Stalin: a Biography by Robert Service
London: Pan, 2005 (first published 2004) ISBN 9780330419130
For various reasons, I feel like I've been reading this book forever. Which is probably how people who lived under Stalin's rule felt for much of the time: a long-running nightmare without an end.
Robert Service has in this book given us a sweeping overview of the life and politics of one of the most influential and bloody leaders of the Twentieth Century, shooting down some myths while confirming others. It is a monumental book that covers so many great events, over an era where developments in politics and science were huge - at Stalin's birth the car and 'plane had yet to be invented, and much of Eastern Europe lived under the rule of one or other emperor. By the time of his death world influence was shared between the USSR and the USA, there were no empires left, and jet 'planes could fly halfway around the world to deliver nuclear weapons.
The most interesting part of the book for me was the description of Stalin's early years. Growing up in Georgia with a brutal father had a huge effect on the character of Stalin. He inherited the cultural tradition to hold a grudge, and to see conspiracy in everything - his reaction was in most cases to destroy those who (in reality or only in his mind) were against him. These tendencies were reinforced during his early activities as a revolutionary. While some of these characteristics were kept in check during his earlier years in Communism, as his power grew so did his paranoia, and his ability to act on it.
Service shows us that the myth that Stalin was not a major player in the Revolution or the years immediately following is incorrect. Stalin was a doer that did a lot, and was actually indispensable to Lenin as he tried to implement Bolshevik power. He was a forceful organizer, but uncaring of the casualties that he left in the wake of his activities. While the Civil War years were brutal, once Stalin took over the reigns of leadership the brutality increased. Stalin's paranoia led him to try to wipe out people, classes and nationalities that he perceived to be against his plan to bring about communism in one country.
While the Soviet Union was a country of bureaucracy, Stalin was the undisputed ruler, and whatever he thought was law. He would let his underlings debate policy, to draw out their thoughts, and then pronounce his view: this led quite often to policy paralysis, as people were afraid to state opinions when the consequences of being on the wrong side of the argument was the Gulag or a bullet in the back of the neck. The result of this sort of rule were never more evident than at the time of his death, when his underlings were too scared to check on him when he didn't appear for his usual morning cup of tea.
Stalin's cruelty and ruthlessness was appalling - he ruled more like a medieval Russian Czar than a modern socialist. As he aged, he became less and less in contact with the real world, and only understood what was happening through his bureaucrats and their reports. Knowing the consequences of displeasing the great leader, Stalin only got to hear good news. The one major exception to this was the Russian general Zhukov, who on more than one occasion clashed with Stalin. Zhukov survived, but after the War he was very much pushed into the background.
It was the War that was the making of the USSR: their victory legitimized Stalin and his government, and made the country a huge industrial power, but ossified the structure of rule as Stalin aged and became if possible even more paranoid, led to Eastern Europe becoming vassals of the USSR, and the final purges and pogroms before Stalin's death.
Service has written a good workmanlike biography. If you don't know much Russian history you are well serviced (forgive the pun), and he has covered Stalin the man, Stalin the politician, Stalin the tyrant, and Stalin the legend. Well worth reading.
Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell
No comments:
Post a Comment