How Stalin managed to outmaneuver so many After reading an interesting, and rather unique, book about Stalin, I just posted a very short review of it, at the Amazons website. Here it is, for those who might be interested: I agree with those who wrote that Montefiore's voluminous "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar" is not always easy reading. But it is certainly worthwhile for the light it sheds on relations between Stalin and his close subordinates, those whom he liquidated and those who survived him. Stalin's methods of domination--both brutal and ideological--are skillfully described. The same applies to personal relations between communist leaders. The Soviet Union was the first country in which the idea of proletarian dictatorship, formulated by Marx, was implemented. That is why all aspects of Soviet history are worth studying. Be aware that the number of characters is unusually large. Fortunately, Stalin's family tree and the introductory section entitled "List of Characters" should help readers to deal with this problem. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .
A group of students were massed under a huge poster of Stalin and a friend of mine asked them how they could honor a great murderer. "Oh, no, Uncle Joe was a wonderful man, saved the world, and never hurt anyone. All the stories are capitalist propoganda."
http://www.google.se/search?q=gulag...&biw=1016&bih=593&sei= 53K1TsrQENHc4QSgtJHmAw too much even for capitalist propaganda
I've read Khrushchev book "Khrushchev Remembers" and it's a portrait of Stalin is a man who was almost unbelievably paranoid and obtuse. I believe at one point, he decreed that a certain section of the Soviet Union grow summer wheat, the problem was, that the climate was not conducive to wheat in the summer but only for winter wheat. His refusal to change the decree meant that peasants faced either the prospect of starvation or the firing squad...Of course millions died as a result of things like this. Bro
I also recommend "Stalin a biography" by Robert Service. Stalin was an exceptional individual, in many ways. Ludwik Kowalski
Dear Uncle Joe is a favourite of the dwarf gangster Vlad the Bad Putin . Tells you all you need to know about aforesaid psycho and perhaps tells you why he could not get his troops to Gori fast enough when his bovver boys invaded Georgia three years ago . Putin's real mother is there in Georgia even though his official Ma "died" of cancer in St Petersburg just before the 2000 Presidential election . As did his Dad at almost the same time from the same disease . Unfortunately the bodies were cremated most conveniently .What a surprise .
Pretty good book. I just finished plowing thru it a few months ago. Especially interesting about Stalin and Beria.
Beria's actions after Stalin's stroke were more than bizarre. In fact, he acted almost as if he'd had something to do with Stalin's death. Svetlana later said that Beria seemed almost to gloat about the idea that Stalin was gone. It's true (according to the book) that Beria's days under Stalin were numbered. How convenient that Stalin passed away just when he did.
Often, I used to argue with a total communist in another forum He would say that Stalin was Machiavellian in his ability to gain power. I don't think he was that smart, at least not in that way. But he was brutal and through, he made Hitler look like a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*). And that my friends is the perfect recipe for a "successful" dictatorship, fear is a great motivator. This in my opinion does not make him less interesting because there are many true Machiavellian rulers out there but few so successful as Stalin, I believe him unique in 20th century with the possible exception of Pol Pot.
My impression, after reading Robert Service's book, is that Stalin was exceptionally smart. Ludwik Kowalski
its a myth, Beria was a smart as¤, quite tough but not a that bold... . Stalin has totally dominated them all
