Joseph Stalin

==Post-war era ==

=== 1945–1947: Post-war reconstruction and famine ===
{{see also|Leningrad case}}
After the war, Stalin was—according to Service—at the "apex of his career".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=481}} Within the Soviet Union he was widely regarded as the embodiment of victory and patriotism.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=484}} His armies controlled [[Central and Eastern Europe]] up to the [[River Elbe]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=481}} In June 1945, Stalin adopted the title of [[Generalissimus of the Soviet Union|Generalissimus]],{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=493|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=247}} and stood atop Lenin's Mausoleum to watch a [[Moscow Victory Parade of 1945|celebratory parade]] led by Zhukov through Red Square.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=480–481}} At a banquet held for army commanders, he described the Russian people as "the outstanding nation" and "leading force" within the Soviet Union, the first time that he had unequivocally endorsed the Russians over other Soviet nationalities.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=479}} In 1946, the state published Stalin's ''Collected Works''.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=541}} In 1947, it brought out a second edition of his official biography, which eulogised him to a greater extent than its predecessor.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=543–544}} He was quoted in ''Pravda'' on a daily basis and pictures of him remained pervasive on the walls of workplaces and homes.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=548}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R78376, Budapest, II. Weltfestspiele, Festumzug, Komsomolzen.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Banner of Stalin in [[Budapest]] in 1949]]
Despite his strengthened international position, Stalin was cautious about internal dissent and desire for change among the population.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=485|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=262}} He was also concerned about his returning armies, who had been exposed to a wide range of consumer goods in Germany, much of which they had looted and brought back with them. In this he recalled the 1825 [[Decembrist Revolt]] by Russian soldiers returning from having defeated France in the [[Napoleonic Wars]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=485}} He ensured that returning Soviet prisoners of war went through "filtration" camps as they arrived in the Soviet Union, in which 2,775,700 were interrogated to determine if they were traitors. About half were then imprisoned in labour camps.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=493|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=202}} In the Baltic states, where there was much opposition to Soviet rule, de-kulakisation and de-clericalisation programs were initiated, resulting in 142,000 deportations between 1945 and 1949.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=492}} The Gulag system of forced labour camps was expanded further. By January 1953, three per cent of the Soviet population was imprisoned or in internal exile, with 2.8&nbsp;million in "special settlements" in isolated areas and another 2.5&nbsp;million in camps, penal colonies, and prisons.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=268}}

The NKVD were ordered to catalogue the scale of destruction during the war.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=482}} It was established that 1,710 Soviet towns and 70,000 villages had been destroyed.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=482–483}} The NKVD recorded that [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|between 26 and 27 million Soviet citizens had been killed]], with millions more being wounded, malnourished, or orphaned.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=482|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=261}} In the war's aftermath, some of Stalin's associates suggested modifications to government policy.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=500}} Post-war Soviet society was more tolerant than its pre-war phase in various respects. Stalin allowed the Russian Orthodox Church to retain the churches it had opened during the war.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=496}} Academia and the arts were also allowed greater freedom than they had prior to 1941.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=497}} Recognising the need for drastic steps to be taken to combat inflation and promote economic regeneration, in December 1947 Stalin's government devalued the rouble and abolished the ration-book system.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=497|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=274–278}} Capital punishment was abolished in 1947 but re-instituted in 1950.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=289}}

Stalin's health was deteriorating, and heart problems forced a two-month vacation in the latter part of 1945.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=269|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=491}} He grew increasingly concerned that senior political and military figures might try to oust him; he prevented any of them from becoming powerful enough to rival him and had their apartments bugged with listening devices.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=526|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=268}} He demoted Molotov,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=531–532|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=272–273}} and increasingly favoured Beria and Malenkov for key positions.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=534}} In 1949, he brought [[Nikita Khrushchev]] from Ukraine to Moscow, appointing him a Central Committee secretary and the head of the city's party branch.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=303}} In the [[Leningrad Affair]], the city's leadership was purged amid accusations of treachery; executions of many of the accused took place in 1950.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=534–535|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=282}}

In the post-war period there were often food shortages in Soviet cities,{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=300–301}} and the USSR experienced a major [[Soviet famine of 1946–47|famine from 1946 to 1947]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=498|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=261}} Sparked by a drought and ensuing bad harvest in 1946, it was exacerbated by government policy towards food procurement, including the state's decision to build up stocks and export food internationally rather than distributing it to famine-hit areas.{{sfn|Ellman|2000|pp=611, 618–620}} Current estimates indicate that between one million and 1.5&nbsp;million people died from malnutrition or disease as a result.{{sfnm|1a1=Ellman|1y=2000|1p=622|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=261}} While agricultural production stagnated, Stalin focused on a series of major infrastructure projects, including the construction of hydroelectric plants, canals, and railway lines running to the polar north.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=299}} Much of this was constructed by prison labour.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=299}}

