Jonathan Brent

This book is not what I was expected. I thought it would be a nonfiction account of some of the excesses and terror of Stalin's reign. Instead it is a memoir (of sorts) and an examination of how this brutal past affects post-thaw Russia.

Beginning in 1992, Jonathan Brent traveled frequently to Russia to negotiate for the publishing rights to the archives on behalf of Yale University Press for a planned series of volumes on this period of Soviet history. Some of the topics the Yale press contemplated were: The Great Terror of the 1930's; Church and the Revolution; Comintern and the Repressions of the 1930's; Daily Lives of Peasants and Workers in the 1920's and 1930's; Suppression of the Arts and Artists; and other topics. Brent's account of the ongoing negotiations are interesting, starting with the question of who had the authority to grant publication rights and what specific rights could be granted. At the time the "new" Russia was chaotic, personalities were stronger than laws. We learn that the first volume Yale published (in 1995) was The Secret World of American Communism, which revealed that the Communist Party of America was in fact spying for the Soviets. However, Brent's book contains no information as to any subsequent volumes--topics, when published etc. There are no notes or bibliography in this book, one of the reasons I would describe it as a memoir.

The other focus of this book is an examination of how Soviet life has changed, and whether it has the potential to return to a new Stalinist regime. Brent's premise is that the ruling element of the Russian psyche is Strakh, or fear. Brent had extensive conversations with Alexander Yakovlev, the developer of the principles of glastnost and perestroika. Yakovlev believes that Strakh remains barely beneath the surface of Russian life, and that there has been no basis for a moral awakening in Russia. There has been no general accounting--no Nuremberg-like trials for Stalin's excesses, no public reconciliation between victims and victimizers, no restoration of property or adequate compensation to the millions whose lives were damaged or destroyed. Yakovlev's belief was that the structures for Stalinism remain in place: secrecy, conspiracy, concentration of power, violence as a legitimate exercise of political power, corruption and the absence of laws. Although these conversations took place in 2003, and this book was published in 2008, perhaps these factors contribute to what we are seeing today with the changes being made by Putin. (and by the way, Bonnie (brenzi) has an excellent review of a biography of Putin, which I hope to get to soon).

So, all in all, this book has lots of good points and made for interesting reading. It was not as complete or as documented as I would have liked. If you choose to read it, be aware that it is not a substantive examination of the Stalin era.… (más)

A visit to a very deadly Cloud-Cookoo Land. An entire nation that existed in the grip of a tyrant for whom power was the only good and holding power the only principle, no matter how dressed up in fancy socialist language.

This book draws on the recently opened government files in the former Soviet Union to show that Stalin created the Doctors' Plot out of bits and pieces of information that he cobbled together slowly over several years, only to trot out the full conspiracy when he was ready. The goal: create a rationale for a full purge of the security forces and anyone else he suspected. At the same time, the purge would let him indulge in his anti-Semitism by allowing him to complete the work of the "anti-cosmopolitan" campaign of 1948 and the prosecution and liquidation of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee from the war years.

So what stopped the purge? Stalin's timely stroke, which the authors show was probably left untreated for several hours as his associates tried to figure out what to do with their fallen leader.

All along, the authors argue that Stalin was not simply paranoid, but rather a cunning tyrant who manufactured enemies on the domestic front in order to cause a crisis. The crisis then allowed Stalin to remove anyone he desired, as the "plot" was conceived in very broad terms, broad enough to allow Stalin to drag anyone into it.

This book is not always an easy read, but it is a fascinating way to delve into the dark heart of the Soviet-Stalinist regime.… (más)

A wonderful book...When a friend told me about it, I half expected a somewhat dry political book, but since the subject was so "close to home" I was eager to read it. And I am delighted that I did. The author describes 15 years of research on Stalin and the history of his rule. J.Brent was a frequent visitor of Moscow during 1992-2007, and he has a very good insight into the life of the city during this tumultuous time in Russian history, just after the fall of communism. He intertwines his impressions of life as it is now with the glimpses into the archives and the deeds of the past. His style of writing is very engaging, his objectivity impressed me.… (más)