Stalin (64 page)

16

. M. Dzhilas [Milovan Djilas],

(Moscow, 1992), p. 108.

17

. From an account by Hungarian leader Mátyás Rákosi (

no. 3 [1997]: 117).

18

.

p. 75.

19

. Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov (1896–1948) joined the Bolshevik party before the revolution and afterward held various provincial party posts. In 1934 Stalin brought him to Moscow and made him a Central Committee secretary. After Kirov’s murder, Zhdanov replaced him as Leningrad party boss. Until his death he remained one of Stalin’s closest comrades-in-arms and enjoyed good relations with the leader. Zhdanov’s son was briefly married to Stalin’s daughter.

20

. In Khrushchev,

vol. 1, pp. 102–103.

21

. In Khrushchev,

vol. 2, p. 68.

22

. Ibid., p. 117.

23

. Ibid., pp. 146–147.

24

. Dmitri Volkogonov,

(New York, 1991), p. 571.

25

. This idea is developed in Erik van Ree,

(London and New York, 2002).

26

. Cited in G. Dmitrov,

(Sophia, 1997), p. 128.

27

. Cited in V. M. Berezhkov,

(Moscow, 1999), p. 371. Berezhkov was Stalin’s interpreter.

1

. L. M. Spirin, “Kogda rodilsia Stalin: Popravki k ofitsial’noi biografii,”

25 June 1990;

no. 11 (1990): 132–134.

2

. A. Ostrovskii,

(Moscow, 2002), pp. 88–89. Ostrovskii’s book was the first biography to focus on Stalin’s youth and was based on newly discovered documents from Moscow and Georgian archives. Other works appeared later: Miklos Kun,

(Budapest and New York, 2003); Simon Sebag Montefiore,

(London, 2007); Ronald Grigor Suny,

(forthcoming from Oxford University Press). My account of Stalin’s early life draws on these books to varying degrees.

3

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 86–88, 93, 99.

4

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 878, l. 73. Unless otherwise noted, translations are by Nora Favorov.

5

. R. G. Suny, “Beyond Psychohistory: The Young Stalin in Georgia,”

46, no. 1 (1991): 52.

6

. Stalin,

vol. 13, p. 115. Interview with the German author Emil Ludwig, 13 December 1931.

7

. Cited in Iu. G. Murin, comp.,

(Moscow, 1993), pp. 6–19.

8

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1549, l. 83.

9

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 96–97, 102–104.

10

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 876, l. 12.

11

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 4, l. 1; d. 5, l. 1.

12

. Cited in Dmitri Volkogonov,

(New York, 1991), pp. 7–8.

13

. L. D. Trotsky,

(Benson, VT, 1985), vol. 1, pp. 32–33.

Lev Davidovich Trotsky (1879–1940) was, for a while, perceived both within the fledgling Soviet state and internationally as second only to Lenin in leading the Bolshevik revolution. The peak of his glory came during the Civil War, in which he led the Red Army to victory. After the war, Trotsky took an active part in the struggle for power and influence that erupted among the Soviet leaders. In 1928, after losing this struggle, Trotsky was sent into exile. He remained politically active in emigration and worked to expose his political nemesis, Stalin, on whose orders he was killed in 1940 in Mexico by a Soviet agent.

14

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 108–111.

15

. Ibid., pp. 124–125.

16

. Stalin,

vol. 13, pp. 115–116. Interview with the German author Emil Ludwig, 13 December 1931.

17

. Cited in V. Kaminskii and I. Vereshchagin, “Detstvo i iunost’ vozhdia: Dokumenty, zapiski, rasskazy,”

no. 12 (1939): 65.

18

. Robert C. Tucker,

(New York, 1973), pp. 80–82.

19

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 600, ll. 1–7; f. 71; op. 10, d. 266, ll. 7–11.

20

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 32, ll. 1–2.

21

. Suny,

ch. 3.

22

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 53, ll. 1–15; Ostrovskii,

p. 148.

23

. Ostrovskii,

p. 149.

24

. Kaminskii and Vereshchagin, “Detstvo i iunost’ vozhdia,” pp. 84–85.

25

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 53, l. 13.

26

. Ibid., op. 4, d. 60, ll. 1–3.

27

. Ibid., op. 11, d. 879, l. 45.

28

. Ibid., op. 4, d. 65, ll. 1–4.

29

. Trotsky,

vol. 1, p. 44.

30

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 154–155.

