The Life Of Stalin Stalin (1879-1953) Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was born on December 21, 1879, in the village of Gori, Georgia. He was born to Vissarion and Yekaterina Dzhugashvili. His father Vissarion, was an unsuccessful cobbler who drank heavily and beat him savagely. When Iosif was 7, he caught smallpox, which scarred him for life, and then he came down with septicemia, which left his left arm slightly crippled for life. He lived in the 1920's a normal life, surrounded by many relatives who spoke their minds freely in the family circle, and he had good personal friends among the Soviet leadership. His life began to change, though, after the suicide of his seco