(Russian: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin; Although there is an inconsistency among published sources about Stalin's year and date of birth, Iosif Dzhugashvili is listed in the records of the Uspensky Church in Gori, Georgia as born on December 18 (Old Style: December 6) 1878. This birth date is maintained in his School Leaving Certificate, his extensive tzarist Russia police file, a police arrest record from 18 April 1902 which gave his age as 23 years, and all other surviving pre-revolution documents. Stalin himself listed December 18 1878 in a curriculum vitae as late as 1920, in his own handwriting. However after his coming to power in 1922 the date was changed to December 21 1879 (December 9, Old Style), and that was the day his birthday was celebrated in the Soviet Union. Russian playwriter and historian Edvard Radzinsky argues in his book Stalin that he changed the year to 1879 to have a nation-wide birthday celebration of his 50th birthday. He could not do it in 1928 because his rule was not absolute enough. ^* – March 5, 1953), also spelled Josef Stalin, was the leader (Premier) of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a position which had later become that of party leader.

Born Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), Stalin became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1922. Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, he prevailed over Leon Trotsky in a power struggle during the 1920s. In the 1930s Stalin initiated the Great Purge, a campaign of political repression, persecution, and killings that reached its peak in 1937.

Stalin's rule had long lasting effects on the features that characterized the Soviet regime from the era of his rule to its collapse in 1991—though Maoists, anti-revisionists and some others say he was actually the last legitimate socialist leader in the Soviet Union's history. Stalin claimed his policies were based on Marxism-Leninism but they are now often considered to represent a political and economic system called Stalinism.

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BBC News | Europe | World Edition

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NYT > Europe

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Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:47:28 -0000
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L.A. Times - Europe

He's just not the same old Roger Federer
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Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:12:00 -0700
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Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700
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UN News Centre - Europe

Security Council lauds launch of negotiations in reunifying Cyprus
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
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Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500
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Europe - International Herald Tribune

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