Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928

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With a Detailed bookmarks A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world It has the quality of myth: a poor cobbler’s son, a seminarian from an oppressed outer province of the Russian empire, reinvents himself as a top leader in a band of revolutionary zealots. When the band seizes control of the country in the aftermath of total world war, the former seminarian ruthlessly dominates the new regime until he stands as absolute ruler of a vast and terrible state apparatus, with dominion over Eurasia. While still building his power base within the Bolshevik dictatorship, he embarks upon the greatest gamble of his political life and the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted: the collectivization of all agriculture and industry across one sixth of the earth. Millions will die, and many more millions will suffer, but the man will push through to the end against all resistance and doubts. Where did such power come from?  In Stalin, Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. The character of Stalin emerges as both astute and blinkered, cynical and true believing, people oriented and vicious, canny enough to see through people but prone to nonsensical beliefs. We see a man inclined to despotism who could be utterly charming, a pragmatic ideologue, a leader who obsessed over slights yet was a precocious geostrategic thinker—unique among Bolsheviks—and yet who made egregious strategic blunders. Through it all, we see Stalin’s unflinching persistence, his sheer force of will—perhaps the ultimate key to understanding his indelible mark on history. Stalin gives an intimate view of the Bolshevik regime’s inner geography of power, bringing to the fore fresh materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police. Kotkin rejects the inherited wisdom about Stalin’s psychological makeup, showing us instead how Stalin’s near paranoia was fundamentally political, and closely tracks the Bolshevik revolution’s structural paranoia, the predicament of a Communist regime in an overwhelmingly capitalist world, surrounded and penetrated by enemies. At the same time, Kotkin demonstrates the impossibility of understanding Stalin’s momentous decisions outside of the context of the tragic history of imperial Russia. The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement, a work that recasts the way we think about the Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself. Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 will be published by Penguin Press in October 2017 Cover Also by Stephen Kotkin Title Copyright Dedication Epigraph Contents Preface Maps PART I: EQUAL TO THE MYTH CHAPTER 1: TRIUMPH OF THE WILL THE VICTIM NO PITY GEOPOLITICAL DILEMMA POPULISM “SOCIAL FASCISTS” ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY, ARRESTS TIGHT LEASH THE GENERAL SECRETARY’S WIFE—A RIGHTIST TREMORS A GREAT BREAK SHOW OF FORCE EVERYWHERE, VICTORY CLOSE TO THE MASSES(METAPHYSICALLY) LIQUIDATION OF THE KULAKS AS A CLASS BUILDERS OF THE NEW WORLD WRATHFUL SPRING PROPAGANDA AND HUNGER LUCK BEYOND BELIEF LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE AN ANTICAPITALIST SYSTEM IN EMBRYO CONSPIRACY OF LOGIC RUN THE GOVERNMENT? FICTION SELLING OUT TO THE CAPITALISTS MYSTERY