Joseph Stalin

Joseph or Josef Stalin, born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, (PROSE: Endgame) 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)

Biography
Stalin was born in Georgia (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs) as Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Later in life, he adopted the name Stalin, meaning 'Man of Steel', as a revolutionary name. (PROSE: Endgame)

During his several decades as president of his country, Josef encountered the Doctor several times. (PROSE: Closing the Account)

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) 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)

Supporters of Stalin were known as Stalinists. (PROSE: Spiral Scratch, Deadly Reunion) Leon Trotsky, a former ally of Stalin, was murdered by Stalinists with an ice pick in August of 1940. (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs, PROSE: Sometime Never..., Spiral Scratch)

Stalin led the Soviet Union through World War II. (PROSE: Endgame) 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, The Beast of Stalingrad) 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) Operation Barbarossa was launched, opening the war's Eastern Front. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass) 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) Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt once met at Yalta (PROSE: Beguine) to discuss the partitioning of Europe after the war. (PROSE: Byzantium!) 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)

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)

Alternate timeline
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)

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)

Behind the scenes

 * According to The Brilliant Book 2012, a book that contains non-narrative based information, in an alternate universe where all of history happened at once, Stalin played live chess with Cleopatra.
 * Closing the Account 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 and Simon Russell Beale in the play Collaborators.