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	Joseph Stalin is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.
	Joseph Stalin has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Article milestones Date Process Result July 18, 2004 Featured article candidate Not promoted November 7, 2018 Good article nominee Listed
	Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on April 3, 2006, April 3, 2008, April 3, 2011, April 3, 2012, April 3, 2014, April 3, 2016, April 3, 2018, April 3, 2020, and April 3, 2022.
Current status: Former featured article candidate, current good article

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Section sizes Section size for Joseph Stalin (45 sections) Section name Byte count Prose size (words) Header Total Header Total (Top) 13,487 13,487 582 582 Early life 4,639 22,904 238 1,599 1899–1905: Russian Social Democratic Labour Party 3,676 3,676 252 252 1905–1912: Revolution of 1905 and aftermath 5,844 5,844 424 424 1912–1917: Rise to the Central Committee and Pravda 3,760 3,760 296 296 1917: Russian Revolution 4,985 4,985 389 389 In Lenin's government 108 16,409 0 1,380 1917–1918: People's Commissar for Nationalities 3,793 3,793 294 294 1918–1921: Military command 5,432 5,432 499 499 1921–1924: Lenin's final years 7,076 7,076 587 587 Consolidation of power 67 32,416 0 3,026 1924–1928: Succeeding Lenin 7,169 7,169 666 666 1928–1932: First five-year plan 88 12,630 0 1,225 Economic policy 6,706 6,706 645 645 Cultural and foreign policy 5,836 5,836 580 580 1932–1939: Major crises 35 12,550 0 1,135 Famine of 1932–1933 2,954 2,954 253 253 Ideological and foreign affairs 3,453 3,453 339 339 Great Purge 6,108 6,108 543 543 World War II 56 22,669 0 2,289 1939–1941: Pact with Nazi Germany 5,968 5,968 567 567 1941–1942: German invasion 7,186 7,186 712 712 1942–1945: Soviet counter-attack 6,812 6,812 720 720 1945: Victory 2,647 2,647 290 290 Post-war era 19 26,556 0 2,830 1945–1947: Post-war reconstruction 5,819 5,819 640 640 1947–1950: Cold War policy 4,423 14,075 479 1,547 Eastern Bloc 4,847 4,847 559 559 Asia 4,805 4,805 509 509 1950–1953: Final years 2,829 6,643 321 643 Death, funeral and aftermath 3,814 3,814 322 322 Political ideology 4,299 4,299 459 459 Personal life and characteristics 3,179 12,489 255 1,058 Personality 5,063 5,063 420 420 Relationships and family 4,247 4,247 383 383 Legacy 6,089 18,402 564 1,315 Death toll 7,824 7,824 356 356 In the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states 4,489 4,489 395 395 See also 138 138 0 0 Explanatory notes 57 57 0 0 Citations 32 32 0 0 Bibliography 78 29,491 0 0 Academic books and journals 18,844 18,844 0 0 Magazines, newspapers and websites 10,569 10,569 0 0 External links 11,573 11,573 0 0 Total 210,922 210,922 14,538 14,538

This article was edited to contain a total or partial translation of Сталин, Иосиф Виссарионович from the Russian Wikipedia. Consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors.

This article has been mentioned by a media organization: "The Guardian view on Wikipedia's female volunteers: a hive heroism that changes history". The Guardian. 8 March 2024.

What do you think about using well-known official portrait of Stalin as infobox image? This portrait was widely displayed in the 1950s in media articles, on the street, in buildings, and at official events. It was also displayed at Stalin's funeral.

Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 11:48, 11 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ping for discussion @Last1n, @Curbon7, @GodzillamanRor, @Lulfas, @DanielRigal, @HenryMP02, @Pincrete, @MaximusEditor, @W9793, @Timceharris, @Jack234567, @TarnishedPath, @Senorangel, @Jack Upland, @Freedom4U, @Nfutvol, @Scu ba, @Kerdooskis, @Writethisway, @Pistongrinder, @Qflib, @Emiya1980 Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 19:09, 11 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Seems like the consensus is to keep the current portrait. I would have to say the difference is to minimal to notice. MaximusEditor (talk) 16:26, 14 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Goszei: The image you originally uploaded is up for review.Emiya1980 (talk) 19:20, 11 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I prefer the current image which seems more like a down-to-earth representation of Stalin as he actually appeared.Emiya1980 (talk) 19:18, 11 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The current picture seems a bit more down to earth somehow. It might be the difference in how... I guess shiny he looks? Not a strong difference to me either way though. Lulfas (talk) 21:52, 11 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Roman Kubanskiy, do you have links to previous discussions on this? TarnishedPath^talk 00:47, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Roman Kubanskiy agreed there's not a huge difference, but the current one seems more down to earth. I see no real reason to change it, but am happy to leave the decision up to discussion Timceharris (talk) 02:07, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here. Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 08:03, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@TarnishedPath Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 08:04, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am in favor of keeping the current portrait. The proposed portrait is certainly iconic, but its widespread use as an official, state-sanctioned image is precisely why it's less suitable for the infobox in terms of neutrality. It is a heavily retouched propaganda piece from the height of his personality cult, designed to present a specific, god-like image to the public. As others have noted, the 1932 photo by James Abbe is more "down-to-earth", which is rare when it comes to pictures of Stalin. It is a clear, high-quality photograph that depicts him as he actually looked, which makes it far more encyclopedic and appropriate for use here. — Goszei (talk) 19:44, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

After all, we have an informal practice on Wikipedia of using official portraits (for example, portraits of US presidents that are in the public domain are widely used), why is there a problem with this? Portraits of the United States are also made in the "greatest" embodiment of the head of state. However, the problem is that it is difficult to find official free photos of Soviet leaders. Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 19:50, 12 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Keep the current portrait. It's more realistic.--Jack Upland (talk) 01:07, 13 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I prefer keeping the current portrait. The official portrait appears retouched, with Stalin's facial features (pockmarks) removed as compared to the current portrait. GodzillamanRor (talk) 14:28, 14 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Keep current This image is more iconic, sure, but also looks like a propaganda poster and would lend an unfavourable aura of bias to this article. - OmegaAOL (talk page, and contribs) 06:35, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also uploaded

and

. Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 16:54, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

These have been edited too heavily and look artificial. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 17:25, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Let it be in the Commons archive then. Can be useful for some articles. Roman Kubanskiy (talk) 17:34, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This being an encyclopedia, it is better to go with an original photo if we have one. I personally also thinks that's better when consider cult of personality (also for any other historic figure). The comparison with official US presidential photos does not hold because they are generally not heavily edited to make the subject appear more handsome. Machinarium (talk) 16:11, 13 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Question Why does Stalin does have IMDb link on here? Christopher Lamar (talk) 02:25, 15 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]