MAN STOUT INNER CIRCLE CHAPTER 2: APOCALYPSE BULLY’S MIND-SET DROUGHT AND REGIME SABOTAGE “SPRINGTIME” UPHEAVAL HOLIDAY MAILBAG MANCHURIAN SURPRISE GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE THE STRUGGLE AGAINST KULAK SABOTAGE QUEST FOR NONAGGRESSION CONCEALED MILITARIZATION OMINOUS SIGNS PRESSURE FOR RETREAT GRUDGING CONCESSIONS, PRIVATE APOLOGY PANIC AROUND HIM SUMMER DOOM "GRAVEDIGGER OF THE REVOLUTION AND OF RUSSIA" THE FOUR HORSEMEN A PERSONAL BLOW ENEMY WITH A PARTY CARD SHARPENING THE CLASS STRUGGLE GEOPOLITICAL CATASTROPHE RADICAL REALIGNMENTS EDUCATION OF A TRUE BELIEVER CONSEQUENCES STALIN'S FAMINE CHAPTER 3: VICTORY PHARAOH GOLDEN FLEECE "I AM KOBA, YOU ARE LAKOBA" "A GOOD ORGANIZER" NEAR-FATAL LAUNCH GERMAN GAMBIT AMERICAN GAMBIT LAMAS AND WOLVES WHITES AND REDS HUMAN SOULS WHO WOULD WRITE THE BIOGRAPHY? “CONGRESS OF VICTORS” RUDELY INTERRUPTED KIROV AND OTHERS ACCLAIM THE LEADER MERE SECRETARY PRIVATE LIFE COMMON ENEMIES POET TO POET A NEW AUTHORITY BUNGLING LONG KNIVES STRENGTHENING SOCIALIST LEGALITY ARTISTS AND THE STATE WRITING HISTORY EXTRAVAGANZA FAIRY TALE CHAPTER 4: TERRORISM KIROV AND CHAPAYEV UNDER THE GUN MONGOLS AND KIROV A TERRORIST HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY CAVALCADE FAREWELL THE INVESTIGATION FIRST TRIAL REWRITING THE CAUCASUS LAUGHTER THE SECOND TRIAL NAZISM'S WINDFALL LITTLE BLACKBERRY SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT “FORMERS” FOREIGN MODELS TAKE CARE JOYRIDE CHAPTER 5: A GREAT POWER THE HITLER PROBLEM STRANGE PEOPLE LEVERAGE STAGING GROUNDS “CADRES DECIDE EVERYTHING” REVEALED PREFERENCES CONNECTING THE DOTS WISHFUL THINKING FRENCH CONNECTIONS PROFLIGACY ANTIFASCIST FRONT HOLIDAY COMMANDS FALL MANEUVERS STRATIFICATION FOREIGN POLICY REVEALED KEKE LIFE BECOMES MORE JOYOUS DIPLOMATIC DELUSIONS SMASHED PIPE “INTERESTING” “FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLES” MUDDLE AMERICAN MIRROR HITLER, AGAIN CHARISMATIC POWER BLINDERS CULTURAL TRIUMPHS, TROTSKYITES PART II: TERROR AS STATECRAFT CHAPTER 6: ON A BLUFF COLONIAL EXPERIENCE GREAT POWER MACHINATIONS FABRICATING A “UNITED” CENTER TRYING TO STEM REVOLUTION THE TROTSKY CHALLENGE DICTATOR'S DILEMMA IMPROVISING A COURSE FARCE SHOWCASE TRIAL FORCING MASS HYSTERIA “GREETINGS” SUDDEN DECISION DIFFERENT SHOWS OPERATION X NKVD COUP ARMING SPAIN, EYEING NAZI GERMANY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SERGO NO PASARÁN! SOCIALIST “DEMOCRACY” INSERT 1: Photographs EVERYTHING UNRAVELS ENIGMATIC PLENUM KIDNAP CHINA IN THE BALANCE “KAUTSKY” WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN “POPPYCOCK” NOISY NEW TRIAL CHAPTER 7: ENEMIES HUNTING ENEMIES BEDFELLOWS AND STRANGERS WAR OF ATTRITION EXTIRPATION “TRULY A HISTORIC PLENUM!” SELF-SLAUGHTERHOUSE、 DEFT MANEUVERS POPULAR FRONT ON THE RIGHT, CIVIL WAR ON THE LEFT ELUSIVE GERMANY A DESPOT'S REALM HINTS MAY DAYS ASSASSINATIONS STALIN'S TUKHACHEVSKY PLOT TERRORIZING THE NKVD WEST ON THE WANE STALIN'S ATTEMEPT AT EXPLANATION DIGESTING THE UNDIGESTIBLE IN CAMERA BREAKING KLIM FIFTH COLUMN STORY LINE CHAPTER 8: “WHAT WENT ON IN NO. 1’S BRAIN?” A TEACHER AND A PUPIL COMMUNISM'S EASE OF MASS MURDER STALIN AND THE STATE WE ARE THE ENEMY NESTS OF SPIES “ANTI-SOVIET ELEMENTS” ANNIHILATING MILITARY INTELLIGENCE FAR EASTERN “IMPERIALIST WAR” THE OTHER FRONT FRONTLINE DEFENSE LEADERS COME AND GO PETER AND