JOSEPH STALIN

A psychology report
 WHY JOSEPH STALIN?
 Authoritarian leaders are excellent subjects to examine how
personality impacts politics; their near-total control over all
political activity ensures that their directives impact actions taken
by the government (Greenstein 1987;Post 2003). For leaders
including Hitler (Victor 1998;Coolidge, Davis, and Segal
2007;Coolidge and Segal 2007, 2009;Hyland, Boduszek, and
Kilkiewics 2011), Saddam Hussein (Post 2003;Coolidge and
Segal 2007), Kim Jong-Il (Post 2004Coolidge and Segal 2009),
and Stalin (Birth 1993;Stal 2013), it is their extreme-and often
dramatic-actions and decision-making, as well as their propensity
toward violence, that make them important subjects for
dictatorship research (Hermann 1976).
WHO IS JOSEPH STALIN?
 Joseph Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in the republic of
Georgia around the year 1879, the only surviving child of Vissarion and
Yekaterina Dzhugashvili.
 Born on 18 December 1878 at Gori, Tbilisi Governorate, Russian Empire(now
Georgia)
 Died on 5 March 1953(aged 74) at Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet
Union(now Russia)
 He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet
Union (1941–1953). Initially governing the country as part of a collective
leadership, he consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s.
Ideologically adhering to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism, he
formalised these ideas as Marxism–Leninism, while his own policies are
called Stalinism.
CHILDHOOD AND
DEVELOPMENT
A common peasant’s lifestyle.
What such a childhood entails is violent outbursts following alcohol in-
toxication, generally from the father and aimed at both mother and child.
Strained relationships between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and
consequently differing goals for children set up conflict within families.
If one were to adhere to the psychoanalytic contention that a person’s
childhood strongly influences his or her personality, it is plausible to
argue that Stalin’s violent tendencies developed as a result of his father’s
behavior (Freud & Strachey, 1962); paranoia is said to often- times enter
within a maladaptive relationship with the father (Shapiro, 1965;
Laughlin, 1967; Meissner, 1986). The afore- mentioned are just a few of
numerous theories that may be used to explain Stalin’s personality, and
although there may be credibility to them, it is important to not
overestimate the influence of childhood environment and attribute this
singular circumstance as the cause of possible psychopathology (Renaud
& Estess, 1961).
CHILDHOOD AND
DEVELOPMENT
 Both parents were peasants
 First 2 children died
 His father(Mad beso) was violent drunk
 Failed independent cobbler
 Parents unhappy, rocky marriage before Stalin’s birth.
 Gets kicked out for throwing a knife at his father( for domestic violence against his mother).
 Mother wants Stalin to be a priest and takes a solace.
 Bullied in religious school
 Started breaking rules to win fights
PATRICIDE BY ALEXANDER KAZBEGI
 Main character, Koba, archetypal defender of the underdog
 Koba was ruthless and violent towards authority
 Stalin demanded to be called as Koba(until the Russian
revolution)
 Kazbegi was a believer in revenge.
 Had a great impact and forged the spirit of revolution.
 Psychologists have noted “tough guy” names are common in
paranoid.
STALIN AND LENIN
 Joseph changes his name to Stalin.
 Erased his Georgian heritage and bolstered his image
 Formed a relationship with Lenin to advance in his career.
 Starts robbing, petty thievery, kidnapping to help the Bolsheviks
in the revolution.
 Lenin sees Stalin for what he is and dislikes him.
 Lenin describes in his covert testament about Stalin as cruel,
unfit to be the general secretary of the Communists.
 Lenin request fellow comrades to dismiss Stalin
 Lenin dies of unknown cause. Stalin takes advantage of it.
Brought anti-Lenin concepts.
A HOLLOW VICTORY
 Feels depressed after the victory.
 Jealous of anyone who was better than him.
 Called for a psychiatrist, Vladimir Bekhterev.
 Diagnosed to be a paranoiac
 Stalin ordered his death
 Not proven guilty yet.
DICTATOTSHIP
 Indoctrinated children
 Criminalized criticism
 Rewarded ratting on people for thought crime
 Became an alcoholic
 Irrational and killed anyone who didn’t fit into his idea.
 Failure to perceive one’s flaws is a common human behaviour, but Stalin was extreme.
 Altering literature and his own history to bring upon perfection.
CONCLUS
ION
THE END