This document provides suggestions for reading and viewing materials related to Stalin's USSR, including general online resources, books, and videos. It lists Wikipedia, Google/Bing, Marxists.org, and several other websites as general online sources of information. It recommends the books Young Stalin and Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore, as well as biographies by Robert Service and Isaac Deutscher. Several documentary and instructional videos are also listed, covering topics like the Great Terror and Stalin's role as a leader. Sessions are outlined on origins, the Russian Revolution, the nationalities question, socialism/Great Terror, World War II, the Cold War, and victory.

1. СССР СТАЛИНА
STALIN’S SSSR
Suggestions for Reading
and Viewing
General:
Internet
Wikipedia-like any source, it must be read critically. Some people note that Wiki has been
“hacked” and articles edited unscrupulously. They conclude it’s not as trustworthy as traditional
encyclopedias. Perhaps, but it makes a terrific place to start. That’s why Google lists it first in
most cases. (note-you don’t have to type the whole url for this and others, below. Your browser
knows what to do. I will give the whole url where needed)
Google and Bing-search engines, both give rich results
Marxists.org-obviously, a source with an “attitude. It has tons of documents, pictures, bios &
articles
http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Nat/Rus/Rus00.htm -this url takes you to a Univ of Texas site
titled “Russia, 1904-1917” it is a reliable and rich source for this pivotal period
http://www.encspb.ru/en/index.php - the “Encyclopedia of Skt. Petersburg” another dandy
site
http://www.kreml.ru/main_en.asp -The Moscow Kremlin, enjoy!
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/index.html -”The Alexander Palace Time Machine”
obviously, a work of loving nostalgia for the last tsar and his family
http://memory.loc.gov/pp/prokhtml/prokback.html#formats -the entry point for the Smithso-
nian’s collection of the Prokudin-Gorskii color photographs of late tsarist Russia
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/index.asp -this modern virtual tour of Skt-Peterburg
is a nice overview of the “revolutionary capital” temporarily named after V.I. Lenin.
http://www.slideshare.net/jbpowers is where you will find the classes on the internet. I will
post them after I show them to you.
Books
Robert Service, Stalin; A Biography. Cambridge : Harvard Univ Press, 2005 (1) [# indi-
cates copy/s at the HamCo Public Library--az = Amazon.com $, abe = abe books.com
price] az = $15.30 new, 16 used from $11.96; abe = $ 8.89 (the cheapest, used, hard-
back-former library book, 87 others available)
I recommend Service as a “textbook” for the eight classes. Born in 1947, an Oxford don and au-
thor of a 3 volume bio of Lenin. His is the latest scholarly bio of our subject.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin. NYC : Knopf, 2007 (2) and SS Montefiore, Stal-
in: the Court of the Red Tsar. Random House, 2003 (9) again, available at az & abe
These two together cover our period as well. Montefiore (born in 1965) and another British Sovi-
et historian, is a very readable biographer. He has done tremendous research but writes in a

