This biography is the culmination of long years of studying Soviet history. These years brought collaboration and friendship with many knowledgeable colleagues. My interactions with all of them have helped prepare me to produce this work.
To start with those no longer living, I learned a great deal from Moshe Lewin, Viktor Petrovich Danilov, Victor Zaslavsky, and Derek Watson—all prominent historians and wonderful human beings.
Next, this book would not have been possible without decades of work alongside my friends and fellow archival researchers. At RGASPI, I have been fortunate to work with Andrei Sorokin, Lyudmila Kosheleva, Marina Astakhova, Galina Gorskaia, and Elena Kirillova. My work at GARF would have been impossible without the constant support of Sergei Mironenko, Larisa Rogovaya, Larisa Malashenko, Dina Nokhotovich, Sofia Somonova, Galina Kuznetsova, and Tatiana Zhukova. Together we compiled a number of collections of historical documents.
For twenty-five years now I have been a proud member of the Robert Davies team. His dedication to the study of history and his amazing productivity are an example for us all.
Collaboration, interaction, and friendship with a number of historians have greatly contributed to my work. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Golfo Alexopoulos, Jörg Baberowski, Alain Blum, Yves Cohen, Marta Craveri, Victor Dönninghaus, Michael David-Fox, Mark Elie, Benno Ennker, Klaus Gestwa, Mark Harrison, Jana Howlett, Melanie Ilic, Nicolaus Katzer, Vladimir Kozlov, Sergei Kudryashov, Hiroaki Kuromiya, Terry Martin, Silvio Pons, Valeri Pozner, Arfon Rees, Andrea Romano, Ingrid Schierle, Robert Service, Jeremy Smith, Takeshi Tomita, Aleksandr Vatlin, Lynne Viola, Amir Weiner, Nicolas Werth, Stephen Wheatcroft, and Elena Zubkova.
Paul Gregory, Ron Suny, Sheila Fitzpatrick, Piter Solomon, and Dietrich Beyrau have been attentive and patient conversation partners for many years.
I would also like to express gratitude to the German Historical Institute in Moscow, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, and the Ukrainian Studies Fund for their support.
As always, I would not miss this opportunity to wish success to my daughter Dasha.
As fate would have it, when I began work on this project my wife Katya fell ill. By the time I completed the manuscript, she was no longer with us.
To her, I dedicate this book.
INDEX
Illustrations are indicated by Gallery number
Abakumov, Viktor Semenovich, 273, 303, 369n39
Agriculture: collectivization, 110–113, 115–116, 299, 300, 322
and famine policy, 38, 117
and food shortages, 184–185, 278, 300–301, 323–324
grain expropriation, 101, 102–104, 105, 110, 119–120
grain reserves, 349n35
interregnum period reforms, 302, 315
livestock production, 299–300, 374n15
and New Economic Policy (NEP), 64, 110
private plots, 7, 111, 112, 124, 278
quotas for grain deliveries, 123–124
tsarist reforms, 27. See also Peasants
Air Force: accident rate in, 186
capacity of, 183, 187
modernization of, 184
destruction of at start of war, 201–202
Akhmatova, Anna, 265, 368n9
Alcohol consumption, at Stalin’s dacha, 5–6
Alekseev, N. P., 56–57
Alexander III, 11
Alliluev, Pavel, 134, 256, 258, 259
Alliluev, Sergei, 252
Allilueva, Anna, 30, 256, 258, 259
Allilueva, Nadezhda. See Stalin, Nadezhda Allilueva
Allilueva (Alliluyeva), Svetlana: birth of, 253
childhood of, 254, 256, Gallery 8, 9, 11
on dacha lifestyle, 4, 191
defection of, 260
Jewish husband of, 259, 286
in public appearance, 136, 137
relationship with father, 256–257, 258, 259
at Stalin’s deathbed, 250, 313–314
on Stalin’s health, 196–197
on suicide of mother, 255
Alliluev family, Stalin’s friendship with, 48–49, 252
Andreev, Andrei, 365n142
Anti-Comintern Pact, 154
Anti-retreat units, 223, 237, 242
Anti-Semitism, as state policy, 284–285, 304, 309
Antonov, Aleksei Innokentievich, 227, 364n99
Appeasement policy, 163, 167, 168
Archival sources: citizens’ letters, 300–301, 327–329, 377n35, n38
newly accessible, ix, xii, xv
Stalin Collection, xiii–xiv
types of, xii
visitor logs, xiii
Aristov, Averky, 301
Atom bomb: Soviet, 293
U.S., 248
Baberowski (Baberovski), Jörg, 21
Baku, Social Democratic movement in, 26–27
Balitsky, Vsevolod, 115
Bank deposits, and currency reform, 275, 277, 279
Baramiia, Mikhail, 304–305
Batum, revolutionary violence in, 22–23
Beaverbrook, Lord, 212
Belarus: German invasion of, 204
and German-Soviet non-aggression pact, 166
Red Army campaign of 1944, 231
forced resettlement campaign in, 174
Soviet occupation of, 170
Beria, Lavrenty Pavlovich: 2, 5, 40, 260, Gallery 8, 14
biography of, 332–333n1
bribery charge against, 304–305
on collaborators, 232
and ethnic deportations, 233–234
fall of, 333n1
on German prisoners of war, 231
in interregnum period, 312
in leadership reorganizations, 282, 303
and Molotov scandal, 271, 272
poisoning charge against, 338n1
Politburo appointment of, 177
on Red Army crimes against civilians, 234
at Stalin’s deathbed, 142, 143, 189, 312
and Stalin’s wartime safety, 211
state security under, 181
in wartime leadership, 203, 204, 205, 206, 225, 240, 269
as Yezhov’s deputy, 159–160
Berlin blockade, 281
Berlin Conference, 247–248
Berlin operation, 246–247
Bessarabia, 166, 173, 174
Biography: archival exposés, ix–x
memoirs as source for, xiv–xv
pitfalls of genre, xi–xii
Bliukher, Vasily, 163
Bogdanov, Aleksandr, 94
Bolsheviks: armed robbery by, 25–26
centralized party organization of, 36–38
at European party congresses, 25
falsification of history of, 95
revolutionary agenda of, 24
Stalin’s conflicts with colleagues, 63
Stalin’s purge of old guard, 137–139, 140
Stalin’s rise in leadership ranks, 28, 54, 65–66
war readiness of, 153. See also Civil War
Collective leadership
Lenin
Revolution of 1917
Borisov, Mikhail, 128, 132, 133
Britain: appeasement of Hitler, 163, 167
Churchill-Stalin meetings, 224, 230, 244
and Polish invasion, 169–170
in postwar settlement, 270
second front plan, 223–224, 228, 229
wartime aid to Stalin, 211, 212
Budenny, Semen, 202, 361n21
Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich: 68, 90, 94, Gallery 6
on anti-Trotsky coalition, 81–82
biography of, 343n55
execution of, 140
-Kamenev secret meeting, 107
as oppositionist, 105, 106, 108
in power struggle, 75–76, 77, 78, 80
Bukovina, 173
Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanasyevich, 96, 346n10
Bulganin, Nikolai Aleksandrovich, 2
biography of, 333n1
in interregnum period, 312
in Mao’s Moscow visit, 289
at Stalin’s deathbed, 142, 189, 312
Stalin’s promotion of, 303
in wartime leadership, 241
Bulgaria, in Communist bloc, 281
Cannibalism, in famine of 1932–1933, 119