between 1921-1932. Stalin began his political career by joining the Social Democratic Party of Georgia in 1901. This well-researched paper discusses the views of numerous biographers who have described Stalin as a plodding figure with brutality as his main distinguishing feature. Stalin is considered the man responsible for the deaths of some 20 million people of which more than 14 million died needlessly from hunger. Stalin also deported, exiled or imprisoned in work camps more than nine million people. It is estimated that five million of the people sent by Joseph Stalin to the Gulag Archipelago never came back alive. This paper explores Stalin's intellectual strength and cunning which was first noticed upon his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist party in 1922. The rise of Stalin to power was a mix of factors as well as fate. These factors include his character and his relentless quest for power, the revolutionary zeal of Leon Trotsky, the rise of the bureaucrats and the role played by his comrades in power. The writer explains how all these factors impacted on Stalin's leadership style.

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Rise of Stalin
Conclusion
References

From the Paper
"The strength of his intelligence and cunning was to be seen that when he came to become a General Secretary of the Communist party in 1922, he cultivated the bureaucracy and by using his maneuvering and administrative skills ensured that his potential rivals in the party were marginalized and it was this amassing of power by Stalin that made Lenin worry about the role of Stalin and call for his removal that did not take place as Lenin did not live long enough after that to see that Stalin did not utilize this accumulation of strength in the party as the means to get to the top of the existing power system in the Soviet Union. It could be said that fate also played a part in assisting the rise of Stalin to power by removing Lenin from the scene by his death. In the earlier days Lenin was the idol of Stalin and they built up a friendship that was to aid Stalin in his initial rise to power in the Communist Party. Stalin used this platform that was built on his looking on Lenin as an idol and the friendship that started between the two of them as his launching pad to power."

Tags:vladimir, lenin, russia, soviet, union, political, trotsky, communist, communism