Joseph Stalin

{{Audio|ru-Stalin.ogg|Joseph Stalin}} (Russian, in full: ????? ????????????? ?????? (Josef Vissarionovich Stalin), real name: ????? ????????????? ?????????? (Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvilli), Georgian: ????? ????????? (Ioseb Jughashvili); December 6 (OS)/December 18 (NS), 1878{{ref|Register}} – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a position which had later become that of party leader.

Other names

His first name is also transliterated as Josif. His original surname, ????????? (Jughashvili), is also transliterated as Jugashvili. The Russian transliteration is ??????????, which is in turn transliterated into English as Dzhugashvili and Djugashvili. –????? (–shvili) is a Georgian suffix meaning "child" or "son".

Related Topics:
Transliterated - Russian

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There are several etymologies of the ???? (jugha) root. In one version, it is the Ossetian for "rubbish"; the name Jugayev is common among Ossetians, and before the revolution the names in South Ossetia were traditionally written with the Georgian suffix, especially among Christianized Ossetians. In a second version, the name derives from the village of Jugaani in Kakhetia, eastern Georgia. An article in the newspaper Pravda in 1988 claimed that the word derives from the Old Georgian for "steel," which might be the reason for his adoption of the name Stalin. ?????? (Stalin) is derived from combining the Russian ????? (stal), "steel," with the possessive suffix –?? (–in), a formula used by many other Bolsheviks, including Lenin and Bukharin.

Related Topics:
Ossetia - South Ossetia - Kakhetia - 1988 - Steel - Lenin - Bukharin

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Also like other Bolsheviks, he became commonly known by one of his revolutionary noms de guerre, of which Stalin was only the most prominent. He was also known as Koba (after a Georgian folk hero, a Robin Hood-like brigand); and he is reported to have used at least a dozen other names for the purpose of secret communications, but for obvious reasons most of them remain unknown. Directly following World War II, as the Soviets were negotiating with the Allies over many matters, Stalin often sent directions to Molotov as Druzhkov. Among his other nicknames and aliases were Ivanovich, Soso or Sosso (mainly his boyhood name), David, Nizharadze or Nijeradze, and Chizhikov.

Related Topics:
Noms de guerre - Koba - Georgian - Hero - Robin Hood - Dozen - Secret - Communication

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There are a number of rumors about Stalin's ancestry, none of which are confirmed. One of the rumors is that he was the son of his godfather, a wealthy Georgian noble Egnatashvili, whose family were hereditary clerics. Several facts support this case: Stalin's mother worked for Egnatashvili; he attended seminary; it was a prestigious seminary, which was not possible for a child from a poor family; and he kept in contact with Egnatashvili throughout his life, including the war period. On the other hand, it would not have been unusual for a godfather to help his godson out.

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