史达林(1879～1953年)
Stalin, Joseph，原名为Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili。
苏联政治人物和独裁者。为鞋匠之子，在一家学院求学，但因革命活动而在1899年被退学。他加入一个地下革命团体，1903年支持俄国社会民主工党中的布尔什维克派。身为列宁的信徒，他担任次要的党职，後来奉派至布尔什维克中央委员会（1912）。他一直活跃於幕後并流亡（1913～1917），直到1917年俄国革命让布尔什维克掌权为止。采用「史达林」（俄语意为「钢」）为姓後，他在布尔什维克政府担任国籍和国家控制方面的政治委员（1917～1923）。1922年起他成为该党中央委员会的总书记（这个职位後来成为他独裁的基础），同时身兼政治局委员。列宁死後（1924），史达林战胜了包括托洛斯基、季诺维也夫、加米涅夫、布哈林和李可夫在内的对手，掌握俄罗斯政治。1928年推行五年计画，急剧改变苏联的经济和社会结构，导致数以百万计的人民死亡。1930年代他进行清党审判和广泛的暗杀及迫害，致力於消除权力上所受的威胁。第二次世界大战期间，他签订了「德苏互不侵犯条约」（1939），进而攻入芬兰（参阅Russo-Finnish War），还兼并东欧部分地方，以强化西部边界。当德国入侵俄罗斯时（1941），史达林掌控了军事运作。他在德黑兰会议、雅尔达会议、波茨坦会议中与英美结盟，证实了自己的协商技能。战後他在东欧巩固苏联的力量，并把苏联建设为世界军事强国。为了控制国内异议分子，他持续政治上的压迫措施；他逐渐变得偏执，死前正准备在所谓医生阴谋案之後进行另一次整肃。史达林因把苏联变为世界强国而闻名（人民付出了恐怖的代价），他留下了工业及军事力量，也留下了压迫与恐惧的遗产。1956年史达林和他的人格崇拜受到赫鲁雪夫谴责。
English version：
1879～1953年
Stalin, Joseph
Soviet politician and dictator. Born in Georgia, the son of a cobbler, he studied at a seminary but was expelled for revolutionary activity in 1899. He joined an underground revolutionary group and sided with the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1903. A disciple of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, he served in minor party posts and was appointed to the first Bolshevik Central Committee (1912). He remained active behind the scenes and in exile (1913-17) until the Russian Revolution of 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power. Having adopted the name Stalin (from Russian stal: “steel”), he served as commissar for nationalities and for state control in the Bolshevik government (1917-23). He became secretary-general of the party's Central Committee from 1922, the post that later provided the power base for his dictatorship, and was also a member of the Politburo. After Lenin's death (1924), Stalin overcame his rivals, including Leon Trotsky, Grigory Y. Zinovyev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolay I. Bukharin, and Aleksey Rykov, and took control of Soviet politics. In 1928 he inaugurated the Five-Year Plans that radically altered Soviet economic and social structures and resulted in the deaths of many millions. In the 1930s he contrived to eliminate threats to his power through the Purge Trials and through widespread secret executions and persecution. In World War II he signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (1939), attacked Finland (see Russo-Finnish War), and annexed parts of Eastern Europe to strengthen his western frontiers. When Germany invaded Russia (1941), Stalin took control of military operations. He allied Russia with Britain and the U.S.; at the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam conferences, he demonstrated his negotiating skill. After the war he consolidated Soviet power in Eastern Europe and built up the Soviet Union as a world military power. He continued his repressive political measures to control internal dissent; increasingly paranoid, he was preparing to mount another purge after the so-called Doctors' Plot when he died. Noted for bringing the Soviet Union into world prominence, at terrible cost to his own people, he left a legacy of repression and fear as well as industrial and military power. In 1956 Stalin and his personality cult were denounced by Nikita Khrushchev.