Was Stalin a professional criminal

While Joseph Stalin was not a professional criminal in the traditional sense, he engaged in numerous criminal activities throughout his political career, including theft, extortion, and acts of violence. His early involvement in revolutionary activities included bank robberies to fund the Bolshevik cause. As leader of the Soviet Union, he orchestrated widespread purges, repression, and state-sponsored terror, which resulted in millions of deaths. Thus, while he held a political office, many of his actions reflected criminal behavior on a massive scale.