The most important leader of 20th century. He made USSR from a third world's country to a powerfull country. He won the war. The soviet Union died with his death not with Perestroika.
I don't care about what the propaganda says. History is made by the winners and crimes are made from every country.

Stalin is my BFF man!

woooooooooooooo

Stalin could enslave the entire country converting it in the huge concentration camp. He kild much more people than Hitler did during the WWII. He cultivated the fear on all levels of the state, when nobody could be sure, that he will not be next on the death row. This charismatic person was supposedely also poisoned by his "friends".

A butcher and made communism look worse than it is.

For a Communist, He was actually quite the Capitalist....Selling Grain abroad for profit to use for his five year plans, etc. etc.

Also the conditions for the average person were not very communist by comparison to the conditions he lived in.....

When on examines all the people murdered by Stalin, the Free French (flooding Vietnam's rice fields shortly after the war), and Jiang Jieshi, one sees that the Allies actually caused more deaths than the Axis. Both sides were evil though...It just so happened that our mass-murdering dictators won.

Stalin has got to be one of the most sadistic creeps to ever walk on the planet. It wasn't enough that he murdered his enemies and whichever poor sod unlucky to cross his path. What he really excelled in was instilling sheer terror in people's hearts and inflicting the maximum amount of pain and suffering on his victims. In that respect, he was even worse than Hitler. He didn't light candles on the dinner table - he sat fire to the fingers of his victims and forced them to stand there as human torches whilst he ate. He is Evil personified.

One of the more soul-less bloody tyrants of history. He killed more people, probably than any other. He turned into a mighty war leader by circumstances. With absolute power, he performed very well.

A butcher. . .creepy dude who should be regarded as one of the worst people of the 20th century. And please- the idea that 'those liberals' love and revere Stalin is held by retards that didn't spend enough time in college.

What bothers me to no end is how many liberals today venerate this evil man- a man who killed many of his own countrymen due to his extreme paranoia. Moreover, there are some rateitall.com members on this list who seem to have a sick appreciation for what this vile monster did to millions of Russians. But let's study the facts, shall we? Joseph Stalin was truly a sick and twisted man who was just as evil as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein. This delusional butcher went on to terrorize those he disagreed with through awful retribution. And for any person that may deem this man a great revolutionary, it must be made clear that a revolutionary seeks to CHANGE world to better his/her people- not to ENDANGER it like this paranoid coot did from 1924 until his demise in 1953. This man was nothing but a thug who thrived in a system (Communism) which allowed it to happen. His depravity unquestioned by those who fully understand the difference between good and evil, Stalin should NEVER be lionized by any means, whatsoever! And to do so would be to spit on the graves on the countless victims he tortured, mutilated and killed.

The ultimate mass murderer.

This guy said once, one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. What an ass.

Nut murdering thug.

Stalin,unfortunately was on the winning side of World War II,instead of the losing side with Hitler.He also set the record for mass murder and was positively identified with by leftists outside of the USSR.

stalin was awesome!

Stalin was evil incarnate. He was a non-Russian (a Georgian) who put Russia through indescribable agony. Killed off something like 20 million kulaks (peasants), killed off most of his capable general and high-ranking officers in the 1930s, trusted Hitler and got caught flatfooted at the outset of the war, is believed to have killed his wife, was a megalomaniac, was sadistic, treacherous, ruthless, and more. Bad news all around. He had no redeeming qualities.

