Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who was the longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1941 until his death. Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, Stalin consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Ideologically, he formalised his Leninist interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the political and economic system he implemented is known as Stalinism. His regime has been widely described as totalitarian and has been condemned for overseeing mass political repression and prevalent censorship, extensive exploitation of forced labour, deportations of entire nationalities, hundreds of thousands of executions, and catastrophic famines that killed millions.

18 December 1878

Born on the same birth day (18 December): Alan Rudolph • Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria • Betty Grable • Chas Chandler • Elliot Easton • Geordie Walker • Jalen Johnson • John Hall (New Zealand politician) • Kevin Beattie • Noriko Matsueda • Ramsey Clark • Randy Houser • Sebald Heyden • Seth Doege • Sierra Kay

Born in the same month (December 1878): C. Rajagopalachari • Elizabeth Arden • Elvia Carrillo Puerto • Francis A. Nixon • Hans Carossa • Jan Łukasiewicz • Kalle Korhonen • Louis Chevrolet • Myer Prinstein • Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes • Stephen Timoshenko • William Aberhart • Yosano Akiko