Stalin was born Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili was born in Gori, Georgia in 1879. He joined the Bolshevik party in 1904. Lenin had said just before he died that Stalin was not the correct person to become the leader of Russia when he died. When Lenin did die on January 21, 1924 although he had written that he believed that Stalin should be removed, no action was taken. "I therefore propose to our comrades to consider a means of removing …showed first 75 words of 1441 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1441 total…nation and defeated Germany in The Great Patriotic War however he achieved these things at enormous cost to the people of Russia. An estimated 20 million Russians were killed as a direct result of Stalin's purges, famines or other non-war related causes and another 20 million were killed in the war against Germany. Stalin had the view that for Russia to advance in the world, no cost is too high. Many other people would disagree with him.