Replies

20-30 million is in the right ballpark, mostly in the gulags, but a big chunk on the farms. Stalin liked to boast that he was kiccked out of the Tiflis Theological Seminary for distibuting Marxist literature. The truth may be more mundane. I recall reading some research that claims that he was expelled because he failed to sit for some exams which were required. My guess is that this is the truth and the other story was a good dinner table fable.

Okay, I dusted off the book at the quote says:

"At the (Tiflis) seminary Stalin became acquainted with Marx's work, quarreled with the corrupt (sic) Russian priests, and was expelled as a "radical" for organizing trade unions (although I'm intrigued by your statement a bit more).

Also note, he was exiled eight times, escaping seven times.

Josef Djugushvili

Another quote:
His name will go down in history as the man who developed socialist Russia in twenty short years from a backward, illiterate, undeveloped agricultural coutnry to one of the most highly educated, powerful, modern industrial countries of the world.

....There were [his] blunders and mistakes. Stalin himself had to reprimand the overzealousness of the Communists in collectivizing the farms. There was sabotage and suffering. At times, it would seem today, only the determination of Stalin bridged the gap between chaos and socialism...
...Stalin has been the bold, resolute leader of the "dictatorship of the proletariat."....
...When H.G. Wells asked him what he was doing to change the world, he said: "Not so very much."...
...Firmly entrenched, he is called by many Soviet millions "Father Russia."

/end

And let us not forget his good comrade Molotov!

The truth may be more mundane. I recall reading some research that claims that he was expelled because he failed to sit for some exams which were required. My guess is that this is the truth and the other story was a good dinner table fable.

Stalin wouldnt lie would he