Joseph Stalin (1878[1 - 1953), born Ioseb Besarionis dzе Jughashvili, was a Georgian revolutionary and the ruler of the Soviet Union from 1927 until his death in 1953. He served as both General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941-1953). Ideologically committed to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism, Stalin formalised these ideas as Marxism-Leninism.
