Timeline: Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union
| Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union | |
|---|---|
| The birth of Joseph Stalin in Gori, Georgia. | 21st December, 1879 |
| Stalin is expelled from the Tiflis Theological Seminary for showing disrespect for those in authority. | May, 1899 |
| Stalin, a member of the Social Democratic Labour Party, is arrested after coordinating a strike and is sent to Kutaisi Prison. | 8th April, 1902 |
| Lenin establishes the Bolshevik faction at the SDLP conference in London. | 11th August, 1903 |
| Stalin writes to Lenin explaining his efforts in recruiting revolutionaries to the Bolshevik cause in the Caucasus region. | May, 1904 |
| Stalin goes to Finland to meet Lenin for the first time. | December, 1905 |
| Stalin arrested and deported north-east of Siberia. | February, 1913 |
| Stalin and Lev Kamenev arrive back in St. Petersburg. | 12th March, 1917 |
| A Provisional Government, headed by Prince Georgi Lvov, is formed. | 15th March, 1917 |
| Lenin returns to Russia and announces the April Theses. | 3rd April, 1917 |
| Alexander Kerensky, the Minister of War, announces a new war offensive. | 18th June, 1917 |
| Kerensky replaces Prince George Lvov as prime minister. | 8th July, 1917 |
| Kerensky orders the arrest of Bolshevik leaders. | 19th July, 1917 |
| General Lavr Kornilov demands the resignation of Provisional Government and as a result he is recalled to Petrograd. | 7th September, 1917 |
| Alexander Kerensky attempts to recover his left-wing support by forming a new coalition that included more Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. | 25th September, 1917 |
| Kerensky orders the arrest of the Bolshevik leaders based in the Smolny Institute. | 22nd October, 1917 |
| Lenin gives orders for the Bolsheviks to occupy the railway stations, the telephone exchange and the State Bank. | 24th October, 1917 |
| Alexander Kerensky escapes from Petrograd. | 25th October, 1917 |
| The Aurora and the Peter and Paul Fortress open fire on the Winter Palace. | 25th October, 1917 |
| The All-Russian Congress of Soviets hand over power to the Soviet Council of People's Commissars. Lenin is elected chairman and Stalin becomes Commissar of Nationalities. | 26th October, 1917 |
| Stalin makes speech where he claims the Soviet government would grant: "complete freedom for the Finnish people, and for other peoples of Russia, to arrange their own life!" | 16th November, 1917 |
| Elections for the Constituent Assembly begin. A total of 703 candidates were elected. This included Socialist Revolutionaries (299), Bolsheviks (168), Mensheviks (18) and Constitutional Democratic Party (17). | 25th November, 1917 |
| Victor Chernov, the leader of the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, the Socialist Revolutionaries, is elected President. | 5th January, 1918 |
| Lenin closes down the Constituent Assembly. | 6th January, 1918 |
| Moisei Uritsky, chief of the Petrograd Secret Police is assassinated. Stalin calls | 17th August, 1918 |
| Dora Kaplan shoots and severely wounded Lenin. In response Stalin sends a telegram advocating an "open and systematic mass terror" against those responsible. | 30th August, 1918 |
| The Bolshevik newspaper, Krasnaya Gazeta, announces the beginning of the Red Terror. | 1st September, 1918 |
| Lenin announces details of his New Economic Policy (NEP), a policy supported bt Joseph Stalin. | March, 1921 |
| Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the General Secretary of the Central Committee. | 3rd April, 1922 |
| Lenin writes a memorandum: "Stalin is too rude, and this fault... becomes unbearable in the office of General Secretary. Therefore, I propose to the comrades to find a way to remove Stalin from that position and appoint to it another man." Three days later Lenin has a stroke and is no longer able to speak or write. | 4th January, 1923 |
| The death of Lenin. | 21st January, 1924 |
| Nadezhda Krupskaya, demands for the publication of Lenin's memorandum on Stalin is rejected. | May, 1924 |
| Stalin arranges for Leon Trotsky to be removed from the government. | January, 1925 |
| Stalin removes Lev Kamenev and replaces him with Sergy Kirov. | December, 1925 |
| Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev sign a statement admitting to offences against the party. | 4th October, 1926 |
| Trotsky is deported to Alma Ata. | 19th December, 1927 |
| Stalin selects Eugene Lyons, to be the first western journalist to be granted an interview. | 22nd November, 1930 |
| Malcolm Muggeridge, becomes the first journalist to report the existence of widespread famine in the Soviet Union. | 25th March, 1933 |