"On many website including WorldNetDaily is the claim that Stalin became an atheist after reading Darwin as described in "Landmarks in the Life of Stalin" by E. Yaroslavsky published in Moscow in 1940-- the height of Stalin's rule for those who don't know history, so obviously with his endorsement."
And yet... there is no connection between anything Darwin wrote and communist ideology or practice. Another WND junk article.
"I haven't read the book, but it is real. If the above is accurate would you all agree that Darwin had a foundational impact on Stalin?"
Big if.
OK, you doubt the reporting. But if it is accurate would you agree that Darwin had a foundational impact on Stalin?
I would have some doubts about the truth of a Stalin biography published in 1940.
The idea that Stalin got enlightened by reading Darwin has at least two big problems.
1) Where did he get the book? Remember he was in an Orthodox seminary at the time. I don't know how available a Russian or Georgian translation of Darwin would be in Russia at the time.
2) I don't think Stalin was smart enough to understand Darwin. If he did, then how could he have embraced Lysenko and sent Vavilov to the Gulag, actions which seriously hurt Soviet agriculture.
In fact, the whole thing strikes me as the Stalinist equivalent of George Washington and the cherry tree.