Joseph Stalin Villain

the previous century that fits the criteria is Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union was a tyrant society; and Stalin forced his political policies among his own.

Joseph Stalin was the tyrant leader of the Soviet Union from the 1920’s until his death in 1953. “It was no secret that Stalin had been responsible for the deaths of millions of his own citizens: peasants deported or starved to death during the forced collectivisation of Soviet agriculture; party and state officials purged during hunts for ‘enemies of the people’; ethnic minorities condemned as wartime collaborators of the Nazis; and returning Soviet POWs suspected of cowardice, treason and betrayal” (Roberts, 3). Joseph Stalin was a ruthless dictator who would often exterminate

Tyrants feel the need to be remembered in history, although that is not why they do their deeds. “As Stalin climbed his way to the very top, the unpleasant aspects of his character and conduct were magnified, and his actions became increasingly less those of a political leader and more akin to those of a successful gangster”(Flewers, 287). By striking fear into his opponent’s eyes through threats of violence, Stalin became notorious and very good at being a mobster. One could argue he was one of the biggest mobsters in our history. “This is very much evident in respect of his relations with his henchmen, and in particular those closest to him, who resembled nothing more than a gangster’s cronies, people who were ‘carefully handpicked yes-men” (Flewers, 287). “The character of a city under tyranny is hardly worth going into, for it is pretty plain that the relations of suspicion and domination that plague the tyrant himself must necessarily filter down into the populace at large, for the tyrant has to keep the city divided against itself in order to remain in power. Any two people who are even friends are by that very fact a potential conspiracy against the tyrant and must be eliminated.” (Recco, Page 105). Joseph Stalin was a master at containing his enemies. If he felt on sense of paranoia about an individual aiming to take his power, he

In Book Nine of the Republic, Glaucon notes that under a tyrannic rule, a city or state will be tragic and depressing; additionally, it is also stated that city will always experience more freedom and content under a king. (Bloom, 576E; 257). Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union faced many harsh challenges due to the choices that Stalin made, and his plans caused great pain among his citizens. Although many can argue that what he did for the Soviet Union in World War II was critical in the development of the USSR, it was not worth the millions of casualties. The Great Terror may have repeated itself had not Stalin died in 1953. Stalin was seen as a great leader to his peers; mostly due to the fear he struck in their eyes. “A man becomes tyrannic in the precise sense when, either by nature or by his practices or both, he has become drunken, erotic, and melancholic.” (Bloom, 253). Joseph Stalin let all the power get to his head, and his thirst for power was catastrophic for the Soviet Union. Stalin maintained his power because his people believed in him. One can argue that he had a democratic following at first; but his political choices slowly showed that he truly was a