Stalin: Revolutionary in an Era of War (European History in Perspective) - Hardcover

McDermott, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333711211 ISBN 13: 9780333711217

Publisher: Red Globe Press, 2006

Synopsis

Stalin's massive impact on Soviet history is often explained in terms of his inherent evil, personality defects and power lust. While not rejecting these notions, Kevin McDermott argues that Stalin's thoughts and actions are best contextualised in the inter-relationship between war and revolution in the first half of the twentieth century. The author presents the case for taking the Soviet dictator seriously as a Marxist revolutionary whose fundamental beliefs and modus operandi were forged in the cauldron of civil and international wars, ideologically driven class wars and revolutionary upheavals associated with the 'age of catastrophe', 1914-45. Only by so doing can the complex motivations for such cataclysmic events as the Great Terror be adequately addressed.

Incorporating recently declassified materials from the former Soviet Party archives, this new appraisal of Stalin also provides a critical review of the latest western and Russian historiography. It is essential reading for anyone studying the debates on one of the leading figures of Soviet history.

About this title

About the Author:

KEVIN MCDERMOTT is Senior Lecturer in Political History at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is the author of The Czech Red Unions, 1918-1929, co-author of The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin and co-editor of Stalin's Terror: High Politics and Mass Repression in the Soviet Union.

Review:

“McDermott offers us a well-written and judicious consideration of the most prominent historical debates about the personality of Stalin, his contributions to the demise of NEP and the evolution of the Five-Year Plans, his role in the elaboration of Terror, his statesmanship during World War II, and the development of Soviet foreign policies during the Cold War.” -Choi Chatterjee, California State University, Los Angeles

About this edition

• Publisher: Red Globe Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0333711211
• ISBN 13: 9780333711217
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240