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Joseph Stalin (also written as Josef Stalin), (PROSE: The Wages of Sin [+]Loading...["The Wages of Sin (novel)"]) born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"]) was a communist leader of the Soviet Union. He served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (PROSE: History 101 [+]Loading...["History 101 (novel)"])
Biography
Stalin was born in Georgia (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs [+]Loading...["Last of the Romanovs (audio story)"]) as Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Later in life, he adopted the name Stalin, meaning 'man of steel', (PROSE: The Wages of Sin [+]Loading...["The Wages of Sin (novel)"]) as a revolutionary name. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"])
Stalin would play a significant role in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, and the subsequent Russian Civil War. He was an associate of Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs [+]Loading...["Last of the Romanovs (audio story)"]) He often went by the nickname "Koba". (PROSE: The Wages of Sin [+]Loading...["The Wages of Sin (novel)"])
By the 1930s, Stalin had succeeded to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party, and was leader of the Soviet Union through this position. (PROSE: History 101 [+]Loading...["History 101 (novel)"])
During his several decades as president of his country, Josef encountered the Doctor several times. (PROSE: Closing the Account [+]Loading...["Closing the Account (short story)"])
In 1937, Stalin cemented his power through a series of show trials in which people were accused of "thinking the wrong thing" or "suspected of thinking it". Stalin's will was enforced by a secret police, the NKVD. As a result, millions were killed or disappeared under his rule. (PROSE: History 101 [+]Loading...["History 101 (novel)"]) According to the Countess, the number of millions slaughtered under Stalin's rule far exceeded that of those killed under Adolf Hitler's reign over Germany. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"])
Supporters of Stalin were known as Stalinists. (PROSE: Spiral Scratch [+]Loading...["Spiral Scratch (novel)"], Deadly Reunion [+]Loading...["Deadly Reunion (novel)"]) Leon Trotsky, a former ally of Stalin, was murdered by Stalinists with an ice pick in August of 1940. (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs [+]Loading...["Last of the Romanovs (audio story)"], PROSE: Sometime Never... [+]Loading...["Sometime Never... (novel)"], Spiral Scratch [+]Loading...["Spiral Scratch (novel)"])
Stalin led the Soviet Union through World War II. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"]) In 1939, The Soviet Union had negotiated a non-aggression pact with Hitler's Germany, in which they agreed to divide Poland. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Exodus (novel)"], The Beast of Stalingrad [+]Loading...["The Beast of Stalingrad (novel)"]) However, this pact would only last two years, as Germany broke the agreement and launched an invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. (PROSE: Just War [+]Loading...["Just War (novel)"]) Operation Barbarossa was launched, opening the war's Eastern Front. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass [+]Loading...["The Shadow in the Glass (novel)"]) During the war, Stalin purged much of his army staff for treason. He had executed more of his army officers than the Germans had killed on the battlefield. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"]) Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt once met at Yalta (PROSE: Beguine [+]Loading...["Beguine (short story)"]) to discuss the partitioning of Europe after the war. (PROSE: Byzantium! [+]Loading...["Byzantium! (novel)"]) Stalin would once again meet Churchill and new US President Harry S. Truman at the Potsdam Conference in 1945.
Stalin's purges continued into the 1950s. Nobody was safe, as Politburo members, doctors, and KGB men were among the victims suspected of working against him. In some cases, instead of execution, Stalin would exile those he suspected to labour camps in the Gulag Archipelago. This was also considered a death sentence, only it took longer to die.
In 1951, Stalin frequently had dinner parties with Politburo members which included Beria, Khrushchev, Malenkov, Bulganin, and Molotov. Stalin would drink alcohol during these parties and go on various tirades. Most of the Politburo were intimidated by Stalin, aside from Beria, head of the KGB. Beria would sometimes interrupt him during conversations, which Stalin tolerated to the amazement of others. Those in Stalin's presence had to drink too, otherwise he would suspect they had something to hide. While the Politburo praised Stalin at these parties, in private they thought differently. Khrushchev believed Stalin may have had dementia. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"])
In his old age, Josef hadn't seen the Doctor in 25 years, and he wanted to meet him again. He had one of his soldiers, Andrei, capture Ace, and the Seventh Doctor arrived. Josef asked what his legacy would be, and the Doctor claimed to him that, though people would vilify him for over a century, they would eventually realise that he had done the right thing, and they would continue his work.
As the Doctor left, the servant Grigori slipped something into Josef's drink. (PROSE: Closing the Account [+]Loading...["Closing the Account (short story)"])
Stalin died in March 1953. Following his death, much of Stalin's power fell to Nikita Khrushchev. (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...["Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"])
Other realities
In an alternate timeline, Simon Brown shared the secrets he had learned about atomic bombs with the world. Fearing every nation having access to atomic weapons, Stalin bombed the planet, and the political organisation known as "the Party" took over. (PROSE: The Winning Side [+]Loading...["The Winning Side (novel)"])
In the timeline that resulted from River Song causing time to collapse when she refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"]) Stalin played live chess with Cleopatra, the latter posting about it on Twitbook. (PROSE: Just a Minute... [+]Loading...["Just a Minute... (short story)"])
Personality
It was said that Stalin liked to listen to the sound of mad dogs barking.
In his later years, Stalin was mostly intoxicated. The Politburo members noted that his state of mind ranged from a "jovial clownish drunk" to a "murderous paranoid drunk". To them, the former was better, for as long as Stalin mocked and humilitated them, he was not going to kill them. (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"])
Stalin was said to have been very jealous of Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion [+]Loading...["Deadly Reunion (novel)"])
References
In an exchange between the Sixth Doctor and Davros, supposedly following the latter's first trial on Skaro, revealed on the Daleks' memory screen during the Seventh Doctor's interrogation, Davros demonstrated an awareness of Josef Stalin and the Doctor likened the two men. However, the Emperor Dalek did observe that the Seventh Doctor was attempting to distort his memories as the Daleks accessed them. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks! [+]Loading...["Emperor of the Daleks! (comic story)"])
The Doctor appeared to have differing opinions on Stalin. While the Seventh Doctor praised him and his work while in his presence, (PROSE: Closing the Account [+]Loading...["Closing the Account (short story)"]) other incarnations had a more disdainful view. The Second Doctor considered Stalin to be a tyrant who made use of repression and state terror and on the same level as Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"]) The Eighth Doctor believed Stalin was a "sad old madman". (PROSE: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (novel)"]) When the Tenth Doctor and Rose encountered "men in black" and "vanishing police cars" in England in 1953, the Doctor compared it to Stalin's Russia. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern [+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor claimed to Alexey Leonov that he had tried to warn people about Stalin, but "nobody listened", while implying that Stalin's rise had changed history. (COMIC: Space Oddity [+]Loading...["Space Oddity (comic story)"])
Краснодар contained a poster of Stalin. (TV: Before the Flood [+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
- Closing the Account [+]Loading...["Closing the Account (short story)"] depicts Stalin being drugged at the end of his life. In the real world, whether Stalin died from natural causes or poisoning is a topic of academic debate.
- He was played by Brian Cox in an episode of Thirty-Minute Theatre, David Bradley in an episode of Theatre Night, Bernard Kay in an episode of Screen Two, Simon Russell Beale in the play Collaborators and Adrian McLoughlin in the movie The Death of Stalin.