186: From Czardom to Stalinism: Building the USSR & the Ascent of Joseph Stalin

History That Doesn't Suck

ProfGregJackson

Education, Society & Culture, History

4.5 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

“Comrade Stalin, now that he is general secretary, has concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of exercising this power with sufficient caution.” This is the story of Joseph Stalin’s path to becoming the dictator of the USSR. Ioseb (Joseph) Jughashvili, or little “Soso,” is a good student. A choir boy, in fact. But that changes as the Orthodox Georgian increasingly puts his faith in the Bolshevik branch of Russia’s Social Democrats. Under Vladimir Lenin’s leadership, Soso, now going by Joseph Stalin, becomes a true revolutionary. One who embraces violence and murder as an acceptable means to an end amid Russia’s shift from revolution to civil war. With Lenin’s passing in 1924, it’s clear that someone has to step into his shoes, and Stalin deftly outmaneuvers Leon Trotsky to be that someone. But he won’t just lead it. Stalin will remake the Soviet Union in his own image, industrializing and consolidating his power at all costs. Millions will die. Millions more disappear into the gulags, never to be seen again. This is the rise and reign of Joseph “the Man of Steel” Stalin. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode contains instances of violence against children.
0:03.8	Listener discretion is advised.
0:15.1	It's a bit past 1 a.m. July 17, 1918.
0:19.9	We're deep in Russian territory, some 1,500 miles distant from
0:24.2	St. Petersburg, or Petrograd, as it's now known, more than a thousand miles east of Moscow,
0:30.4	just over the Ural Mountains, in the city of Yakutututembourg's two-story mansion known as the
0:36.5	Impatiav House, where Yaakov Yob Yoroski is waiting in his office
0:40.6	for a phone call. He's nervous, understandable. Loyal Bolshevik revolutionary he may be,
0:48.5	but it's no small thing knowing you're about to kill the royal family. Tell you what,
0:53.6	let's leave Yaakov to his thoughts for a minute
0:55.8	while I fill you in. As I trust to recall from episode 130, 1917 was a year of big change for Russia.
1:06.3	In January, Tsar Nicholas II of the Romanov dynasty was on the throne, and Russia was an
1:12.2	allied power in the Great War. By December, Russia had seen revolution, Nicholas's abdication,
1:18.6	and Vladimir Lennon's radical Marxists, better known as Bolsheviks, emerging victorious over the
1:23.5	provisional government to sign a ceasefire with Germany and claim authority over the nation.
1:29.3	And yet, things have hardly stabilized in 1918.
1:33.5	Civil war broke out between the newly ascended Bolsheviks, aka the Reds,
1:38.0	and a mixture of anti-Bolshevik forces ranging from Russian Empire loyalists, classical liberals,
1:45.9	and ambitious national groups to form powers collectively dubbed the whites. In April, the Reds moved their most precious prisoners,
1:53.1	the abdicated Tsar and his family, to a more secure and distant location. Yes, the Impatiabhav House
1:59.9	here in Yucatirmburg. But now, with the whites, or more
2:04.2	specifically, with the Czech Legion fast approaching, the Commodon of the House, Yakov Yorov
	...

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