"Stalin" is the biography of the man who ruled the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. His life story is a window on the history of the USSR for much of the twentieth century. It will be useful for students of history, political science, and those seeking to understand current events and the issues faced by Russia today.

• Bolshevik
• Georgia
• Karl Marx
• Leon Trotsky
• Romanovs
• Siberia
• Vladimir Lenin
• collective farms
• gulag
• intelligentsia
• proletariat
• propaganda

1. How did Josef Stalin's childhood affect his adult life? Why do you think he changed his name from Josef Dzhugashvili to Josef Stalin?

2. What are the tenets of Marxism? How did Lenin modify this ideology? How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks take over the government?

3. Stalin is described as a man of action, not a man of ideas. Do you agree or disagree? Why did Lenin find Stalin useful? Why, eventually,did Lenin not trust Stalin ?

4. Karl Marx wrote that religion was "the opiate of the people." What does that mean? Do you agree or disagree?

5. Why were collective farms a failure? How did Stalin's agricultural policies contribute to the famine?

6. What role did propaganda have in the Soviet Union under Stalin? How did Stalin use propaganda to strengthen his regime?

7. Describe Stalin's "reign of terror". Did most Soviets believe Stalin was responsible? Why did so many Soviets mourn the death of Stalin?

1. Compare Hitler and Stalin. Why did these two dictators admire each other? How were they similar? How were they different?

2. Draw a timeline of important events in the history of the Soviet Union from the reign of Czar Nicholas to the death of Stalin.

3. Write a diary or poem describing life as a prisoner in a Siberian gulag. Who do you blame for your imprisonment? Can you maintain your sanity in a prison where other inmates are arbitrarily shot every evening? Do you constantly hope for freedom or have you given up? What does this sort of experience do to the human soul?