000			01464nam a2200169Ia 4500
005			20250728154345.0
008			250728s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9780333711217
082			_a947.0842092 _bMCD
100			_aMcDermott, Kevin
245		0	_aStalin
260			_bPalgrave _c2006
300			_a240 pages
500			_aStalin's massive impact on Soviet history is often explained in terms of his inherent evil, personality defects and power lust. While not rejecting these notions, Kevin McDermott argues that Stalin's thoughts and actions are best contextualised in the inter-relationship between war and revolution in the first half of the twentieth century. The author presents the case for taking the Soviet dictator seriously as a Marxist revolutionary whose fundamental beliefs and modus operandi were forged in the cauldron of civil and international wars, ideologically driven class wars and revolutionary upheavals associated with the 'age of catastrophe', 1914-45. Only by so doing can the complex motivations for such cataclysmic events as the Great Terror be adequately addressed. Incorporating recently declassified materials from the former Soviet Party archives, this new appraisal of Stalin also provides a critical review of the latest western and Russian historiography. It is essential reading for anyone studying the debates on one of the leading figures of Soviet history.
650			_aPolitical Science
942			_cENGLISH
999			_c577846 _d577846