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Joseph Stalin Facts & Worksheets

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Joseph Stalin was a revolutionary activist turned dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). He ruled USSR from 1929 to 1953. During WWII, Stalin cooperated with the Allied Powers after a failed negotiation with Nazi Germany. It was also during his last years when the Cold War started.

See the fact file below for more Joseph Stalin facts or alternatively you can download our comprehensive worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Early Life:

  • Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Joseph Stalin, was born on December 18, 1879, in the peasant village of Gori, Georgia. He was the son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and Ketevan Geladze, a washerwoman.
  • In 1888, Joseph was enrolled in a church school in Gori because his mother was a devout Russian Orthodox Christian. As a result of his efforts, Joseph gained a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary.
  • In 1898, Joseph joined the Messame Dassy. It was a secret organization pushing for the independence of Russia following the writing of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
  • A year later, Joseph left the seminary school and stayed in Tiflis to support the revolutionary movement against tsarist Nicholas II. By 1901, he became a member of the Social Democratic Labor Party. After a year, he experienced his first arrest because of coordinating labor strikes and was exiled to Siberia. It was during this time, when Joseph adopted the name “Stalin”, which means “steel” in Russian.
  • Stalin escaped prison and engaged in criminal activities of robbery, extortion and kidnapping to gain money. In 1907, the Tiflis bank robbery made him infamous.
  • In February 1917, the Russian Revolution began. By following month, Nicholas II was put under house arrest after he abdicated the throne. In April, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin gained control and seized the land of the rich.

Stalin as a Communist Leader:

  • In 1922, Stalin was appointed as the first secretary general of the Communist Party. He gained significant influence by appointing members under his command.
  • In 1924, Lenin died and Stalin took control of the new leadership. He employed a reign of terror in order to remove loyalists from the old regime. Lenin’s presumed successor, Leon Trotsky, was sent into exile. Furthermore, possible rivals were sent to trial and later executed. These include local officials and party elites suspected of counterrevolutionary activity.
  • As part of Stalin’s programs, he reversed the land given to peasants and formed collective farms. He pushed for industrialization, which gained success but later on damage the environment and killed many poor people due to famine. Any resistance meant exile or death.
  • In 1939, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact. Stalin continued to annex parts of Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland. By 1941, Hitler broke the pact and invaded parts of USSR.

Stalin’s Death:

  • During the late 1950s, Stalin’s health began to deteriorate and he died on March 5, 1953. Russians remember his reign of terror.
  • By 1956, his successor Nikita Khrushchev denounced the rule of Stalin and started the process of de-Stalinization.

Joseph Stalin Worksheets

This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Joseph Stalin Worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about Joseph Stalin who was a revolutionary activist turned dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). He ruled USSR from 1929 to 1953. During WWII, Stalin cooperated with the Allied Powers after a failed negotiation with Nazi Germany.

Download includes the following worksheets:

  • Joseph Stalin Facts
  • The Russian Steel
  • Mapping USSR
  • Famous World Leaders
  • That’s Stalin!
  • Dictators in History
  • USSR in WWII
  • Bolshevik Revolution
  • Communist Party
  • The Great Purge
  • Cartoon Analysis

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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