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): Andy Fantuz • Angie Stone • Barbora Krejčíková • Benjamin O. Davis Jr. • Bobby Keyes (rugby league) • Bogusław Mamiński • Chris Carter (infielder) • Edwin Bramall • James Watney • Jean Pronovost • Lizmark • Malcolm Kirk • Mario Basler • Matt McGrath • Michael Moorcock • Peter Wessel Zapffe • Philipp von Hutten • Rob Van Dam • Ronald Acuña Jr. • Simonds d'Ewes • Wadada Leo Smith

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