=== 1947–1950: Cold War policy ===
[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|right|225px|Joseph Stalin at his 71st birthday celebration with (left to right) [[Mao Zedong]], [[Nikolai Bulganin]], [[Walter Ulbricht]] and [[Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal]]]]

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the British Empire declined, leaving the U.S. and USSR as the dominant world powers.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=502–503}} Tensions among these former Allies grew,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=484}} resulting in the [[Cold War]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=503}} Although Stalin publicly described the British and U.S. governments as aggressive, he thought it unlikely that a war with them would be imminent, believing that several decades of peace was likely.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=487}} He nevertheless secretly intensified Soviet research into nuclear weaponry, intent on creating an [[atom bomb]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=481}} Still, Stalin foresaw the undesirability of a nuclear conflict, saying in 1949 that "atomic weapons can hardly be used without spelling the end of the world."{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=57}} He personally took a keen interest in the development of the weapon.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=508}} In August 1949, the bomb was successfully tested in the [[Semipalatinsk Test Site|deserts outside Semipalatinsk]] in Kazakhstan.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=508|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=293}} Stalin also initiated a new military build-up; the Soviet army was expanded from 2.9&nbsp;million soldiers, as it stood in 1949, to 5.8&nbsp;million by 1953.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=297}}

The U.S. began pushing its interests on every [[continent]], acquiring air force bases in Africa and Asia and ensuring pro-U.S. regimes took power across Latin America.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=502}} It launched the [[Marshall Plan]] in June 1947, with which it sought to undermine Soviet [[hegemony]] throughout Eastern Europe. The U.S. also offered financial assistance to countries as part of the Marshall Plan on the condition that they opened their markets to trade, aware that the Soviets would never agree.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=504|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=267}}
The Allies demanded that Stalin withdraw the Red Army from northern Iran. He initially refused, leading to an [[Iran crisis of 1946|international crisis in 1946]], but one year later Stalin finally relented and moved the Soviet troops out.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=504}} Stalin also tried to maximise Soviet influence on the world stage, unsuccessfully pushing for Libya—recently liberated from Italian occupation—to become a Soviet protectorate.<ref name="SergeiMazovTheSovietUnionTheItalianColoniesColdWarHistory2006">{{cite journal |last1=Mazov |first1=Sergei |date=9 August 2006 |title=The USSR and the Former Italian Colonies, 1945–50 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248952254 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=49–78 |doi=10.1080/14682740312331391618 |s2cid=153413935 |access-date=19 March 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Service|2004|p=494}} He sent Molotov as his representative to San Francisco to take part in negotiations to form the United Nations, insisting that the Soviets have a place on the [[Security Council]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=503}} In April 1949, the Western powers established the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO), an international military alliance of capitalist countries.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=507|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=281}} Within Western countries, Stalin was increasingly portrayed as the "most evil dictator alive" and compared to Hitler.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=551}} According to his daughter, [[Svetlana Alliluyeva]] she "remembered her father saying after [the war]: Together with the Germans we would have been invincible" <ref>{{cite book |last1=Lukacs |first1=John |title=June 1941: Hitler and Stalin |date=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300123647 |page=160}}</ref>

In 1948, Stalin edited and rewrote sections of ''[[Falsifiers of History]]'', published as a series of ''Pravda'' articles in February 1948 and then in book form. Written in response to public revelations of the 1939 Soviet alliance with Germany, it focused on blaming the Western powers for the war.{{sfn|Roberts|2002|pp=96–98}} He also erroneously claimed that the initial German advance in the early part of the war, during Operation Barbarossa, was not a result of Soviet military weakness, but rather a deliberate Soviet strategic retreat.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=264}} In 1949, celebrations took place to mark Stalin's seventieth birthday (although he was 71 at the time,) at which Stalin attended an event in the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] alongside Marxist–Leninist leaders from across Europe and Asia.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=296|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=548–549|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=290}}

====Eastern Bloc====
[[File:EasternBloc BasicMembersOnly.svg|thumb|The [[Eastern Bloc]] until 1989]]

