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

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.

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