Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934-1941 / Paul Colinvaux.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Colinvaux, Paul, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953.

Stalin, Joseph.

Kommunisticheskai︠a︡ partii︠a︡ Sovetskogo Soi︠u︡za--Purges.

Kommunisticheskai︠a︡ partii︠a︡ Sovetskogo Soi︠u︡za.

Political purges--Soviet Union.

Political purges.

Totalitarianism.

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1936-1953.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 296 p. )

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [1996]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Terror, in the sense of mass, unjust arrests, characterized the USSR during the late 1930s. But, argues Robert Thurston in this controversial book, Stalin did not intend to terrorize the country and did not need to rule by fear. Memoirs and interviews with Soviet people indicate that many more believed in Stalin's quest to eliminate internal enemies than were frightened by it.Drawing on recently opened Soviet archives and other sources, Thurston shows that between 1934 and 1936 police and court practice relaxed significantly. Then a series of events, together with the tense international situation and memories of real enemy activity during the savage Russian Civil War, combined to push leaders and people into a hysterical hunt for perceived "wreckers." After late 1938, however, the police and courts became dramatically milder.Coercion was not the key factor keeping the regime in power. More important was voluntary support, fostered at least in the cities by broad opportunities to criticize conditions and participate in decision making on the local level. The German invasion of 1941 found the populace deeply divided in its judgment of Stalinism, but the country's soldiers generally fought hard in its defense. Using German and Russian sources, the author probes Soviet morale and performance in the early fighting.Thurston's portrait of the era sheds new light on Stalin and the nature of his regime. It presents an unconventional and less condescending view of the Soviet people, depicted not simply as victims but also as actors in the violence, criticisms, and local decisions of the 1930s. Ironically, Stalinism helped prepare the way for the much more active society and for the reforms of fifty years later.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Maps and Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Police and Courts Begin to Relax, 1933-1936

2. Politics and Tension in the Stalinist Leadership, 1934-1937

3. The Political Police at Work in the Terror, 1937-1938

4. The Terror Ends

5. Fear and Belief in the Terror: Response te Arrest

6. Life in the Factories

7. The Acid lost of Stalinism: Popular Response to World War II

Conclusion

Abbreviations

Notes

Glossary of Names and Key Terms

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300143652

0300143656

9780585024479

0585024472

OCLC:

861792688