After the war, Stalin sought to retain Soviet dominance across Eastern Europe while expanding its influence in Asia.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=492}} Cautiously regarding the responses from the Western Allies, Stalin avoided immediately installing Communist Party governments across Eastern Europe, instead initially ensuring that Marxist-Leninists were placed in coalition ministries.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=494}} In contrast to his approach to the Baltic states, he rejected the proposal of merging the new communist states into the Soviet Union, rather recognising them as independent nation-states.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=517}}
He was faced with the problem that there were few Marxists left in Eastern Europe, with most having been killed by the Nazis.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=483}} He demanded that war reparations be paid by Germany and its Axis allies Hungary, Romania, and the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=484}} Aware that these countries had been pushed toward socialism through invasion rather than by proletarian revolution, Stalin referred to them not as "dictatorships of the proletariat" but as "people's democracies", suggesting that in these countries there was a pro-socialist alliance combining the proletariat, peasantry, and lower middle-class.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=518}}

Churchill observed that an "[[Iron Curtain]]" had been drawn across Europe, separating the east from the west.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=279|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=503}} In September 1947, a meeting of East European communist leaders was held in [[Szklarska Poręba]], Poland, from which was formed [[Cominform]] to co-ordinate the Communist Parties across Eastern Europe and also in France and Italy.{{sfnm |1a1=Conquest |1y=1991 |1p=286 |2a1=Service |2y=2004 |2p=506 |3a1=Khlevniuk |3y=2015 |3p=267}} Stalin did not personally attend the meeting, sending [[Zhdanov]] in his place.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=506}} Various East European communists also visited Stalin in Moscow.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=511}} There, he offered advice on their ideas; for instance, he cautioned against the Yugoslav idea for a [[Balkan Federation]] incorporating Bulgaria and Albania.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=511}} Stalin had a particularly strained relationship with Yugoslav leader [[Josip Broz Tito]] due to the latter's continued calls for a Balkan federation and for Soviet aid for the communist forces in the ongoing [[Greek Civil War]].{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=286–287|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=515}} In March 1948, Stalin launched an anti-Tito campaign, accusing the Yugoslav communists of adventurism and deviating from Marxist–Leninist doctrine.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=515}} At the second Cominform conference, held in Bucharest in June 1948, East European communist leaders all denounced Tito's government, accusing them of being fascists and agents of Western capitalism.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=516}} Stalin ordered several assassination attempts on Tito's life and even contemplated an invasion of Yugoslavia itself.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=287}}

Stalin suggested that a unified, but demilitarised, German state be established, hoping that it would either come under Soviet influence or remain neutral.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=507}} When the U.S. and UK remained opposed to this, Stalin sought to force their hand by [[Berlin Blockade|blockading Berlin]] in June 1948.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=280|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=507|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=281}} He gambled that the Western powers would not risk war, but they airlifted supplies into West Berlin until May 1949, when Stalin relented and ended the blockade.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=507|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=281}} In September 1949 the Western powers transformed Western Germany into an independent [[Federal Republic of Germany]]; in response the Soviets formed East Germany into the [[German Democratic Republic]] in October.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=507}} In accordance with their earlier agreements, the Western powers expected Poland to become an independent state with free democratic elections.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=476}} In Poland, the Soviets merged various socialist parties into the [[Polish United Workers' Party]] (PZPR), and [[vote rigging]] was used to ensure that the PZPR secured office.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=515}} The 1947 Hungarian elections were also rigged by Stalin, with the [[Hungarian Working People's Party]] taking control.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=515}} In Czechoslovakia, where the communists did have a level of popular support, they were elected the largest party in 1946.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=512, 513}} Monarchy was abolished in Bulgaria and Romania.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=513}} Across Eastern Europe, the Soviet model was enforced, with a termination of political pluralism, agricultural collectivisation, and investment in heavy industry.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=516}} It was aimed at establishing economic [[autarky]] within the Eastern Bloc.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=516}}

====Asia====
[[File:Ji8, 3-1, Sino-Soviet Friendship, 1950.jpg|thumb|right|1950 Chinese stamp depicting Stalin and [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] shaking hands, commemorating the signing of the new [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance|Sino-Soviet Treaty]]]]
In October 1949, Chinese communist leader [[Mao Zedong]] took power in China.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=301|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=509|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=286}} With this accomplished, Marxist governments now controlled a third of the world's land mass.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=509}} Privately, Stalin revealed that he had underestimated the Chinese Communists and their ability to win the civil war, instead encouraging them to make another peace with the KMT.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=553}} In December 1949, Mao visited Stalin. Initially Stalin refused to repeal the [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance|Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1945]], which significantly benefited the Soviet Union over China, although in January 1950 he relented and agreed to sign [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance|a new treaty between the two countries]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=509|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=287–291}} Stalin was concerned that Mao might follow Tito's example by pursuing a course independent of Soviet influence, and made it known that if displeased he would withdraw assistance from China; the Chinese desperately needed said assistance after decades of civil war.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=552|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=287}}

