Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili was the second leader of Soviet Russia. He was born in Gori, Georgia on the 18th of December, 1878, and had a troubled upbringing, facing issues such as financial troubles, an abusive father and illness that left him scarred. In 1899, Stalin left school to study priesthood at a seminary in the Georgian Orthodox Church of Tbilisi, during which time he began learning of the Marxist party by exposing himself to books and other material concerning the philosophy. He was expelled due to missed exams, although Stalin later claimed that his expulsion was caused by his growing interest in Marxism. At this time, the Bolsheviks were launching a revolution in an effort to remove the reigning Tsar and abolish…show more content… Below is an excerpt of a letter written by Nikolai Bukharin, a Soviet politician and member of the Bolshevik party, who was exiled along with Trotsky and Lenin himself: ‘Vlad. Ilyich Lenin highly valued Stalin, so much so, that at the time of the first stroke and also during the second stroke V.I. entrusted Stalin with the most intimate of assignments while emphasising that it is Stalin alone that he is asking for.' Lenin can be credited with introducing Stalin to power by promoting him to influential positions, thus providing him with the ability to rally political support, ultimately climbing the hierarchy within the Bolshevik party. There have been speculations regarding Stalin’s involvement with plots to eliminate Lenin. However, evidence, such as the aforementioned letter, support the falseness of these claims. In 1922, Stalin found himself in a position that enabled him to appoint his allies to positions of power, after his own promotion to Security General. Stalin successfully elevated the importance of this position, allowing him to seize power after Lenin's death in 1924- ultimately becoming the second dictator of the Soviet