Stalin was a terrible leader for Russia. In fact, he was one of the worst leaders the world has ever seen. He killed more people within his country than Hitler did throughout his tenure. Stalin was worse than Hitler in many ways. He destroyed his political opposition by executing them or sending them to the Siberian concentration camps. Even if you were indirectly associated to the person being accused you were sent away and executed. Those who did not fall victim to political persecution had to face one of the biggest famines of the 20th Century, caused in large part by Stalin's collectivization program. What he did was redistribute farm land to the peasants; afterwards he forced them to produce a set amount of output for the state without allowing them to keep the profit. Farmers began to underproduce and prime farm land in the Russian plain, among the best in the world, went into benign neglect. This lead to a huge famine in Russia during the 1930's. Many times, farmers were harassed if they produced over quota; it's economics by the barrel of the gun essentially. Russia during Stalin's time was a very destitute place. Economic output though did increase, but at a huge cost to the population itself. It was a centralized state where Stalin and his cronies lived well while everyone else lived very poorly, a constant recurring theme in Russian history. In foreign affairs, Stalin went with whomever was convienient for him at the time; he was no stalwart ally of ours and the people down at the State Department at the time should have known it. He was with the Germans when he felt that he would give him a foothold in Eastern Europe, but when he was outfoxed by Hitler, he ran to the Allies for help, of course. We did use the Russians for our purposes though. We needed to keep the heat on the Germans and the Russians proved to be very stubborn defenders of their homeland, which helped us at the end of the day. This doesn't excuse Franklin Roosevelt's concessions during the Tehran and Yalta Big Three meetings; he should have never put so much trust in this snake. FDR was entranced by Stalin so much that he forgot what the Russians were like or their past dealings with the United States. These concessions and the weak leadership on the part of an ailing FDR at the end of the war lead to the Soviet sweep of Eastern Europe at the end of the war. If we would have been tougher with the Russians, we probably would have still had a Cold War, but it would have been nowhere near the level of intensity that it reached at times. The stakes would have been a lot lower since Russia would have been isolated rather than expansionist. The Stalinist model of government really is reflective of everything that is bad about Russia; dark, exploitative and totalitarian. We were naive to think that we had a fair negotiator with Stalin; he was a manipulative brute. We should have used him and then disposed of him, just like he did to us.

He was right about the Five-Year-Plans and the military strategy in WWII, so he scores points for those --- but I cannot ignore the fact that he weaseled his way to power behind Lenin's back and then destroyed the ideals of the Revolution with his reactionary personality.

He changed history. I'm not saying in a positive manner, but he did cause significant change in world history. I only rate him high due to his great influence. Again, this is not meant to be a positive comment, only one that reflects the legitimacy of his influence on the rest of the world during his time.

They man killed and starved over 20 million people! On top of that, he wasn't even a good leader!

hope you're having fun in hell, joe! cause we're not missing you at all

He was good at organizing the soviet union, but he killed millions of his own people, had Leon Trotsky and his children killed, was a facist dictator, and allied with Adolf Hitler. He wanted to help conquer Poland. It's so sad Harry S. Truman allied with him at the time. Stalin was a extremely intelligent man, no question about that. But he was such a brutal dictator that it really knocks him down three stars.

America has been kept ignorant for many years of the good Stalin did for Russia and has just concentrated on the negative. Not that I agree with Stalinism but he did help Russia towards catching up with much of the rest of the western world. History has also shown that no revolution has ever been won without guns. I've read most of Stalin's along with just about all Trotsky's works and came to the realization that Stalin actually told the truth and Trotsky lied. Trotsky played the left right into his hands as he was funneling money to the right. Stalin loved Russia and his people and needed the peoples help to get the bad apples out. Realize the lazy, greedy ones of the rich and powerful never give up their positions or money without a fight and it was these people who killed their own in many cases. *Stalin knew that too many princes in politics bring the state to ruin and actually did the Russian people a favor by offing the useful idiots, unfortunate as it may be. He also knew that the rich farmers would have let many more people die if he didn't do something about it. As any proper machavalian would have done there may not be a right or wrong decision, but only one that will benefit the most amount of people. As scary as it sounds, it may be that Uncle Joe was probaly the greatest statesman of the 20th century and actually had quite a sense of humor. Stalinists in this country are just a bunch of lazy socialist Fabians without any backbone trying to play neutral to push their agenda to fool and rob the people, something Stalin knew and didn't tolerate. Plus people will always hate strong leadership since it makes them feel better about themselves due to their apathetic and indolent ways. Try some introspection sometime and you'll begin to realize that those who stood by and did nothing actually cause more harm than those who did in relation the human condition.

