Medvedev Roy A. Let History Judge. The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism

Columbia University Press, 1989. — 927 p.Let History Judge - The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism by Roy A. Medvedev is definitely the most comprehensive and revealing investigation of Stalinism and political developments in the Soviet Union from 1922-1953. This edition is an extensively revised and expanded version of a classic work. The internationally known historian Roy Medvedev has included more than one-hundred new interviews, unpublished memoirs, and archives from survivors of Stalin's death camps. This updated version of a classic work was written during a time of great change in the Soviet Union. With the advent of perestroika and glasnost, more progressive leadership has sought to demolish the Stalinist system which had finally crippled the Soviet Union and incited public discontent.Let History Judge contains new material on purges in 1929-1931 and terror against the peasantry; the Kirov assassination and show trials; the "great terror" from 1936-1938, which caused irreparable damage to the Soviet Union and left it vulnerable for Hitler's attack in 1941; the trial of Bukharin; Trotsky's revolutionary activity and Stalin's involvement with his murder in Mexico; Stalin's miscalculations and errors during the war, which cost the Soviet Union nearly 25 million in casualties; new purges from 1946-1953; and the actual vote of the Seventeenth Congress, which decided Stalin's candidacy.Since the first edition was finished by the author in 1969 and published in 1971, dozens of new informants have come forward to give their evidence to Roy Medvedev. Distinguished Soviet literary, cultural, and political figures like the late Alexander Twardovsky, Ilja Ehrenburg, Konstantin Simonov, Yuri Trifono, Mikhail Romm and many others have accumulated documentary records of Stalinism in anticipation of an expanded version.ContentsPreface to the Revised and Expanded Edition
Translator's Note
Introductory Essay: Perestroika and Stalinism, 1988Part I. Stalin’s Rise in the Party
I. Stalin as a Party Chief
Before 1917
In 1917
Commissar of Nationalities
In the Civil War
Lenin's Support
General Secretary
The Death of Lenin
Lenin's "Testament"
Stalin in 1923-1924II. The Fight with the Opposition
Disputes in the Bolshevik Party
Trotsky
Disputes in the Politburo, 1923
The Trotskyist Opposition, 1923-1924
Zinoviev and Kamenev
The "New Opposition"
The Deaths of Frunze and Dzerzhinsky
The United Opposition, 1926-1927
Bukharin
The "Right Deviation"III. Mistakes and Crimes in Collectivization and Industrialization
Cooperatives and Collectivization in Agriculture
Grain Procurement Difficulties, 1927-1928
Distortions and Mistakes in Collectivization
Collectivization and Persecution of the Orthodox Church
"Liquidation of the Kulaks as a Class"
Administrative Repression in the Countryside, 1932-1933
Famine in the Countryside, 1932-1933
Internal Passports
Shortcomings and Mistakes in IndustrializationIV. New Crimes by Stalin in the Early Thirties
Soviet Power and the "Bourgeois" Intelligentsia
Political Trials of 1928-1930
The "Industrial Party" and "Union Bureau" Trials, 1931
Fraudulence of the Trials of 1928-1931
Behind the Scenes of the Trials
Mass Repression Against the Intelligentsia and Specialists
The End of NEP
Repression Inside the Party
The Suicide of Nadezhda Alliluyeva
Repression in the Social Sciences and Literature
Stalin's Policies in the International Working Class Movement
Beginning of the Stalin Cult
Bukharin in the Early Thirties
Trotsky in the Early ThirtiesPart II Stalin’s Usurpation of Power, and the Great Terror
V. The Kirov Assassination and the Purge Trials
The Beginnings of New Opposition, 1934
The Kirov Assassination
Repression in Early 1935
Repression Continues, 1935-1936
The First Moscow Trial, 1936
The Fall of Yagoda and Promotion of Yezhov
Trial of the "Parallel Center"
The February-March Plenum of 1937
Trial of the "Anti-Soviet Right-Trotskyite Bloc"
The Fraudulence of the Moscow Show Trials
Mass Repression of Former Oppositionists
Trotsky, 1936-1940VI. The Assault on Party and State Cadres, 1937-1938
The Assault on Cadres of the Central Party, Government, and Economic Institutions
The Death of Sergo Ordzhonikidze 399
The Death of Nadezhda Alliluyeva 403
The Fate of Others Close to Lenin 406
The Assault on Cadres in the Provinces and Union Republics 409
Repression in the Trade Unions and Komsomol 417
Destruction of the Cadres of the Red Army 420
Repression in the NKVD, the Courts, and the Procuracy 425
Repression of Comintern Activists and Members of Non-Soviet Communist Parties
Repression Among the Scientific and Technical Intelligentsia 437
Repression in Literature and the Arts 445
Repression Among the Populace at LargeVII. Rehabilitation and Repression, 1938-1941
Yezhov's Replacement by Beria
Beria' s Political Career
Partial Rehabilitations, 1939-1941
New Repression, 1939-1941
International Response to the Repression of 1936-1938VIII. Illegal Methods of Investigation and Confinement
Torture
The Farce of a Trial; Jails and Prisoner Transports
The "Corrective" Labor Camps
4. NKVD Personnel: Their Conduct and ResponsibilityPart III Stalinism: Its Nature and Causes
IX. The Problem of Stalin's Responsibility
Stalin's Leading Role in the Repression of 1936-1938
Was Stalin "Deceived"?
Was Stalin Mentally Ill?
The Myth of Stalin's "Permanent Revolution"
The Myth of Stalin's "National Revolution"
The Myth of Stalin's "Anti-Communist Revolution"
Was Stalin a Police Agent?
Stalin's Personality and the Motives for His CrimesX. Other Causes of Mass Repression
The Chain Reaction of Arrests
The Concept of "Political Crime"
Mass Participation in the RepressionXI. Conditions Facilitating Stalin's Usurpation of
Posing the Problem
Again on the Stalin Cult
The Absence of Glassnost and Freedom of Criticism
The Domestic and International Situation
Centralization and Length of Term in Office
The Bolshevik Party's Political Monopoly
Perversion of Lenin's Concept of Party Unity
Stalin's Personal Control over the Agencies of Repression
Ends and Means in the Socialist Revolution
Incomprehension and Lack of Solidarity
Bureaucratization and Degeneration
Conservatism and Dogmatism in Some Revolutionary Cadres
The Socialist State in Theory and Practice
Lack of Effective Popular Control
Insufficient Education, Culture, and Democratic TraditionPart IV Some Consequences of Stalin’s Personal Dictatorship
XII. Errors in Diplomacy and War
Stalin's Foreign Policy, 1939-40
War with Finland
Stalin's Military-Strategic Blunder of 1941
Stalin as Military Leader
Repression During the WarXIII. Crimes and Mistakes in the Postwar Period
Repression After the War
Repression in the "People's Democracies"
Weakening of the Worker-Peasant Alliance
Official Anti-SemitismXIV. The Impact of Stalinism on Science and Art
The Social Sciences
The Belittling of Lenin's Role
Stalin's Theoretical "Legacy"
The Natural Sciences
Art and LiteratureXV. Socialism and Pseudosocialism
The Dominance of Bureaucracy
Political Sectarianism
Hypocrisy
PseudosocialismConclusion
Stalin's Last Years
The Problem of Assessing Stalin's RecordGlossary
Index