a pervasive personality cult socialism dissolution of the Soviet Union totalitarian mass political repression forced labour resettlements and deportations of ethnic minorities which killed millions superpower Leninist Soviet Union
Widely considered one of the 20th century's most significant figures, Stalin was the subject of  a pervasive personality cult within the international Marxist–Leninist movement, which revered him as a champion of the working class and socialism. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Stalin has retained some popularity (particularly in Russia and his native Georgia) as an economic moderniser and wartime leader who cemented the Soviet Union's status as a superpower. Nevertheless, his regime has been widely described as totalitarian and is condemned by many for overseeing mass political repression, forced labour, resettlements and deportations of ethnic minorities, hundreds of thousands of executions, and famines which killed millions.
