How many times was Stalin imprisoned & exiled?

Before making his way to the highest echelons of power, Joseph Stalin was a fiery revolutionary and fanatical "fighter for the happiness of the working people". For participation in strikes and protests, publishing illegal newspapers and underground activities, he was repeatedly imprisoned or exiled.

1. The first time Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin's real last name) was arrested was in 1902. The young man, who, at the time, was just over twenty years old, was held for some time in prisons in Batumi and Kutaisi, after which he was sent into exile in Siberia for three years. A month later, he escaped.

Copy of a criminal filei, created by the police of the Russian Empire in Baku following Dzhugashvili's arrest in 1910.

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2. In March 1908, the future ‘father of nations’ was arrested again and, after being kept in the prison of Baku in February 1909, was sent to live under police supervision in Solvychegodsk in the north of the country. And already in June, he fled once more.

3. In the Spring of 1910, the restless revolutionary was detained and returned to Solvychegodsk. There, he spent another nine months, until he went on the run again.

The information card on Joseph Stalin, from the files of the Tsarist secret police in St. Petersburg.

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4. From the end of 1911 to February 1912, Dzhugashvili was in exile in Vologda. Instead of the prescribed three years, he spent only three months in the city and, secretly leaving it, went to St. Petersburg.

5. The future leader did not stay long in the then capital of the empire. In April 1912, he was arrested and sent to the Siberian town of Narym. After 38 days, he, yet again, escaped.

Stalin in exile in the Turukhan region, 1915.

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6. Dzhugashvili’s exile in March 1913, who by this time had already positioned himself as Stalin, would prove to be his last. In the Siberian Turukhan region and then in the city of Achinsk, Joseph Vissarionovich served almost his entire four-year term. A few months before the end, thanks to the February Revolution of 1917, he was released.

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