Joseph Stalin was a politician.
De-Stalinization ( Russian : десталинизация , Destalinizatsiya ) consisted of a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953 , and the ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power . The Great Purge or the Great Terror was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union which occurred from 1936 to 1938 . Joseph Stalin . Between 1934 and 1939 , Stalin organised the `` Great Purge '' , in which millions of so-called `` enemies of the working class '' , including senior political and military figures , were interned in Gulag-run prisons , exiled or executed , often without due process . Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented by Joseph Stalin .