"It is thus important to a) fundamentally purge the Finance and
Gosbank bureaucracy, despite the wails of dubious Communists like
Briukhanov-Piatakov; b) definitely shoot two or three dozen
wreckers from these apparaty, including several dozen common
cashiers."-- J. Stalin, no earlier than 6 August 1930
"Today I read the section on international affairs. It came out
well. The confident, contemptuous tone with respect to the great
powers, the belief in our own strength, the delicate but plain
spitting in the pot of the swaggering great powers--very good. Let
them eat it."--J. Stalin, January 1933
Between 1925 and 1936, a dramatic period of transformation within
the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin wrote frequently to his trusted
friend and political colleague Viacheslav Molotov, Politburo
member, chairman of the USSR Council of Commissars, and minister of
foreign affairs. In these letters, Stalin mused on political
events, argued with fellow Politburo members, and issued orders.
The more than 85 letters collected in this volume constitute a
unique historical record of Stalin's thinking--both personal and
political--and throw valuable light on the way he controlled the
government, plotted the overthrow of his enemies, and imagined the
future. This formerly top secret correspondence, once housed in
Soviet archives, is now published for the first time.
The letters reveal Stalin in many different and dramatic
situations: fighting against party rivals like Trotsky and
Bukharin, trying to maneuver in the rapids of the Chinese
revolution, negotiating with the West, insisting on the completion
of all-out collectivization, and ordering the execution of
scapegoats for economic failures. And they provide important and
fascinating information about the Soviet Union's party-state
leadership, about party politics, and about Stalin himself--as an
administrator, as a Bolshevik, and as an individual.
The book includes much supplementary material that places the
letters in context. Russian editor Oleg V. Naumov and his
associates have annotated the letters, introduced each
chronological section, and added other archival documents that help
explain the correspondence. American editor Lars T. Lih has
provided a lengthy introduction identifying what is new in the
letters and using them to draw a portrait of Stalin as leader. Lih
points out how the letters help us grasp Stalin's unique blend of
cynicism and belief, manipulation and sincerity--a combination of
qualities with catastrophic consequences for Soviet Russia and the
world.
General
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