Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. He rose from bitter poverty to become the ruler of a country that covered one-sixth of the entire land area of the world. Stalin ruled by terror for most of his term. He did not allow anyone to say anything about his ideas. Stalin killed everyone who helped him rise to power because he thought they would threaten his rules. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths of Soviet peasants who blew the whistle with his program called “Collective Farming” (government control of farms ). Under Stalin's leadership, the Soviet Union operated a global network of communist parties. By the time Stalin died, communism had spread to other countries. His style of government became known as "Stalinism" and went on to influence many other countries. The people of the Soviet Union began to hate Stalin and most of the world became afraid of him. He transformed the Soviet Union from once one of the least developed countries into one of the most industrial nations. It has become one of the world's military powers. During World War II, Stalin was an ally of Hitler, but Hitler betrayed him, even before the end of the Cold War, when non-communist countries united to try to stop communism. Stalin was born on December 21, 1879 in Gori. , a city near Tbilisi, Georgia, a mountainous area in the southwest of the Russian Empire. Stalin's real name was Losif Vissarionovich Djugshvil. In 1912, he was adopted by a family with the surname Stalin, meaning "man of steel." Stalin's father, whose name was Vissarino Ivonovion Diugshvil. His profession was that of a local shoemaker. Stalin's mother, Ekaterina Gheladze Djugashvil, worked as a laundry day. They lived in a small cabin. Their first three children having died at birth, Stalin grew up as an only child. Stalin caught smallpox at the age of six, which scared him for life. In 1888, Stalin's parents sent him to a small parochial school in Gori. He spent five years there and became a very intelligent child. Stalin received a scholarship to attend the religious seminary in Tbilisi. Stalin entered to study the priesthood in the Georgian Orthodox Church. When Tsar Alexander III died, his son Nicholas II became Tsar. Alexander ruled with absolute power. He tightly controlled the press, restricted education, and banned student organizations. Nicholas continued his father's policies and Russia made significant economic and social progress. However, it was difficult to solve the problems of this country. Peasants demanded more land and all the small farms failed to produce enough food for the millions of people who would starve. Growth in the number of factory workers declined due to long working hours and low pay. In 1889, Stalin joined a secret Marxist revolutionary group. The Tbilisi Seminary, like many other schools, was a center of banned revolutionary ideas. In May 1899, Stalin was expelled for failing to appear for an interest exam. His interest in Marxim likely played a role in his dismissal. After Stalin left the seminary, he got a job as an office clerk. Within a year, Stalin began his career as an active revolutionary. In 1900, Stalin helped organize a small May Day demonstration near Tbilisi. The purpose of the demonstration was to protest against 15, 1953