Was Stalin a Necessary Evil? Assess

Joseph Stalin is undoubtedly one of the most notorious characters in history. He has been called: The greatest criminal in history and a 20th century Ivan the Terrible. He ruled as a supreme dictator and was responsible for the deaths of millions during collectivization, through slave labour camps and through grave mistakes during WW2. He isolated the Soviet Union from most of the world, keeping his people inside and keeping foreigners out. He created an entire society based purely on terror, one that no citizen could escape and finally, he created a new privileged class in Russia that exploited the rest of the population. However, all this evil did have a purpose. Stalin turned Russia from a backward mainly agricultural country to an industrial superpower. He created the worlds first and largest collectivized farming system. He also created the world's first state socialist system and probably the main thing: he successfully defended Russia from all foreign invaders. Russia was extremely vulnerable and needed somebody like Stalin to modernize her otherwise she would be crushed.…