Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader, c1945. Head and shoulders portrait of Stalin in military uniform. Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Stalin (1879-1953) became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party in 1922, and after the death of Lenin in 1924, effectively became ruler of the Soviet Union. Stalin's rule saw massive social and economic upheaval. Soviet Russia was transformed into a major economic and military power, but millions died as a result of agricultural collectivization, political repression and in the struggle against Nazi Germany in the Second World War.