2. “racy” style. When I first read his opening to Young Stalin, I thought I was reading Ian Fleming!
To give you an idea of its “sizzle,” Miramax has bought the film rights!
Isaac Deutscher, Stalin; A Political Biography. Oxford University Press, 1949, rev. ed.
1967.
A Polish Jew, born in Galicia in 1907, a subject of Franz Josef! He grew up as a Polish citizen,
graduated the Jagellonian University in Kracow, became a Trotskyite Marxist, left in 1939 and
became a British journalist, author, and Soviet expert. Politics denied him a university position.
He is sympathetic to Marxism and fair to Stalin, even though he obviously condemns him. This
was my first Stalin bio as a grad student at UC in the ‘60s. It lacks the “dirt” on Stalin which has
come out since he wrote. But he gives extensive background and analysis, based upon long quo-
tations from documents.
Robt Gellatley, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler; The Age of Social Catastrophe Knopf (2007)
Because of his scope Gellatley can’t go into the detail of the other Stalin studies. So it makes a
dandy “Cliff’s Notes” for the issues. You can skip over the Hitler sections (or, better, read them
as a review of that class ;-) and just read the Stalin sections, which are clearly set off. If you
don’t want to “get down in the weeds,” this might be your preferred path. He writes well and his
work stands up well to the others. Pipes recommends him.
Theo von Laue. Why Lenin? Why Stalin?; A Reappraisal of the Russian Revolution,
1900-1930 (1960) (1); abe used from $1 (194!)
This was another of my grad school assigned readings. I still think it’s pretty good and worth the
read.
for extra credit
Joseph Stalin, Foundations of Leninism, 1924 various formats
Originally a series of lectures at the party’s Sverdlov University two months after Lenin’s death.
Then reprinted in Pravda and issued as a book for mandatory reading by the faithful (cf Mein
Kampf or Mao’s Little Red Book) It’s available in hardcover, paperback, new or used. For the
tightwads (like me) you can read it on line or downloaded for free at: http://www.marx.be/ENG/
mu_site_index/Courses/FL.pdf
Video
Joseph Stalin: Red Terror (2004) NR (N) [means available from Netflix]
Joseph Stalin ranks as one of the greatest tyrants of all time, responsible for the deaths of 20 mil-
lion of his own countrymen. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the extent of Stalin's atroci-
ties has been revealed, and he has taken his place alongside Hitler as one of the most reviled
leaders of the century. This comprehensive portrait revisits the life of "Uncle Joe" via Soviet
archival film and an astonishing collection of interviews. [description from Netflix site]
session i origins
Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin. NYC : Knopf, 2007 (2)

3. Much more day-by-day coverage based on the latest material uncovered since the great thaw of
1989. It is illuminating to see how the appraisal of Stalin changes with this additional info. That’s
why when I was a grad student we learned that anything in the last fifty years isn’t history, it’s
“current events.”
session ii Great Stalin’s Great October
Isaac Deutscher, Trotsky, The Prophet Armed, 1878-1921. Oxford University Press,
1954 (2) The Trotskyite Deutscher became widely recognized as a scholar of Communist history
for this three volume biography of his fallen hero. This volume begins the story of Stalin’s most
famous rival. It is a great review of what you’ve studied from Trotsky’s point of view. It finishes
with him at the height of his power and glory but with the seeds of his downfall already sown.
Deutscher is an easy read, almost a page-turner.
Leon Trotsky, History of the Russian Revolution. Simon and Schuster, 1932. (various
combinations of the 3 volumes) Here Stalin’s rival tells his version of the story. You will find
the details somewhat overwhelming as he “gets into the weeds.” But I was pleased that almost all
of the principal players he refers to were covered in last Fall’s class on the Revolution. I certainly
found it easier reading this 2nd time around after preparing those classes! You can really appreci-
ate his intellect and why Stalin had an inferiority complex towards him.
session iii the Nationalities Question and Succession
Isaac Deutscher, Trotsky, The Prophet Unarmed, 1922-1929. Oxford University Press,
1954 (2) This second volume takes up the story after the Civil War and focuses on the struggle
between Trotsky and Stalin for the “soul” of the Bolshevik state as well as the world communist
movement. It concludes with Trotsky’s defeat and internal exile to Alma Ata in Kazakstan.
Richard Pipes. The Formation of the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1954. (2) abe (34, from $3.99)Pipes doctoral dissertation. It began his distinguished
career as a Sovietologist which led to his Concise History, our text for last Fall. This analyzes the
Nationalities Question as theory and describes the course by which the USSR came to be estab-
lished.
Three Songs of Lenin (1934) (N) This “artistic” propaganda film demonstrates perfectly “the
cult of Lenin” which Stalin initiated and turned into the cult of Lenin & Stalin, finally just the
cult of Stalin. It’s what Khrushchev denounced as the cult of personality in 1956. The first
“Song”shows how Lenin’s words and deeds brought enlightenment and material progress, espe-
cially the emancipation of women to the “backward” Islamic peoples of the Turkmen A.S.S.R.
The Second Song, “We Loved Him” is an incredibly maudlin “documentary” of the death and fu-
neral ceremonies for Ilyich. The last part, Third Song, is a sort of “If he could only see us now!
glorification of the SSSR of 1934. Especially center staged is the Dneprostroi hydro electric dam
and “electrification of the whole country.”
session iv Socialism in One Country & the Great Terror
East Side Story (1997) (N) This documentary, made in Germany after the fall of the Wall, is
dedicated to Karl Marx “without whom this would not have been necessary.” It is a funny look at