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States divided up the Korean Peninsula, formerly a Japanese colonial possession, along the [[Division of Korea|38th parallel]], setting up a communist government in the north and a pro-Western, anti-communist government in the south.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=552|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=294}} North Korean leader [[Kim Il Sung]] visited Stalin in March 1949 and again in March 1950; he wanted to invade the south and although Stalin was initially reluctant to provide support, he eventually agreed by May 1950.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=302|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=553|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=294–295}} The [[North Korean Army]] launched the [[Korean War]] by invading South Korea in June 1950, making swift gains and capturing [[Seoul]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=554}} Both Stalin and Mao believed that a swift victory would ensue.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=554}} The U.S. went to the UN Security Council—which the Soviets were boycotting over its refusal to recognise Mao's government—and secured international military support for the South Koreans. U.S. led forces pushed the North Koreans back.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=554|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=295–296}} Stalin wanted to avoid direct Soviet conflict with the U.S., convincing the Chinese to aid the North.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=555–556|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=296}}

The Soviet Union was one of the first nations to extend diplomatic recognition to the newly created [[state of Israel]] in 1948, in hopes of obtaining an ally in the Middle East.{{sfn|Yegorov, 15 December 2017}} When the Israeli ambassador [[Golda Meir]] arrived in the USSR, Stalin was angered by the Jewish crowds who gathered to greet her.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=291}} He was further angered by Israel's [[Israel–United States relations|growing alliance with the U.S.]]{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=285}} After Stalin fell out with Israel, he launched an anti-Jewish campaign within the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=518}} In November 1948, he abolished the JAC,{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=291|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=577|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=284}} and show trials took place for some of its members.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=567|2a1=Brackman|2y=2001|2pp=384–385}} The Soviet press engaged in vituperative attacks on [[Zionism]], Jewish culture, and "rootless cosmopolitanism",{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=291|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=308–309}} with growing levels of anti-Semitism being expressed across Soviet society.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=576–577}} Stalin's increasing tolerance of anti-Semitism may have stemmed from his increasing Russian nationalism or from the recognition that anti-Semitism had proved a useful mobilising tool for Hitler and that he could do the same;{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=290}} he may have increasingly viewed the Jewish people as a "counter-revolutionary" nation whose members were loyal to the U.S.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=286}} There were rumours, although they have never been substantiated, that Stalin was planning on deporting all Soviet Jews to the [[Jewish Autonomous Region]] in [[Birobidzhan]], eastern Siberia.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=577|2a1=Overy|2y=2004|2p=565|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=309}}
[[File:Vrachi-timashuk.png|thumb|upright|20 January 1953. Soviet [[ukaz]] awarding Lydia Timashuk the [[Order of Lenin]] for "unmasking doctors-killers." Revoked after Stalin's death later that year.]]

=== 1950–1953: Final years ===
{{see also|Doctors' plot}}
In his later years, Stalin was in poor health.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=571}} He took increasingly long holidays; in 1950 and again in 1951 he spent almost five months on holiday at his Abkhazian dacha.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=572|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=195}} Stalin nevertheless mistrusted his doctors; in January 1952 he had one imprisoned after they suggested that he should retire to improve his health.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=571}} In September 1952, several Kremlin doctors were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill senior politicians in what came to be known as the [[doctors' plot]]; the majority of the accused were Jewish.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=309|2a1=Etinger|2y=1995|2p=104|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=576|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=307}} He instructed the arrested doctors to be tortured to ensure confession.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=309|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=307–308}} In November, the [[Slánský trial]] took place in Czechoslovakia as 13 senior Communist Party figures, 11 of them Jewish, were accused and convicted of being part of a vast Zionist-American conspiracy to subvert Eastern Bloc governments.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=308|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=307}} That same month, a much publicised trial of accused Jewish industrial wreckers took place in Ukraine.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=308}} In 1951, he initiated the [[Mingrelian affair]], a purge of the Georgian branch of the Communist Party which resulted in over 11,000 deportations.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=304–305}}

From 1946 until his death, Stalin only gave three public speeches, two of which lasted only a few minutes.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=560}} The amount of written material that he produced also declined.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=560}} In 1950, Stalin issued the article "[[Marxism and Problems of Linguistics]]", which reflected his interest in questions of Russian nationhood.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=564–565}}
In 1952, Stalin's last book, ''[[Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR]]'', was published. It sought to provide a guide to leading the country after his death.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=307|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=566–567}} In October 1952, Stalin gave an hour and a half speech at the Central Committee plenum.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=578}} There, he emphasised what he regarded as leadership qualities necessary in the future and highlighted the weaknesses of various potential successors, particularly Molotov and Mikoyan.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=579|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=306}} In 1952, he also eliminated the Politburo and replaced it with a larger version which he called the Presidium.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=305–306}}

