Son of an impoverished shoemaker, raised in a backyard Asiatic province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of higher education and even less cultural enlightenment. However, he had a burning faith in the inevitability of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent roll it. His climb to power was a long one, in which he masked his intense personal ambition placing his vast energies in the service of the Bolsheviks under Lenin.

Only after Lenin's death, with the Bolshevik takeover of Russia accomplished, did Stalin's comrades in party leadership find themselves forced to bow to Stalin's will -- or be eliminated. As ruler of the Russian people he was ruthless, killing millions, and enslaving millions, in the name of progress. His blood purges shocked the world. His unscrupulous international diplomacy disillusioned even his own followers. But in an incredibly brief twenty-nine years Russia became a mighty industrial power, banishing illiteracy, encouraging interest in the arts and moved towards amazing scientific triumphs.

Joseph Stalin has been termed a blood-thirsty tyrant and an inspiring leader, a psychopath and a man of supremely realistic intelligence, one of history's greatest heroes and one of its bloodiest villains. One thing, however, is undeniable, he brought Russia out of the dark ages and placed her in the forefront of the important nations of the world. This is the story of the enigmatic figure who rose to become absolute master of Soviet Russia and cast his shadow on the entire globe.

From the dust jacket