Stalin,
Joseph (born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) 1878-1953; Soviet premier (1941-53): general secretary of the Communist party of the U.S.S.R. (1922-53)
Soviet politician. The successor of Lenin, he was general secretary of the Communist Party (1922-1953) and premier (1941-1953) of the USSR. His rule was marked by the exile of Trotsky (1929), a purge of the government and military, the forced collectivization of agriculture, a policy of industrialization, and a victorious but devastating role for the Soviets in World War II.