Stalin was born Ioseb Jughashvili in Gori[3], on 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878.

[4][a] He was the

son of Besarion "Beso" Jughashvili and Ekaterina "Keke" Geladze,[6] who had married in May
1872,[7] and had lost two sons in infancy prior to Stalin's birth.[8] They were ethnically Georgian and
Stalin grew up speaking the Georgian language.[9] Gori was then part of the Russian Empire, and
was home to a population of 20,000, the majority of whom were Georgian but with Armenian,
Russian, and Jewish minorities.[10] Stalin was baptisedon 17 December.[11] He earned the childhood
nickname of "Soso", a diminutive of Iosif (Joseph).[12] Beso was a cobbler[13] and in the early years of
their marriage, the couple prospered.[14] He did not adapt to changing footwear fashions and his
business began to fail.[15] The family soon found themselves living in poverty,[16] moving through nine
different rented rooms in ten years.[17] Given this situation, the historian Robert Conquest later
suggested that Stalin's class background was "uncertain and indeterminate".[18]

Stalin in 1894, at the age of 15

Beso was also an alcoholic,[19] and drunkenly beat his wife and son.[20] To escape the abusive
relationship, Keke took Stalin and moved into the house of a family friend, Father Christopher
Charkviani.[21] She worked as a house cleaner and launderer for several local families who were
sympathetic to her plight.[22] Keke was determined to send her son to school, something that none of
the family had previously achieved.[23] In late 1888, aged 10 he enrolled at the Gori Church
School.[24] This was normally reserved for the children of clergy, although Charkviani ensured that
Stalin received a place.[25] Stalin excelled academically,[26] displaying talent in painting and drama
classes,[27] writing his own poetry,[28] and singing as a choirboy.[29] He got into many fights,[30] and a
childhood friend later noted that Stalin "was the best but also the naughtiest pupil" in the
class.[31] Stalin faced several severe health problems; in 1884, he contracted smallpox and was left
with facial pock scars.[32] Aged 12, he was seriously injured after being hit by a phaeton, resulting in a
lifelong disability to his left arm.[33]
At his teachers' recommendation, Stalin proceeded to the Spiritual Seminary in Tiflis.[34] He enrolled
at the school in August 1894,[35] enabled by a scholarship that allowed him to study at a reduced
rate.[36] Here he joined 600 trainee priests who boarded at the seminary.[37] Stalin was again
academically successful and gained high grades.[38] He continued writing poetry; five of his poems
were published under the pseudonym of "Soselo" in Ilia Chavchavadze's
newspaper Iveria ('Georgia').[39] Thematically, they dealt with topics like nature, land, and
patriotism.[40] According to Stalin's biographer Simon Sebag Montefiore, they became "minor
Georgian classics",[41] and were included in various anthologies of Georgian poetry over the coming
years.[41] As he grew older, Stalin lost interest in his studies; his grades dropped,[42] and he was
repeatedly confined to a cell for his rebellious behaviour.[43] Teachers complained that he declared
himself an atheist, chatted in class and refused to doff his hat to monks.[44]
Stalin joined a forbidden book club active at the school;[45] he was particularly influenced by Nikolay
Chernyshevsky's 1863 pro-revolutionary novel What Is To Be Done?.[46] Another influential text
was Alexander Kazbegi's The Patricide, with Stalin adopting the nickname "Koba" from that of the
book's bandit protagonist.[47] He also read Capital, the 1867 book by German sociological
theorist Karl Marx.[48] Stalin devoted himself to Marx's socio-political theory, Marxism,[49] which was
then on the rise in Georgia, one of various forms of socialism opposed to the empire's
governing Tsarist authorities.[50] At night, he attended secret workers' meetings,[51] and was
introduced to Silibistro "Silva" Jibladze, the Marxist founder of Mesame Dasi ('Third Group'), a
Georgian socialist group.[52] In April 1899, Stalin left the seminary and never returned,[53] although the
school encouraged him to come back.[54]