31

. A. J. Rieber, “Stalin, Man of the Borderlands,”

106, no. 5 (2001): 1651–1691; Alfred J. Rieber, “Stalin as Georgian: The Formative Years,” in

ed. Sarah Davies and James Harris (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 18–44.

32

. I. Baberovski [J. Baberowski],

(Moscow, 2010), p. 15.

33

. Documents from Boris Nicolaevsky’s archive published by Iu. G. Fel’shtinskii and G. I. Cherniavskii in

no. 14 (2012): 16.

34

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 72, l. 9.

35

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 188–189.

36

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 4, d. 619, ll. 175–177.

37

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 212–218.

38

. Erik van Ree, “The Stalinist Self: The Case of Ioseb Jughashvili (1898–1907),”

11, no. 2 (2010): 265–266; Suny,

ch. 4.

39

. Erik van Ree, “Reluctant Terrorists? Transcaucasian Social-Democracy, 1901–1909,”

40, no. 1 (2008); Suny,

ch. 9.

40

. Ostrovskii,

p. 254.

41

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 896, l. 115.

42

. For more details on the heist, see Montefiore,

See also Suny,

ch. 11. Miklos Kun has uncovered some evidence that Stalin assisted in the preparations for Kamo’s operation (

pp. 77–79).

43

. Documents from Boris Nicolaevsky’s archive published by Iu. G. Fel’shtinskii and G. I. Cherniavskii in

no. 7 (2010): 34, and no. 9 (2010): 11.

44

. Ostrovskii,

p. 292.

45

. Z. I. Peregudova,

(Moscow, 2000), pp. 242–274.

46

. Ostrovskii,

pp. 329–330.

47

. Cited in Peregudova,

p. 246.

48

. Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky (1876–1918) was a metalworker, labor union activist, and member of the Bolshevik party who enjoyed Lenin’s special patronage. In 1912 he was elected to the State Duma and in 1913 became chairman of the Duma’s Bolshevik faction. Meanwhile, he served many years as a police double agent. Under threat of exposure, he fled Russia in 1914. In 1918 he returned to Soviet Russia hoping to be pardoned. Instead, he was shot.

49

. These letters were opened by the police and therefore survive in police archives. Copies of them are also in the Stalin Collection (Ostrovskii,

pp. 396–398; RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1288, ll. 12–14, 18, 28, 32–35).

50

. Letter to Roman Malinovsky in late November 1913.

51

. Letter to T. A. Slavotinskaia, dated 20 November 1913.

52

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 52, l. 1; Ostrovskii,

pp. 402–403.

53

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 5394, ll. 2–3; A. V. Kvashonkin et al., comps.,

(Moscow, 1996), p. 19.

54

. Ia. M. Sverdlov,

(Moscow, 1957), vol. 1, p. 227.

55

. A. S. Allilueva,

(Moscow, 1946), p. 115.

56

. In Sergei Khrushchev, ed.,

vol. 2: Reformer (University Park, PA, 2006), p. 132. Translation slightly edited.

57

. Sverdlov,

vol. 1, p. 280.

58

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1288, ll. 15–16; B. S. Ilizarov,

(Moscow, 2002), pp. 289, 291, 294–297; Ostrovskii,

p. 393.

59

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 773, ll. 79–82; Ilizarov,

pp. 297–298.

60

. In any event, Stalin soon ceased to have anything to do with Pereprygina. After he left exile she married and was later widowed with eight children (Ilizarov,

p. 310).

61

. Letter to O. Ye. Allilueva dated 25 November 1915. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 55, l. 2; Kvashonkin et al.,

p. 21.

62

. Trotsky,

vol. 1, pp. 248–249.

63

. Kvashonkin et al.,

pp. 17–20; Ostrovskii,

pp. 397–401, 412–413, 415.

64

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 54, l. 1.

65

. V. I. Lenin,

vol. 49 (Moscow, 1970), pp. 101, 161.

1

. There is a tradition that views Stalin’s final illness and death as the result of a poisoning organized by Beria. One of the most recent attempts to assess the medical evidence for this view can be found in Jonathan Brent and Vladimir Naumov,

(New York, 2003).

The basic events of Stalin’s last days can be retraced by drawing on multiple sources. In addition to the well-known reminiscences of Khrushchev, who was among the leaders that kept watch over the dying Stalin (Sergei Khrushchev, ed.,

vol. 1:

[University Park, PA, 2004], pp. 147–149), new sources have appeared, including accounts by Stalin’s bodyguards recorded by Dmitri Volkogonov and Edvard Radzinsky (Dmitri Volkogonov,

[New York, 1991], pp. 571–572; Edvard Radzinsky,