American Toby Jug Museum 

Joseph Stalin character jug designed by Caroline Dadd and modeled by Robert I. Tabbenor, and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, in a 2008 limited edition of 100 commissioned by UK International Ceramics. Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, he adopted the name Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), which means "Man of Steel," while still a young revolutionary. As ruler of the U.S.S.R. from 1929 to 1953, Joseph Stalin was in charge of Soviet policies during World War II and the early phase of the Cold War. Stalin first rose to power in 1922 as secretary general of the Communist Party. Using administrative skills and ruthless maneuvering, Stalin rid himself of all potential rivals in the party. During his “Great Purge” in the 1930s, more than 1.2 million party members, more than half, were arrested, of whom 600,000 died by torture, execution or imprisonment. Stalin also purged the military leadership, executing a large percentage of the officer corps and leaving the U.S.S.R. unprepared when German leader Adolf Hitler invaded the U.S.S.R. on June 22, 1941. The Soviet Union initially carried the burden of the fighting until the United States entered the war. Thereafter Britain, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. joined together to defeat Germany. Stalin met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943 and with Churchill and President Harry S. Truman in 1945, dividing the postwar world into "spheres of influence." In the wake of the German defeat, the U.S.S.R. occupied most of the countries in Eastern Europe and eventually ensured the installation of Stalinist regimes. In June, 1950, Stalin gave support to North Korean leader Kim Il Sung to attack South Korea. His confrontational foreign policy and his domestic terror regime had an impact on Soviet society and politics well beyond the dictator's death of natural causes at age 73. A Russian tank, pipe and minarets form the handle of the jug.