Stalin - Not a "Russian nationalist" or an Anti-semite

One of the more enduring myths of history is that Stalin was a "Russian nationalist". John Lukacs seems to be particularly wed to this theory. The fact is that is that Stalin was a dedicated communist revolutionary. Further, he is a Georgian not a Russian. Stalin grew up in Georgia and spoke Georgian as a child. He only learned and spoke Russian in school. His only wife was a Georgian. Stalin thought nationalism petite-bourgeoisie.

Stalin gave his whole life to the revolution. After leaving school in 1899 at the age of 20, he joined a tiny, obscure extremist party - i.e the Russian Communist party. He spent the next 17 years in exile, prison, and engaging in revolutionary activity. He November 1917 he joined Lenin in a risking takeover of the Russian government and then spent the next 3 years fighting a bloody civil war to establish a Bolshevik dictatorship.

As anti-semitism, Stalin's inner group at the Politboro in 1939 consisted of the following:

Beria -head of the NKVD -Georgian
Molotov - Russian married to a high level Jewish communist official
Kaganovich - Jewish
Voroshilov - Commissar of War -Russian married to a high level Jewish communist official
Mikoian - Armenian
Andreev -Russian married to a high level Jewish communist official
Zhdanov - Russian
Litvinov - Commissar of Foreign Affairs -Polish Jew
Mekhlis - Jewish, Stalin's former aid and editor of Pravda
Poskrebyshev - Russian, Stalin aide

It should also noted that Stalin's 1st son was married to Jewish girl called Soloman and Stalin only daughter was married to a Jew. His second son was also briefly married to a Jewish girl, but divorced her.

Also, from 1927-1936 Stalin would usually go on a 2 month vacation near the Black Sea. Who did he leave in Charge? From 1927-1930 it was Molotov. From 1930-1936 it was Kaganovich. IOW, one was married to a Jew, and the other was a Jew. Some anti-semite!