Joseph Stalin

===Relationships and family===
Friendship was important to Stalin,{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2007|1p=49|2a1=Fitzpatrick|2y=2015|2p=65}} and he used it to gain and maintain power.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=49}} Kotkin observed that Stalin "generally gravitated to people like himself: parvenu intelligentsia of humble background".{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|p=9}} He gave nicknames to his favourites, for instance referring to Yezhov as "my blackberry".{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=151}} Stalin was sociable and enjoyed a joke.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=112}} According to Montefiore, Stalin's friendships "meandered between love, admiration, and venomous jealousy".{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=135}} While head of the Soviet Union he remained in contact with many of his old friends in Georgia, sending them letters and gifts of money.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=522|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2003|2p=135|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=368}}

Stalin was not a womaniser.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=13}} According to [[Boris Bazhanov]], Stalin's one-time secretary, "Women didn't interest him. His own woman [Alliluyeva] was enough for him, and he paid scant attention to her."{{sfn|Bazhanov|Doyle|1990|p=106}} However, Montefiore noted that in his early life Stalin "rarely seems to have been without a girlfriend".{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=73}} Montefiore described Stalin's favoured types as "young, malleable teenagers or buxom peasant women",{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=209}} who would be supportive and unchallenging toward him.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=80|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=209}} According to Service, Stalin "regarded women as a resource for sexual gratification and domestic comfort".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=80}} Stalin married twice and had several children.{{sfn|McCauley|2003|p=90}}

Stalin married his first wife, [[Ekaterina Svanidze]], in 1906. According to Montefiore, theirs was "a true love match";{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=5}} Volkogonov suggested that she was "probably the one human being he had really loved".{{sfn|Volkogonov|1991|p=4}} When she died, Stalin allegedly said: "This creature softened my heart of stone."{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=202}} However, Russian historian Anton Antonov-Ovseenko wrote that Stalin was physically abusive to her in Baku.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Antonov-Ovseenko |first1=Anton |title=The Time of Stalin: Portrait of a Tyranny |date=1983 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-039027-3 |page=251 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbIqAAAAYAAJ&q=In+Baku+in+1908+,+it+was+with+his+boots+that+Koba+%5B+Stalin+%5D+knocked+his+pregnant+wife+,+Keto+,+around+. |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-date=28 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828043832/https://books.google.com/books?id=cbIqAAAAYAAJ&q=In+Baku+in+1908+,+it+was+with+his+boots+that+Koba+&#91;+Stalin+&#93;+knocked+his+pregnant+wife+,+Keto+,+around+. |url-status=live }}</ref> They had a son, [[Yakov Dzhugashvili|Yakov]], who often frustrated and annoyed Stalin.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=149|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=64|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=167|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=25}} Yakov had a daughter, [[Galina Dzhugashvili|Galina]], before fighting for the Red Army in the Second World War. He was captured by the German Army and then committed suicide.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1pp=150–151|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=364}}

[[File:Joseph Stalin with daughter Svetlana, 1935.jpg|thumb|Stalin carrying his daughter, [[Svetlana Alliluyeva|Svetlana]]]]

In 1914, Stalin, circa age 35, had a relationship with Lidia Pereprygina, then 14-years-old, who subsequently became pregnant with Stalin's child.{{sfnm|1a1=Suny|1y=2020|1p=559|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=30}}<ref>{{Cite news |title=Stalin promised the gendarmes that he would marry his 14-year-old mistress as soon as she became an adult |newspaper=Kp.ru - |date=8 November 2018 |url=https://www.kp.ru/daily/26905.4/3949946/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713032535/https://www.kp.ru/daily/26905.4/3949946/ |url-status=live |last1=Гамов |first1=Александр }}</ref> Circa December 1914, Pereprygia gave birth to Stalin's child, although the infant died soon after.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=292–293}} In 1916, Lidia – now 15 years old – was pregnant again. She gave birth to a son, named [[Alexander Davydov (soldier)|Alexander Davydov]], in around April 1917. Stalin, then absent, later came to know of the child's existence but showed no apparent interest in him.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=298, 300}}

Stalin's second wife was [[Nadezhda Alliluyeva]]; theirs was not an easy relationship, and they often fought.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=8}} They had two biological children—a son, [[Vasily Dzhugashvili|Vasily]], and a daughter, [[Svetlana Alliluyeva|Svetlana]], and adopted another son, [[Artyom Sergeev]], in 1921.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=9}} It is unclear if Stalin ever had a mistress during or after his marriage to Alliluyeva.{{sfnm|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2017|3p={{page needed|date=November 2022}}|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1p=13|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=255}} In any event, she suspected that he was unfaithful with other women,{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=12}} and committed suicide in 1932.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=154|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2003|2p=16|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=255}} Stalin regarded Vasily as spoiled and often chastised his behaviour; as Stalin's son, Vasily nevertheless was swiftly promoted through the ranks of the Red Army and allowed a lavish lifestyle.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=257, 259–260}} Conversely, Stalin had an affectionate relationship with Svetlana during her childhood,{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=215|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=153|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2003|3pp=9, 227|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=256}} and was also very fond of Artyom.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=9}} In later life, he disapproved of Svetlana's various suitors and husbands, putting a strain on his relationship with her.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=260|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=521}} After the Second World War, he made little time for his children and his family played a decreasingly important role in his life.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=250, 259}} After Stalin's death, Svetlana changed her surname from Stalin to Alliluyeva,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=593}} and defected to the U.S.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=260}}

After Nadezhda's death, Stalin became increasingly close to his sister-in-law Zhenya Alliluyeva;{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|pp=142–144}} Montefiore believed that they were lovers.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=144}} There are unproven rumours that from 1934 onward he had a relationship with his housekeeper Valentina Istomina.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=521}} Montefiore also claimed that Stalin had at least two illegitimate children,{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=365}} although he never recognised them as being his.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=252}} One of them, [[Konstantin Kuzakov]], later taught philosophy at the [[Baltic State Technical University|Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute]], but never met Stalin.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=365–366}} The other, Alexander, was the son of Lidia Pereprygina; he was raised as the son of a peasant fisherman and the Soviet authorities made him swear never to reveal that Stalin was his biological father.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=366}} Stalin was also complicit with the persecution of several relatives of his former wives such as Maria and [[Alexander Svanidze]] who were arrested and eliminated during the Great Purge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greensmith |first1=James |title=In the Mind of Stalin |date=6 April 2023 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-3990-6361-6 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0JmyEAAAQBAJ&dq=Alexander+Svanidze&pg=PA71 |access-date=8 July 2023 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719203557/https://books.google.com/books?id=0JmyEAAAQBAJ&dq=Alexander+Svanidze&pg=PA71 |url-status=live }}</ref>