Joseph Stalin

=== 1912–1917: Rise to the Central Committee and editorship of ''Pravda'' ===
[[File:First Issue of PRAVDA.jpg|thumb|right|The first issue of ''[[Pravda]]'', the Bolshevik newspaper of which Stalin was editor]]

In January 1912, while Stalin was in exile, the first [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik Central Committee]] was elected at the [[Prague Conference]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=83|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=122–123}} Shortly after the conference, Lenin and [[Grigory Zinoviev]] decided to co-opt Stalin to the committee.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=83|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=122–123}} Still in Vologda, Stalin agreed, remaining a Central Committee member for the rest of his life.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=48|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=83|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=240|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4pp=122–123}} Lenin believed that Stalin, as a Georgian, would help secure support for the Bolsheviks from the empire's minority ethnicities.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=240}} In February 1912, Stalin again escaped to Saint Petersburg,{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=241}} tasked with converting the Bolshevik weekly newspaper, ''Zvezda'' ("Star") into a daily, ''[[Pravda]]'' ("Truth").{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=84|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=243}} The new newspaper was launched in April 1912,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=84|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=247}} although Stalin's role as editor was kept secret.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=84|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=247}}

In May 1912, he was arrested again and imprisoned in the Shpalerhy Prison, before being sentenced to three years exile in Siberia.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=51|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=248}} In July, he arrived at the Siberian village of [[Narym]],{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2007|1p=249|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=133}} where he shared a room with a fellow Bolshevik [[Yakov Sverdlov]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=86|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=250|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=154}} After two months, Stalin and Sverdlov escaped back to Saint Petersburg.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=51|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=86–87|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=250–251}} During a brief period back in Tiflis, Stalin and the Outfit planned the ambush of a mail coach, during which most of the group — although not Stalin — were apprehended by the authorities.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=252–253}} Stalin returned to Saint Petersburg, where he continued editing and writing articles for ''Pravda''.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=255}}

[[File:Stalin in exile 1915.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Stalin in 1915]]

After the [[1912 Russian legislative election|October 1912 Duma elections]], where six Bolsheviks and six Mensheviks were elected, Stalin wrote articles calling for reconciliation between the two Marxist factions, for which Lenin criticised him.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=256}} In late 1912, Stalin twice crossed into [[Austria-Hungary]] to visit Lenin in [[Kraków]],{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=52|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=87–88|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=256–259|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=133}} eventually bowing to Lenin's opposition to reunification with the Mensheviks.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=263}} In January 1913, Stalin travelled to [[Vienna]],{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=54|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=89|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=263}} where he researched the "national question" of how the Bolsheviks should deal with the Russian Empire's national and ethnic minorities.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=89|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2pp=264–265}} Lenin, who encouraged Stalin to write an article on the subject,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=59}} wanted to attract those groups to the Bolshevik cause by offering them the right of secession from the Russian state, but also hoped they would remain part of a future Bolshevik-governed Russia.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=266}}

Stalin's article ''[[Marxism and the National Question]]''{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=53|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=85|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=266|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=133}} was first published in the March, April, and May 1913 issues of the Bolshevik journal ''[[Prosveshcheniye]]'';{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|p=133}} Lenin was pleased with it.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=267}} According to Montefiore, this was "Stalin's most famous work".{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=266}} The article was published under the pseudonym "K. Stalin",{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=267}} a name he had used since 1912.{{sfnm|1a1=Himmer|1y=1986|1p=269|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=7|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=85}} Derived from the Russian word for steel (''stal''),{{sfnm|1a1=Himmer|1y=1986|1p=269|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=85}} this has been translated as "Man of Steel";{{sfnm|1a1=Himmer|1y=1986|1p=269|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=7|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=268|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=133}} Stalin may have intended it to imitate Lenin's pseudonym.{{sfn|Himmer|1986|p=269}} Stalin retained the name for the rest of his life, possibly because it was used on the article that established his reputation among the Bolsheviks.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=267–268}}

In February 1913, Stalin was arrested while back in Saint Petersburg.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2007|1pp=268–270|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=28}} He was sentenced to four years exile in [[Turukhansk]], a remote part of Siberia from which escape was particularly difficult.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=54|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=102–103|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=270, 273|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=29}} In August, he arrived in the village of Monastyrskoe, although after four weeks was relocated to the hamlet of Kostino.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=273–274}} In March 1914, concerned over a potential escape attempt, the authorities moved Stalin to the hamlet of [[Kureika (village)|Kureika]] on the edge of the [[Arctic Circle]].{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=55|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=105–106|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=277–278|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=29}} In the hamlet, Stalin had a relationship with Lidia Pereprygina, who was fourteen at the time but within the legal [[age of consent]] in Tsarist Russia.{{sfnm|1a1=Suny|1y=2020|1p=559|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=30}} In or about December 1914, their child was born but the infant soon died.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=292–293}} Their second child, Alexander, was born circa April 1917.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=298, 300}}

In Kureika, Stalin lived among the [[Indigenous peoples of Siberia|indigenous]] [[Tunguses]] and [[Ostyak]] peoples,{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=287}} and spent much of his time fishing.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=56|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=110|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=288–289}}