Joseph Stalin

=== 1917: Russian Revolution ===
While Stalin was in exile, Russia entered the [[First World War]], and in October 1916 Stalin and other exiled Bolsheviks were [[Conscription in the Russian Empire|conscripted into the Russian Army]], leaving for Monastyrskoe.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=57|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=113–114|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=300|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=155}} They arrived in [[Krasnoyarsk]] in February 1917,{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=57|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2pp=301–302|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=155}} where a medical examiner ruled Stalin unfit for military service because of his crippled arm.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=114|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=302|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=155}} Stalin was required to serve four more months of his exile, and he successfully requested that he serve it in nearby [[Achinsk]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=114|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=302}} Stalin was in the city when the [[February Revolution]] took place; uprisings broke out in Petrograd — as Saint Petersburg had been renamed — and Tsar Nicholas II abdicated to escape being violently overthrown. The Russian Empire became a ''de facto'' republic, headed by a [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]] dominated by liberals.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=57–58|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=116–117|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3pp=302–303|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=178|5a1=Khlevniuk|5y=2015|5p=42}} In a celebratory mood, Stalin travelled by train to Petrograd in March.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1pp=15, 19|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=117|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=304|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=173}} There, Stalin and a fellow Bolshevik [[Lev Kamenev]] assumed control of ''Pravda'',{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=19|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=120|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=310}} and Stalin was appointed the Bolshevik representative to the executive committee of the [[Petrograd Soviet]], an influential council of the city's workers.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=59–60|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=310}} In April, Stalin came third in the Bolshevik elections for the party's Central Committee; Lenin came first and Zinoviev came second.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=64|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=131|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2007|3p=316|4a1=Kotkin|4y=2014|4p=193|5a1=Khlevniuk|5y=2015|5p=46}} This reflected his senior standing in the party at the time.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=316}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=The existing government of landlords and capitalists must be replaced by a new government, a government of workers and peasants.<br />The existing pseudo-government which was not elected by the people and which is not accountable to the people must be replaced by a government recognised by the people, elected by representatives of the workers, soldiers and peasants and held accountable to their representatives.|source= — Stalin's editorial in ''Pravda'', October 1917{{sfn|Service|2004|p=144}}}}

Stalin helped organise the [[July Days]] uprising, an armed display of strength by Bolshevik supporters.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=65|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2pp=319–320}} After the demonstration was suppressed, the Provisional Government initiated a crackdown on the Bolsheviks, raiding ''Pravda''.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|p=32}} During this raid, Stalin smuggled Lenin out of the newspaper's office and took charge of the Bolshevik leader's safety, moving him between Petrograd safe houses before smuggling him to [[Razliv]].{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2007|1pp=322–324|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=203|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=48–49}} In Lenin's absence, Stalin continued editing ''Pravda'' and served as acting leader of the Bolsheviks, overseeing the party's [[6th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks)|Sixth Congress]], which was held covertly.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2007|1p=326|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=204}} Lenin began calling for the Bolsheviks to seize power by toppling the Provisional Government in a ''coup d'état''. Stalin and a fellow senior Bolshevik [[Leon Trotsky]] both endorsed Lenin's plan of action, but it was initially opposed by Kamenev and other party members.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=68|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=138|4a1=Montefiore|4y=2007|4pp=331–332|5a1=Kotkin|5y=2014|5p=214|6a1=Khlevniuk|6y=2015|6p=50}} Lenin returned to Petrograd and secured a majority in favour of a ''coup'' at a meeting of the Central Committee on 10 October.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=332–333, 335}}

On 24 October, police raided the Bolshevik newspaper offices, smashing machinery and presses; Stalin salvaged some of this equipment to continue his activities.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=144|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2pp=337–338}} In the early hours of 25 October, Stalin joined Lenin in a Central Committee meeting in the [[Smolny Institute]], from where the Bolshevik ''coup'' — the [[October Revolution]] — was directed.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=145|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=341}} Bolshevik militia seized Petrograd's electric power station, main post office, state bank, telephone exchange, and several bridges.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=341–342}} A Bolshevik-controlled ship, the ''[[Russian cruiser Aurora|Aurora]]'', opened fire on the [[Winter Palace]]; the Provisional Government's assembled delegates surrendered and were arrested by the Bolsheviks.{{sfn|Montefiore|2007|pp=344–346}} Although he had been tasked with briefing the Bolshevik delegates of the [[All-Russian Congress of Soviets#Second Congress|Second Congress of Soviets]] about the developing situation, Stalin's role in the coup had not been publicly visible.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=145, 147}} Trotsky and other later Bolshevik opponents of Stalin used this as evidence that his role in the coup had been insignificant, although later historians reject this.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=144–146|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=224|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=52}} According to the historian [[Oleg Khlevniuk]], Stalin "filled an important role [in the October Revolution]... as a senior Bolshevik, member of the party's Central Committee, and editor of its main newspaper";{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=53}} the historian [[Stephen Kotkin]] similarly noted that Stalin had been "in the thick of events" in the build-up to the coup.{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|p=177}}