Stalin: A Political Biography

I have not read many biographies of Stalin, especially those written by his sycophants, but I doubt that I would ever read one as carefully written as this one by Deutscher. The book is a chronological account of Stalin's life starting from his birth to his serf parents, through his revolutionary youth, his rise to the higher ranks of the Soviet leadership, his conniving power grab from the hands of Trotsky and other contemporaries, his draconian, dictatorial governance, his impact on WW-2, and his last days of governance primarily influened by intimidation and inspired by his own fears. During Stalin's childhood and formative years in school, Deutscher provides us with a feel of the oppression of the poor under the Czars and limited freedom of speech. The motivation for the formation of the revolutionary underground press is so well presented. It is only ironic that having struggled against the dictatorship of the Czar, Stalin should grow into a much more powerful and draconian dictator, who limited freedom of expression and speech as much as he fought for it in his youth. I could not help but recall the cynicism of Orwell in 1984, where he presents his thesis that society is made of three layers -- the ones at the top who are in power, the ones below them who are fighting against those in power, and the ones at the bottom who couldn't care less who is in power. At some point, a revolution occurs, and middle layer becomes the top layer, a new middle layer forms and the whole cycle repeats itself. I couldn't help thinking about the relevance of this power structure in so many countries in this day and age. The most instructive part of this book is the description of the intellectual arguments of socialism, and the formation of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Here, Deutscher's own socialist inspirations shows us his admiration of Lenin's arguments and, for example, the Mensheviks' counter-arguments. The description of the revolutionary struggle from 1905 to early 1920s is presented beautifully. We see the rise of all the bigwigs of the socialistic underground and their intellectual arguments against imperialism and against the other camp in socialism. Deutscher points out how Stalin was an outsider in this debate. He often toed the line held by Lenin, almost to the extent of sycophancy, and Deutscher perceives Stalin's publications in the underground press as drab and full of Leninist rhetoric, hardly enunciating any original idea of his own. Stalin's strength, however, was his practicality. He worked with the people in the press, could rally the workers in large numbers and could get things done remarkably efficiently. This was the sole strength of Stalin that helped him rise the ranks amongst his more intellectual peers. Lenin needed a handy-man to get his job done. Once Stalin had his foot in the Soviet leadership, things changed. After Lenin's death, Stalin used all his chicanery to wrest power from the most obvious successor of Lenin -- Leon Tr

I found the book at the same time gripping and disappointing. Very well-written and readable, it contains a number of gems, such as discussions of the complicated relationship between Stalin and Lenin and its shocking conclusion between Lenin's second stroke and his death, and the effect of Alexander Blok's poem "The Scythians" on the pre-revolution Russian intelligentia. But revelations -- or even details -- concerning other critical events such as the purges of the mid-Thirties seem entirely lacking. Here, Deutscher simply lists the names of a few of the old guard who were annihilated and sparsely sums the whole episode thus: "It is not necessary to assume that he acted from sheer cruelty or lust for power. He may be given the dubious credit of the sincere conviction that what he did saved the interests of the revolution and that he alone interpreted those interests aright." (page 378) Absolutely no description of any thought process by Stalin as to who would die is given; no hint of the stories of Stalin personally going over lists of names to mark the condemned is offered. Likewise, the deaths and ruined families of these thousands are passed over and we are given this in their stead: "The real mass purges were carried out without the thunder and lightning of publicity, without confession of the victims, and often without any trial whatsoever. He sent thousands to their deaths and tens of hundreds of thousands into prisons and concentration camps." (page 380)What the book does offer is a detailed and easily-followed history of the Russian revolutions of 1907 and 1917, the subversion and takeover of the latter by the Bolsheviks, and the major (and sometimes minor) events that followed until Stalin's death. But even here important events are left out; the murder of the Romanovs is not even mentioned in passing and the Western miltary interventions aimed at toppling the Reds are only hinted at. Trotsky's complex role and his relationship with Stalin is handled well throughout, but his murder warrants a single paragraph, as if it happens off stage, with no hint of Stalin's inner compunction or outer reactions to the death of his lifelong nemesis.Overall, the book is a good read. But the reader who expects to pry into the personal, inner workings of Stalin is likely, as I was, to be sorely disappointed.