Joseph Stalin Was a Cruel Research Paper

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In his rule, Stalin murdered thousands of his own people, as well as the obvious groups who opposed him like the Kulaks. Stalin also went to purge many people within his own party and in Russian institutions in order to strengthen his grip over the country. Stalin used his secret police, known as the NKVD, to assassinate, imprison and exile thousands of Russian people (Jones, 2002). He went after people who published research that went against the progress he tried to show his government policies were showing. Stalin even went after many within the Communist Party that either slightly opposed his policies or did not perform up to the level of his extremely high expectations. The research suggests that there was "absurdly minor infractions for which individuals were sentenced to ten years in labor camps -- a standard death sentence" (Jones, 2002). He ruled over Russia with an iron fist, using fear as a primary tactic to keep people in line.

Still, there are those who might believe Stalin to have been less cruel than one would assume looking at the evidence. Someone from this perspective might bring up the fact that Stalin was brought up very religious. In fact, he even attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary, which would have taught virtues to be kind and respectful as a ruler (Spartacus Educational, 2012).

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However, Stalin was actually expelled from the seminary, and his later actions as a rule clearly show how he had not truly absorbed the Christian theology into his ruling ideology. Moreover, some might argue that Stalin was just ruling with fervor that he gained from struggling long and hard against the Czarist regime. For decades, Stalin fought the oppressive forces that were exploiting labor. He was so passionate, that Vladimir Lenin, the first ruler of Communist Russia after the revolution, became impressed with him (Spartacus Educational, 2012). Yet, later on Stalin showed his true ruthlessness, and Lenin did not want to endorse him as the next ruler in fear of what he would do. Thus, Lenin had originally backed Leon Trotsky, who was much milder than Stalin. Even Lenin had doubts about Stalin's rule.

Overall, it is clear that Joseph Stalin was a cruel leader. He refused to allow a fair government that would in any way threaten his absolute rule over Russia. He committed mass genocide against groups like the Kulaks, and even murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people. Stalin placed Russia in a modern dark age. Millions were impacted by his cruelty, and there are still remnants of his absolute power seen in the country today as it is still trying to recover from Communist cruelty......

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