4. how the Communist world tried to use film to advance the socialist ethic. Most of the examples
are postwar but there are some great Russian films of the 1930s and ‘40s showing how Stalin
tried to run the Soviet film industry to satisfy his own tastes. You gotta love the musical, Tractor-
men (1939). If you don’t want to see East German efforts at teen musicals, just use the scene se-
lection feature! ;-)
I Worked for Stalin (1990) (N) Interviews with survivors and children of the oligarchs,
Malenkov, Khrushchev, Zhdanov and Dmitri Sukhanov, a personal secretary to Malenkov who
went to prison in the 1950s as part of the succession strife after Stalin’s death. Documentary
footage and stills give visual impact to the interviews. lots on the murderers Yezhov and Beria.
Unfortunately, it’s made for viewers in former USSR who know the “players” and so it’s a lot of
“inside the Beltway” stuff. I had to watch it three times to feel I was getting some of the refer-
ences. The sons of Malenkov and Zhdanov perpetuate their father’s enmity for one another. It’s
very revealing.
I Was Stalin’s Bodyguard (1989) (N) An amazing film. Really worth watching. Especially the
second part where he takes you to his class at the Pioneer Palace and shows you the authoritarian
approach to “forming the new Soviet Man” which he uses to try to mould his young children into
good Stalinist Communists in the 1980s! The present day interviews are interspersed with film
footage from the Stalin era as this aged OGPU policeman reflects on his “glory days.” He talks
about the use of informers. It’s quite a look at an incredibly awful time and its continuing influ-
ence of the Russians in post-Stalin times.
Knight, Amy. Who Killed Kirov: The Kremlin’s Greatest Mystery. Hill & Wang, 1999.
(2)Knight (European, Russian, and Eurasian studies, George Washington U.) draws on recently
declassified documents as well as other evidence to investigate the 1934 murder of Sergei Kirov,
Leningrad Communist Party chief, senior ranking Politburo member, and prize orator of the Stal-
in regime. She describes the mystery as a justification for the bloody purges of the next few
years, and confirms Stalin's long-suspected role in the murder.
Man with a Movie Camera (1929) (N) Ditto. Amazing. Worth Watching. This avant garde, end
of the silent era film will really open your eyes. Especially if, after viewing it once, you view it a
second time with the special feature discussion turned on. Cinema critic Yuri Tsivian explains
what Ukrainian director Dziga Vertov and his editor wife Elizaveta Svilova are trying to achieve!
They are critical of the standard Hollywood storytelling film and want to replace it with a new
genre telling the life of the city of the future. Their movement called kinok (from the Russian
words “cinema” and “eye”) is a sort of staged documentary without actors and seeking to create
“life as it is” and “life caught unawares.” The glorification of modern Soviet life and the five
year plan are quite revealing. “We bring people into closer kinship with machines.” The camera
as second eye, the radio loudspeaker in the workers’ club as second ear. The director’s brother,
Mikhail Kaufman, the Buster Keaton of Soviet cinema, is the “star” of the film. He is “the man
with the camera.” Enjoy!
Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Stalin; The Court of the Red Tsar. NYC:Random House,
2003. (9) His first Stalin bio. Takes up the story after Stalin comes to power, ca. 1928. Blurb
from Time: “Terrific....Scholarship as a kind of savage gossip....Deeply researched, wonderfully

