In 2019, I visited the western region of Georgia called Abkhazia. It was the first time I took a mission trip to a place I had not heard of before and to which my government warned Canadians not to travel. The region was controlled by Russia (sound familiar?).
I learned a lot on the trip including some local history which caught my attention. On a side trip we visited one of Stalin’s dachas (summer homes) on the Black Sea. What I learned shocked me.
Georgian gangster
Stalin’s real name was Joseph Vissarionovich. He changed his last name to Stalin (meaning “Steel”) to bolster his image as a strong leader and “man of steel”. I had always assumed that Stalin was Russian since he ruled the Soviet Union for almost 30 years (1924 until his death in 1953). In fact, he was from Georgia which is now independent but used to be one of many Soviet republics (like Ukraine). He never spoke Russian perfectly and always with a Georgian accent.
Stalin had a rough childhood. His father was an alcoholic and regularly beat his children. This doesn’t excuse Stalin’s later behavior but certainly helps explain it. As we celebrate Father’s Day tomorrow, just think what a difference a good father could have made in his life. His mother sent Stalin to an Orthodox seminary hoping he would become a priest. How ironic! Instead of becoming a man of peace and blessing, he would devolve into a monster of hate and violence.
Stalin began to learn about Lenin and the Bolsheviks, left the seminary, and joined the fledgling movement. He and his “comrades” robbed banks, kidnapped and extorted people in order to fund and promote the new cause. He acted like a gangster but his devotion was noticed and he rose quickly through the ranks. His mentor, Lenin, failed to choose a successor. However, Lenin left a written warning that Stalin was “far too brutal” to be chosen as the new leader.
Mass murderer
Stalin was not only brutal; he was also shrewd. He eliminated (permanently) his rivals and soon became the undisputed dictator of the communist Soviet Union. He ruled by fear and terror. His “Great Purge” (1936-38) saw thousands of his people shot or sent to Siberian concentration camps. Forced famines and resettlements killed far more. Dostoevsky (the Russian author and philosopher) famously wrote, “If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Stalin proved him right.
Stalin’s first wife died at age 22 from illness. His second wife committed suicide when she realized what her husband was really like. Both deaths affected him deeply. Stalin became increasingly paranoid and isolated. The dacha we visited had a dark green roof so it would blend in from above with the surrounding forest. It was well protected by soldiers with a secret escape route to a submarine on the Black Sea. Stalin moved from bedroom to bedroom during the night so no one knew his exact location. He ruled by fear but he also lived his own life in fear trusting very few.
So what?
You may be wondering what possible relevance a ruthless communist dictator has to your life.
For one thing, Stalin’s life demonstrates the reality of evil in our world. It also shows how vile a human being can become when he follows a godless worldview. The New Testament teaches that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) And the Old Testament explains how sinful man’s heart can become -- “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately corrupt.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
No doubt Stalin’s life was negatively impacted by his abusive father. But he also made morally wrong choices which became increasingly evil. His name (Steel) describes his hardened heart and conscience well. Joseph Stalin goes down in history in the company of Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and other tyrants as one of the most evil. And to think, as a young man he once studied in a seminary.
There (but by the grace of God) go I.
Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor.
