Yes! I can recommend! The best, most readable and insightful one is the biography of Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky. Here’s the link. It’s available on Kindle and Audible. Read it, I promise it’s beyond good.

Of course, you could always read Kotkin, and he’s good, but there’s no joy in that reading. Kotkin is boring. Plus, Radzinsky had access to incredible materials.

Read it and tell me what you think. We can discuss right here because Radzinsky’s interpretation of Stalin’s personality can absolutely be debated.

I’m practically jumping up in joy that somebody is about to discover this excellent book.

7 responses to “Q&A: Stalin’s Biography”

  1. Demotrash Avatar
    Demotrash

    I actually asked on behalf of a friend…but I guess I’ll haaaave to read it myself too, what a shame 😉

    Like

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    (adds to to-read list)

    Like

  3. Michael Hawk Avatar
    Michael Hawk

    Have you ever read Trotsky’s biography of Stalin? It’s a Marxist analysis and apology for the fall of Leninism, but still an interesting read since it’s a biography of the killer by the slain.

    Like

  4. PaulS Avatar
    PaulS

    A big problem for the Communists in SA was that people tend to think interms of ethnic rather than class struggle.

    https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/clive-derbylewis-the-sacps-odious-behaviour

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Communists everywhere threw away the idea of a class struggle when they noticed that proletarians have very little patience for boutique sexual identities.

      Like

      1. PaulS Avatar
        PaulS

        The Cuban communists did gain respect due to their willingness to fight in Angola. Very few others were willing to volunteer for the international proletariat.

        Like

      2. PaulS Avatar
        PaulS

        Mandela’s driver was a gay Communist. Probably a reasons why SA was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Williams_(anti-apartheid_activist)

        Like

Leave a comment