5. readable.” If you enjoyed Young Stalin, as I did; you’ll pick up this one, as I did. It continues to
follow “the Red Tsar” to the end of his life in 1953.
Stalin’s Wife (2004) (N)With precious little information to work with, director Slava Tsuker-
man lenses a movie devoted to the woman behind the man (in this case, Soviet dictator Joseph
Stalin's much younger, little-known wife, Nadezhda Alliluyev [sic]). Many former associates and
family members of the Stalin clan are interviewed at length, while the director offers an interest-
ing array of photographs and newsreel footage to help relate Alliluyev's story. [his 2nd wife,
“Alliluyeva” for women of the Alliluyev family-JBP]
www.wsws.org/ The World Socialist Web Site is published by the International Committee of
the Fourth International. This less known competitor to The Third International (Comintern) was
founded by Leon Trotsky in his exile in 1938. It continues to this day to “spread Trotskyite devi-
ationism.” If you want to learn more about what today’s disciples of Trotsky are about, this is the
place. Needless to say, their historical take on our period is less than objective. But valuable for
you to consider.
session v Stalin’s War
Beevor, Antony. Stalingrad. 1998. (8) This well written narrative begin’s with the German
Operation Barbarossa and takes you up to the dramatic failure of Hitler’s hopes. Highly recom-
mended!
http://english.pobediteli.ru Pobediteli (Victors) is a wonderful Russian animated website in En-
glish at the above URL. Notice there’s no www. so you must type it as you see it above. This
long-playing history of the Great Patriotic War gives fascinating details with interviews of the
surviving victors. Highly recommended.
session vi Forward to Victory
Beevor, Antony Berlin, The Downfall, 1945. 2002 (6) and Sir Max Hastings. Armaged-
don; The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 . 2004 (7) Both highly readable accounts of, again,
a grim subject.
Katyn (2007) (N) A grim look at a grim subject by the great Polish director Andrej Wajda. His
dad was murdered by the NKVD so he spares no detail in exposing their evil role in this crime
which Poland considers genocide and to which Putin & Co. still have yet to fess up to complete-
ly.

6. Roberts, Andrew. Masters and Commanders; How Four Titans Won the War in the
West, 1941-1945. 2009 (4) Great insight into the Teheran and Yalta Conferences from the per-
spective of the British and Americans.
session vii Cold War
Harold Shukman,“Sex, suicide, slavery and Stone-arse” in the Times Higher Education
website, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=182024&section-
code=22
A fascinating article about the terror state and Gulag after WW II. Here’s the quote that caught
my eye:
“Nicknamed "Stone-arse" for his uncomplaining workaholism, Vyacheslav Molotov had the
longest and closest association with Stalin, co-signing thousands of death sentences, and was
noted for his ice-cold personality. (Abba Eban once described the smile Molotov gave him when
they shook hands as "like the light going on inside a refrigerator".) But newly discovered letters
to his wife tell us he loved her deeply. Polina Molotova was Jewish - like a large number of
Kremlin wives, a still-unexplained fact first noted by Dmitri Volkogonov in his biography of
Stalin, published a decade ago - and her downfall was an early sign of Stalin's mounting
suspicion of Jewish disloyalty when the establishment of the state of Israel was greeted with
exuberance by Russia's Jewish population. Stalin would do nothing to save Polina and told
Molotov to divorce her and find another wife.”
Crossman, Richard, ed. the god that failed. c. 1949, 2001. (3) also at Az $16.83 I bought
a new copy for my library of this classic. Here’s the blurb from Daniel Bell “To understand the
Cold War and the character of Stalinism The God that Failed is a must read.” It reproduces es-
says by former True Believers from different countries who rejected Communism because of
Stalin’s role.
Soviet Army Chorus, Band and Dance Ensemble (2008) (N) This film is a remarkable se-
ries of performances of traditional Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack material. The film also in-
cludes different settings. For instance, when they sing the traditional Zahporozhie Cossack bal-
lad, “Stenka Razin,” the film is of river boats and campfires. When the song is “Meadowlands,”
the hymn of Budyonny’s First Horse Army, there are shots of Cossack cavalry on the steppe. The
dancing is spectacular. Enjoy!
session viii Final Days

7. Rapoport, Louis. Stalin's War Against The Jews: The Doctors' Plot And The Soviet So-
lution. 1990. (1) The notorious ``Doctors' Plot'' was launched in January 1953 when Pravda an-
nounced that nine Kremlin doctors, most of them Jewish, had medically murdered two of Stalin's
top aides and were part of a Zionist-imperialist conspiracy to assassinate Russia's leaders. A total
fabrication by Stalin himself, the Doctors' Plot, as Jerusalem Post reporter Rapoport here reveals,
was the first step in Stalin's plan for the mass deportation of Russia's two million Jews to gulag
concentration camps; only the dictator'sdeath in the early spring of 1953 prevented this genocide
from occurring. (Publishers Weekly Review)
2/18/2010
jbp