Enemies within the Gates?: The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934-1939

William J. Chase

ISBN 10: 0300082428 / ISBN 13: 9780300082425

Published by YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2001

About this Item

Seller Inventory # E-9780300082425-4-2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Enemies within the Gates?: The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934-1939
• Publisher: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300082428
• ISBN 13: 9780300082425
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very good

About this title

Synopsis

This compelling work of documentary history tells a story of idealism betrayed a story of how the Comintern (Communist International) an organization established by Lenin in 1919 to direct and assist revolutionary movements throughout the world participated in and was ultimately destroyed by the Stalinist repression in the late 1930s. Presenting and drawing on recently declassified archival documents William J. Chase analyzes the Comintern's roles as agent instrument and victim of terror.

In both principle and practice the Comintern was an international organization with a staff that consisted primarily of Communist émigrés who had fled dictatorial regimes in Europe and Asia. It was however headquartered in Moscow and controlled by Soviet leaders. This book examines the rise of suspicions and xenophobia among Soviet and Comintern leaders and cadres for whom many foreigners were no longer the heroes of the class struggle but rather possible enemy agents. Some Comintern members internalized and acted on Stalin's theories about the infiltration of foreign spies into Soviet society supplying the Soviet police with information that led to the exile or execution of imigris. Thousands of other imigris also became victims of the purges. Together the text and documents of this book convey graphically the essential roles played by the Comintern providing a unique perspective on the era of Stalinist repression and terror.

About the Author

William J. Chase is professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.