1-153-846 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

News of Stalin's death, 7th March, 1953. Article in L'Humanite, entitled After the Death of Comrade Stalin,' published on 7th March, 1953. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) was secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941-1953). For a quarter of a century he dictatorially ruled the Soviet Union and transformed it into a major world power.