[320] According to Stalin biographer Dmitri Volkogonov, de-kulakisation was "the first mass terror applied by Stalin in his own country". [690] During the period of his revolutionary activity, Stalin regarded some of Lenin's views and actions as being the self-indulgent activities of a spoiled émigré, deeming them counterproductive for those Bolshevik activists based within the Russian Empire itself.

[810] He also enjoyed practical jokes; he for instance would place a tomato on the seat of Politburo members and wait for them to sit on it.

[764] He was a hard worker,[765] and displayed a keen desire to learn;[766] when in power, he scrutinised many details of Soviet life, from film scripts to architectural plans and military hardware. [53], That month, Stalin travelled to the port city of Batumi.

[521] There remained mutual suspicions between Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who were together known as the "Big Three". [207] He befriended two military figures, Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny, who would form the nucleus of his military and political support base. He suffered either a heart attack or a series of strokes in 1945, and his health hadn't been the same since. [712] In his work, he stated that "the right of secession" should be offered to the ethnic-minorities of the Russian Empire, but that they should not be encouraged to take that option. [299], Stalin was now the party's supreme leader,[300] although he was not the head of government, a task he entrusted to key ally Vyacheslav Molotov. To the great relief of many, he died of a massive heart attack on March 5, 1953. [243] Stalin opposed the idea of separate Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani autonomous republics, arguing that these would likely oppress ethnic minorities within their respective territories; instead he called for a Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. And with the doctors’ plot trial in the offing, no one wanted to have to be the one to call a doctor. [419] In 1935, he ordered the NKVD to expel suspected counter-revolutionaries from urban areas;[381] in early 1935, over 11,000 were expelled from Leningrad.

[293] Stalin in turn accused Kamenev and Zinoviev of reintroducing factionalism—and thus instability—into the party. [192] He took Nadezhda Alliluyeva as his secretary[193] and at some point married her, although the wedding date is unknown. [227] On 26 May, Stalin was moved to Ukraine, on the Southwest Front. [235] Trotsky claimed that Stalin sabotaged the campaign by disobeying troop transfer orders. President Andrew Johnson, reviled by the Republican-dominated Congress for his views on Reconstruction, stood accused of having violated the controversial Tenure ...read more, March 5, 1963: the Hula Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the company’s co-founder, Arthur “Spud” Melin. Beria, appointed minister of internal affairs, organised an exhibition for members of the Central Committee at which tapes of Stalin’s conversations with security police were played and the late dictator’s responsibility for the arrest of innocent officials was clearly established. [218] The Polish-Soviet War ended on 18 March 1921, when a peace treaty was signed in Riga. While the consensus among those present was to call a doctor, the officers on guard wanted to wait on instructions from the party leadership. The guests dispersed at approximately 4:00 a.m. on March 1 and Stalin retired to his private quarters with strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed until sounds were heard indicating that he had awakened.