1. Joseph Stalin: 20th Century Dictator By Danea Twa "We secured peace for our country for one and a half years, as well as an opportunity of preparing our forces for defense if fascist Germany risked attacking our country in defiance of the pact. This was a definite gain to our country and a loss for fascist Germany." » On the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 3 Jul 1941

2. Rise to Power Stalin spent his first years after the revolution building his post as general secretary secretly into the most powerful one in the communist party After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin governed against Trotsky By 1928 (the first year of the Five-Year Plans) Stalin's supremacy was complete. From this year, he could be said to have exercised control over the party and the country The final stage of Stalin's rise to power was the ordered assassination of Trotsky in Mexico in 1940

3. How He Lost His Support Joseph Stalin began his ‘reign’ by condemning the kulaks, or land owning peasants that had become wealthy. He claimed that they were not putting the Soviet Union as their first priority and not providing industry workers with enough food. Stalin forced the people to set up collective farms that were owned by the government. 5 million kulaks and farmers were exiled because they were too wealthy, objected, or refused to farm collectively. The collective farms didn’t increase the food supply and in fact there were great food shortages Next, Stalin set up a Five-Year Plan to industrialize Russia. He demanded that there be a 111% increase in coal production, 200% increase in iron, and 335% increase in electrical production. If workers didn’t meet these standards or were thought to be destroying the Plan, and were exiled Stalin went against his advisors and broke with normal communist ideas. Because of these actions he began to lose popularity. He once had support and friends in the party, but now found himself somewhat alone, even his wife committed suicide Stalin became very suspicious and began to destroy all those in his party who might possibly be against him. In 1936-37 he purged the Red Army of those he thought were in conspiracy with Germany: 50% of the officers died, and afterwards he killed everyone who had too much information about the purge.

4. Government vs. the People The government should listen to and follow the will of the people to the extent to which it is still beneficial and encouraging to the economy and majority of the citizens When the will of the people becomes a situation in which people will be hurt or will suffer, the government needs to step in and ignore their will The government ultimately has the power to follow the people’s decisions or make their own and when it makes more sense in the long run to go against the citizens’ wishes, that is what must happen

5. Bibliography A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2010). Joseph Stalin. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/stalin.html Nosotro, R. (2009, December 22). Stalin, Joseph. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from HyperHistory.net: http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2stalin.html "The Red Army and Navy and the whole Soviet people must fight for every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages...onward, to victory!" » 1 Jul 1941 "This war is not an ordinary war. It is the war of the entire Russian people. Not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism." » On the German invasion, 22 Jun 1941