====Death, funeral and aftermath====
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin}}
[[File:Stalin's casket on howitzer carriage draught by horses.jpg|thumb|Stalin's casket on howitzer carriage drawn by horses, caught on camera by U.S. assistant army attaché Major Martin Manhoff from the embassy balcony]]
On 1 March 1953, Stalin's staff found him semi-conscious on the bedroom floor of his [[Kuntsevo Dacha]].{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=311|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2pp=571–572|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3pp=582–584|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=142, 191}} He had suffered a [[cerebral haemorrhage]].{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=312}} He was moved onto a couch and remained there for three days.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=311–312|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=572|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=142}} He was hand-fed using a spoon, given various medicines and injections, and [[Leech therapy|leeches were applied to him]].{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=312}} Stalin died on 5 March 1953.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=313|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=574|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=586|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=313}} According to Svetlana, it had been "a difficult and terrible death".{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=313|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=313–314}} An autopsy revealed that he had died of a cerebral haemorrhage and that his cerebral arteries were severely damaged by [[atherosclerosis]].{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=189}} It has been conjectured that Stalin was murdered;{{sfn|Service|2004|p=587}} Beria has been suspected of murdering him, but no firm evidence has appeared.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=312}} According to a report published in ''The New York Times'', Stalin was poisoned with [[warfarin]] by his own Politburo members.<ref name="Wines_2003">{{cite web
| last = Wines
| first = Michael
| title = New Study Supports Idea Stalin Was Poisoned
| website = The New York Times
| date = 5 March 2003
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/world/new-study-supports-idea-stalin-was-poisoned.html
| access-date = 24 September 2022
| archive-date = 10 May 2022
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220510000601/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/world/new-study-supports-idea-stalin-was-poisoned.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Stalin's death was announced on 6 March.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=588}} His body was embalmed,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=588|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=314}} and then displayed in Moscow's House of Unions for three days.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=317}} The crowds of people coming to view the body were so large and disorganised that many people were killed in a [[crowd crush]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=588|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=317}} At the funeral on 9 March, Stalin's body was laid to rest in [[Lenin's Mausoleum]] in Red Square; hundreds of thousands attended.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=576|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=589|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=318}} That month featured a surge in arrests for "anti-Soviet agitation", as those celebrating Stalin's death came to police attention.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=319}} The Chinese government instituted a period of official mourning for Stalin's death.{{sfn|Li|2009|p=75}} A memorial service in his honour was also held at [[St George the Martyr, Holborn]] in London.{{sfn|Evans|1953}}

Stalin left neither a designated successor nor a framework within which a peaceful transfer of power could take place.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=310}} The Central Committee met on the day of his death, after which Malenkov, Beria, and Khrushchev emerged as the party's dominant figures.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=586–587}} The system of [[Collective leadership in the Soviet Union|collective leadership]] was restored, and measures introduced to prevent any one member from attaining autocratic domination.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=312}} The collective leadership included eight senior members of the [[Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], namely [[Georgy Malenkov]], [[Lavrentiy Beria]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]], [[Nikita Khrushchev]], [[Nikolai Bulganin]], [[Lazar Kaganovich]] and [[Anastas Mikoyan]].{{sfn|Ra'anan|2006|p=20}} Reforms to the Soviet system were immediately implemented.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=591}} Economic reform scaled back the mass construction projects, placed a new emphasis on house building, and eased the levels of taxation on the peasantry to stimulate production.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=315}} The new leaders sought rapprochement with Yugoslavia and a less hostile relationship with the U.S.,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=593}} and they pursued a negotiated end to the Korean War in July 1953.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=316}}<ref name="cohen13">{{cite book |last=Cohen |first= Warren I. |title=The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations |volume=4: Challenges to American Primacy, 1945 to the Present |chapter=The Korean War and Its Consequences |pages=58–78 |year=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CHO9781139032513.006 |isbn=
9781139032513}}</ref> The doctors who had been imprisoned were released and the anti-Semitic purges ceased.{{sfnm|1a1=Etinger|1y=1995|1pp=120–121|2a1=Conquest|2y=1991|2p=314|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=314}} [[Amnesty of 1953|A mass amnesty]] for certain categories of convicts was issued, halving the country's inmate population, while the state security and Gulag systems were reformed, with torture being banned in April 1953.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=315}}