SOVIET PATRIOTISM LOOSE-TONGUED SELF-PORTRAIT POSTSCRIPT STICKING WITH CHIANG CELEBRATION AMID DEATH RED ARMY VERSUS WEHRMACHT INDISTINGUISHABLE ENEMIES THIRD (AND FINAL) PUBLIC TRIAL FAILURES OF CONTEMPORARY KREMLINOLOGY THE LOGIC OF A WARPED MIND "SPIES" SYNOPSIS NONCAUSES A THEORY AND PRACTICE OF RULE CHAPTER 9: MISSING PIECE "TURN THE ENEMIES OF SOCIALISM TO ASHES!" A NIGHT AT THE OPERA POWERS OF EXTRADITION A DESPOT'S PREFERENCES A MINI SUPREME LEADER SUPPLICANT CARNAGE AND TRIUMPH THE RECKONING A FAVORITE FOR UKRAINE NKVD DEGRADATION A MAN ALONE STALIN MANUFACTURES A TOP FOREIGN AGENT WINDFALL FOR JAPANESE INTELLIGENCE "THE INEVITABLE WAR" (NEARLY) FIRST DEPUTY NKVD USSR DILEMMAS BERIA MEETS BLYUKHER PART III: THREE-CARD MONTE CHAPTER 10: HAMMER PERSONALITIES, REGIMES BERIA'S TAKEOVER BUCK-PASSING MUSIC AND TORTURE COMPLICATING FACTORS PURSUING REWARDS ABSENT FATHER 18TH PARTY CONGRESS THE TERROR'S PROMOTIONS NEW INNER CIRCLE SOCIALIST REALISM HITLER INTRUDES FIXATION A "GUARANTEE" FOR POLAND A BELATED DEMISE TRIPLE ALLIANCE PROPOSAL SEIZING FOREIGN AFFAIRS A ROUTED, TRANSFORMED COMMISSARIAT A POLISH HINGE? VISIONS OF A DEAL NEGOTIATIONS, OF A SORT ULTIMATUM STALEMATE CHAPTER 11: PACT FAR EASTERN SKIRMISH GERMAN CUL-DE-SAC NO ANSWERS WAR SUMMER OF INDETERMINACY BALTIC FLIP PLAYED FOR A FOOL THE HITLER CARD WINDFALL CRUSHING MILITARY DISPLAY SHOCK WAVES STRATEGIC CHOICES MORE SURPRISES THE DISTRUST WHO WANTS WAR? STALIN'S SUDETENLAND POLITICAL ECONOMY FRIENDSHIP AND THE BORDER KINDRED INTERESTS CHAPTER 12: SMASHED PIG DIPLOMACY, OF A SORT NO APPARENT WIGGLE ROOM "MINIMAL" DEMANDS IMPASSE PERSISTENCE CREDIBILITY GAP WISHFUL THINKING PEOPLE'S FINLAND MILITARY DILETTANTE MISCALCULATION EXPOSED BIRTHDAY BASH COURSE CORRECTION PROTÉGÉS SUSPICIONS MASSACRES REVELATION FATHERLINESS A RECKONING LEARNING RED ARMY RESURRECTION CHAPTER 13: GREED NEW REALITIES A NEW UNION CLASH TOYING WITH THE BRITISH INCOHERENCE A DESPOT MEETS HIS LIMITS STUMPED, WRATHFUL, RESTLESS MISPLACED JOY ENEMIES RECAST AMBIGUITIES TRIPARTITE RELIEF HITLER'S LATIN FRUSTRATIONS AND BALKAN AMBITIONS MESSAGE FROM BERLIN SOVIET-BRITISH FEELERS INSERT 2: Photographs SPIES AND FOOLS MOLOTOV-HITLER THE NONPIVOT BULGARIAN GAMBIT READING HITLER'S INTENTIONS SUPREME CUNNING? CHAPTER 14: FEAR IDÉES FIXES SEEKING CLARIFICATION WAR GAMES ANXIETIES HITLER’S GRAND STRATEGY JUDO WARNINGS INTENSIFY RESPONDING TO THE GERMAN BUILDUP INHIBITIONS BALKAN TREACHERY CHURCHILL TO STALIN COUP DE MAIN MASTER OF CEREMONIES AMERICA’S WARNINGS ATTEMPTED DETERRENCE CACOPHONY NO ARMY IS INVINCIBLE EXCHANGE OF LETTERS? SENSATIONAL MISSION PREEMPTION DENIED DISINFORMATION, CONFIRMED STREAM OF VISITORS PRESSURE DESPERATION DOOM CLOSES IN CODA: LITTLE CORNER, SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1941 SOVIET ADMINSTRATIVE STRUCTURE NOTES PART I. EQUAL TO THE MYTH CHAPTER 1. TRIUMPH OF THE WILL CHAPTER 2. APOCALYPSE CHAPTER 3. VICTORY CHAPTER 4. TERRORISM CHAPTER 5. A GREAT POWER PART II. TERROR AS STATECRAFT CHAPTER 6. ON A BLUFF CHAPTER 7. ENEMIES HUNTING ENEMIES CHAPTER 8. “WHAT WENT ON IN NO. 1’S BRAIN?” CHAPTER 9. MISSING PIECE PART III. THREE-CARD MONTE CHAPTER 10. HAMMER CHAPTER 11. PACT CHAPTER 12. SMASHED PIG CHAPTER 13. GREED CHAPTER 14. FEAR CODA. LITTLE CORNER, SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1941 BIBLIOGRAPHY CREDITS INDEX Back Cover