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Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich

Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich (stä'lin, Rus. visuryô'nuvich stä'lyin) [key], 1879–1953, Soviet Communist leader and head of the USSR from the death of V. I. Lenin (1924) until his own death, b. Gori, Georgia. His real name was Dzhugashvili (also spelled Dzugashvili or Djugashvili); he adopted the name Stalin (“man of steel”) about 1913.

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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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