Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization: Ideas, Power, and Terror in Inter-war Russia

by David Priestland

Overview

Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization offers a new interpretation of Bolshevik ideology, examines its relationship with Soviet politics between 1917 and 1939, and sheds new light on the origins of the political violence of the late 1930s. While it challenges older views that the Stalinist system and the Terror were the product of a coherent Marxist-Leninist blueprint, imposed by a group of committed ideologues, it argues that ideas mattered in Bolshevik politics and that there are strong continuities between the politics of the revolutionary period and those of the 1930s. By exploring divisions within the party over several issues, including class, the relations between elites and masses, and economic policy, David Priestland shows how a number of ideological trends emerged within Bolshevik politics, and how they were related to political and economic interests and strategies. He also argues that central to the launching of the Terror was the leadership's commitment to a strategy of mobilization, and to a view of politics that ultimately derived from the left Bolshevism of the revolutionary period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191529658
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	948 KB

About the Author

St Edmund Hall, Oxford

Table of Contents

Note on Transliteration and Translation viii

List of Abbreviations and Glossary ix

Introduction Ideas and Politics in Bolshevik Russia 1

1 Victory and Fragmentation, 1917-1921 58

2 The Emergence of Left and Right, 1921-1927 133

3 Mobilization and 'Class Struggle', 1928-1930 189

4 The Search for Unity and Order, 1930-1935 244

5 Mobilization and Terror, 1934-1939 304

Conclusion Mobilization and 'Class Struggle' in Communist Politics 404

Bibliography 432

Index 461

Editorial Reviews

"[A]s one reads this book one gains a deep respect for a fine scholar, endowed with prodigious skills as a literary and intellectual historian, and buttressed by extensive new archival research that will surely be seen as the abiding value of this study."—Journal of Modern History

"Priestland's key assertions are supported by fascinating references to newly available party archives. Highly recommended."—P.E. Heineman, CHOICE

From the Publisher