Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941

1224 Pages·2017·77.839 MB·English

by  Stephen Kotkin

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U.S. $40.00
CANADA $54.00
Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Kotkin has
written the definitive biography of
Joseph Stalin, from collectivization and
the Great Terror to the conflict with
Hitler’s Germany that is the signal event
of modern world history
In 1929, JosePH STALIN, having already achieved
dictatorial power over the vast Soviet empire, formally
ordered the systematic conversion of Europe’s larg-
est predominantly peasant economy into “socialist
modernity,” otherwise known as collectivization,
regardless of the cost.
What it cost, and what Stalin ruthlessly enacted,
transformed the country and its ruler in profound and
enduring ways. Building and running a dictatorship,
with life and death power over hundreds of millions,
made Stalin into the uncanny figure he became.
Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941
is the story of how a political system forged an unpar-
alleled personality and vice versa.
The wholesale collectivization of some 120 mil-
lion peasants necessitated levels of coercion that were
extreme even for Russia. ‘The resulting mass starvation
elicited criticism inside the party even from those
Communists committed to the eradication of capital-
ism. But Stalin did not flinch. By 1934, when the Soviet
Union had stabilized and socialism had been implanted
in the countryside, praise for his stunning anticapitalist
success came from all quarters. Stalin, however, never
forgave and never forgot, with shocking consequences
as he strove to consolidate the state with a brand-new
elite of young strivers like himself. Stalin’s obsessions
drove him to execute nearly a million people, including
the military leadership, diplomatic and intelligence
officials, and innumerable leading lights in culture.
While Stalin revived a great power, building a
formidable industrialized military, the Soviet Union
(continuedo n back flap) 1017
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2022 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/stalinO0OOOkotk

ALSO BY STEPHEN KOTKIN
Stalin:
Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
Armageddon Averted:
The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
Magnetic Mountain:
Stalinism as a Civilization
Steeltown, USSR:
Soviet Society in the Gorbachev Era
Uncivil Society:
1989 and the Implosion of the Communist
Establishment
TALI
WAITING FOR HITLER
1929-1941
PENGUIN PRESS
NEW YORK | 2017
PENGUIN PRESS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
penguin.com
Copyright © 2017 by Stephen Kotkin
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages
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Photograph credits appear on pages 1119-1120.
Kotkin, Stephen.
Stalin / Stephen Kotkin. volumes cm
Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: Volume I.
Paradoxes of power, 1878-1928.
ISBN 9781594203794 (hardcover)
ISBN 9780143127864 (paperback)
Volume II. Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.
ISBN 9781594203800 (hardcover) / ISBN 9780735224483 (e-book)
1. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953. 2. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953—Psychology.
3. Heads of state—Soviet Union—Biography. 4. Dictators—Soviet
Union—Biography. 5. Soviet Union—Politics and
government—1917-1936. 6. Soviet Union—Politics and
government—1936-1953. 7. Political culture—Soviet Union—History.
8. Soviet Union—History—1925-1953., I. Title.
DK268.S8K65 2014
947.084”2092—dc23 [B]
2014032906
Printed in the United States of America
DSO Ol OM Sin Os xe
Book design by Marysarah Quinn
Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone
numbers, internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of
publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any
responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication.
Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any
responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
for Alex Levine and Joyce Howe
who, beginning with the rough patches in graduate school, held me together
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