Stalin did lead his nation wisely during World War II. However, he was responisble for the deaths of 20 million people who simply did not agree with him. He was one of the true madmen in our history, the other being Adolf Hitler.

Murderous tyrant and butcher.

great comrade

Simply a mis-informed man. He stood up and completly beleived in his convictions. Had he been born elsewhere than the Russia in revolt, might have become a great leader on the side of of the Allies, a pity he had to come into existence in such a troubled country.

STALIN WAS ONE OF THE MORE TERRIBLE COMMUNIST LEADERS! HE PERSECUTED INNOCENT PEOPLE! HE GAVE COMMUNISM A BAD NAME! I AM GLAD NOT ALL COMMUNIST LEADERS ARE NOT LIKE HE WAS!

Hero to Lillian Hellman, renown liar.

Came into power shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution (later became communists). He continued the absurd idea of a worldwide communist revolution and killed tens of millions of people in Russia who did not support his socialist agenda. The rest of the people were controlled with fear. The cold war is a result of Stalins international movement for communism and the US containing that movement (to make it really short) even if it means killing anyone who stands in the way. The thing that scares me about american liberals and Hillary Clinton and the likes is that they want a type of government that will evolve into something like what Stalin had. Don't think that steps haven't already been taken. High taxes, gun control, limiting free speech, excessive federal debt, government controlled public education, What's next? Elimitaing free speech? Eliminating the right to bear arms? The government taking over all business and industries? Wake up! It could happen. I see too many parallels between the liberal - socialist agenda and Stalin's movement.

There's no escaping or excusing the man's hideous,depraved,barbaric megalomania,the extent of the blood and suffering on his hands-the gulags and an estimated 40 million dead!-nor his total perversion of a supposedly egalitarian system.My rating takes into account the brave and invaluable part Soviet Russia played in the victory over Nazism and the importance of Stalin's own,typically ruthless, stand(he was on the point of running when the Germans neared Moscow,but stayed).It was,after all,the people who made/were forced into the sacrifices,not he.I'm also allowing that our views in the West have been shaped more than a little by coldwar propaganda.I'm concerned that his current ranking several places below Hitler implies U.S.A,Britain,Canada etc chose the wrong side in the war!But a monster is a monster and i certainly couldn't give him an extra star to correct this slightly-it's Hitler who needs to come down.

Possibly worse than Hitler. He killed 15,000,000 during his brutal totalitarian regime.

Most evil man of the twentieth century. Murderer of 40 million people, including 7-10 million Ukrainians in an artificial famine in 1932-33.

Responding to "Noah" for you to claim that liberalism has actually "plagued" the United States for the past fifty years is insulting. If liberalism was a plague, it would have destroyed this country by now. But it clearly has not. It is also ignorant for you to claim that liberalism and communism are remotely comparable. We know that Stalin is evil, and we know that evil can be easily avoided.

Evil personified. I only wish the liberal elite that has plagued America for the past 50 years would recognize that fact.

Evil unsurpassed. Germany's defeat at the hands of the Soviet army is in no way an excuse for the misery this man inflicted on countless millions. Stalin's defeat of the Third Reich was merely the result of a struggle between two equally despicable empires.

not as good a liar as hitler

As with Fidel: decades of power being increasingly centralized in one person's hands may obscure early features of his career. Remember world war II? Without his leadership against Hitler - and the literally millions of soviet lives sacrificed in that war, leading directly to Germany's defeat - where would we be? And yes, that was after the Hitler-Stalin pact, which might be regarded as a necessary evil committed by a country that was in no way prepared to stand up to the nazi might. Remember that this was long before the US made any move against Hitler, being under no threat itself, while all of Europe, including the USSR, was in jeopardy. Stalin may be best viewed as a perversion.

4th to Hitler

Mass-murder, Centralized "Economic Planning," and a ruthless Machiavellian approach to politics are among Stalin's accomplishments.

An endlessly fascinating monster.