The Stalin years: The Soviet Union, 1929-53 (second edition)

by Helen Skelton

Overview

This is a penetrating and up-to-date account of one of the dramatic aspects of 20th-century history. Published fifty years after Stalin's death, and fully revised and expanded, this second edition looks at the entire period of his rule and includes chapters on ideology, politics, economic development, social change, the nationalities, culture and external relations (including the Second World War) and the Great Terror. The interpretation stresses the connection between internal and external policy and the influence of ideology on both. Mawdsley includes many primary sources, some republished here together for the first time in many years. Others are secret items from the Russian archives that have only become available in the last decade.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780719063770
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2003
Series:	New Frontiers
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

The Dictatorship of the Proletariat: Stalinism and Politics
• 'Catch Up and Overtake': Stalinism and the Economy
• Peasants, Workers, Intelligentsia: Stalinism and Society
• Socialist Realism: Stalinism and Culture
• The Unbreakable Union: Stalinism and the Nationalities
• The Two Camps: Stalinism and the Outside World
• The Terror: Stalinism and Repression

Editorial Reviews

The author (affiliation unspecified) triangulates the 24-year Stalin dictatorship from several perspectives: how his regime fit into the 74-year Communist era in Russia, the relation of Stalinism to the Bolshevik revolution and Lenin's brand of Marxism ("the revolution betrayed" per Trotsky), the historical reasons behind Stalinism, and whether Stalin's successors such as Khrushchev and Gorbachev represented discontinuity from his system as claimed. The analysis is based on 19 primary documents and more recent English-language works. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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