Roland Boer's Blog, page 71

This is almost embarrassing: endorsements for the Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel

The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel is due out by the end of the month, in the prestigious Library of Ancient Israel series with Westminster John Knox. But I have been sent (thanks Dan) the endorsements that will adorn the first pages of the book and the back cover. I must admit to being somewhat embarrassed by posting them here in shameless self-promotion:

This is a remarkable book. It is a brilliant analysis of ancient Israel in its broader historical context. Boer has a more profound and e...

Stalin’s interview with H. G. Wells

In 1934, H. G. Wells travelled to the USSR to interview Stalin. A few delightful snippets from that interview:

Wells: Now I have come to ask you what you are doing to change the world …

Stalin: Not so very much…

Stalin: You, Mr. Wells, evidently start out with the assumption that all men are good. I, however, do not forget that there are many wicked men.​

Wells: I cannot yet appreciate what has been done in your country; I only arrived yesterday. But I have already seen the happy faces of health...

The Great Depression and the USSR

Accounts of the Great Depression (1929 to the late 1930s) usually use terms such as ‘worldwide’ and ‘global’. Trade declined by 50%, heavy industry came to a virtual standstill, unemployment went as high as 33% and so on. Obviously, for such accounts the USSR was not part of the ‘world’ and ‘globe’ at the time. The first and second five-year plans had an extraordinary effect, industrialising a ‘backward’ economy in a way that makes every other industrial revolution pale by comparison. Agricul...

A vision of the future commune

Did Stalin have an idea to which the USSR was striving? It may be called the vision of the future commune, based on the massive collectivisation drive of the late 1920s and 1930s. In between the lines, we may catch a glimpse of the idea that communism is a state of becoming rather than being, although he does tend to the latter.

The future communes will arise out of developed and prosperous artels. The future agricultural commune will arise when the fields and farms of the artel have an abunda...

Taking the piss out of trendy leftist talk

Stalin was not averse to taking the piss out of trendy Bolshevik talk. As part of his typology of useless Bolsheviks, he speaks of the bureaucrat, the red-tapist, the big-wig and the wind-bag. Here is the characterisation of the windbag:

I have in mind the windbags, I would say honest windbags (laughter), people who are honest and loyal to the Soviet power, but who are incapable of leadership, incapable of organising anything. Last year I had a conversation with one such comrade, a very respec...

Adam is to God as Stalin is to the Communist Party

In response to all the well-wishing on his fiftieth birthday, Stalin wrote:

Your congratulations and greetings I place to the credit of the great Party of the working class which bore me and reared me in its own image and likeness. And just because I place them to the credit of our glorious Leninist Party, I make bold to tender you my Bolshevik thanks. (Works, vol. 12, p. 146)

Happy New Year: USSR Style

I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while. It is from the Siberian Times, which has the intriguing slogan, ‘What happens in Sibera stays in Siberia … unless it is covered by The Siberian Times’. This is a great piece, called ‘S Novym Godom! In pictures, how the USSR marked the happy times at New Year,’ concerning celebrations of New Year in the USSR. Surprise, surprise, people enjoyed themselves.

How to deal with literary snobs

In 1929, Elena Mikulina published a work called Emulation of the Masses and Stalin provided a forward. The work was written by a young, unknown writer, and caused many among the intelligentsia to mock the work. In reply, Stalin writes (with a biblical allusion or two):

We have hundreds and thousands of young and capable people who are striving with might and main to rise to the surface and contribute their mite to the common treasury of our work of construction. But their efforts are often una...

Stalin and fate

More from the interview with Ludwig, now on the question of fate:

Ludwig: My question is the following: You haveoften incurred risks and dangers. You have been persecuted.You have taken part in battles. A number of yourclose friends have perished. You have survived. Howdo you explain that? And do you believe in fate?

Stalin: No, I do not. Bolsheviks, Marxists, do notbelieve in “fate.” The very concept of fate, of “Schicksal,”is a prejudice, an absurdity, a relic of mythology,like the mythology...

Pipe or cigarette? Stalin’s preference

In the fascinating interview with Emil Ludwig from 1931, Ludwig about Stalin’s smoking preferences:

Ludwig: You are smoking a cigarette. Where is yourlegendary pipe, Mr. Stalin? You once said that wordsand legends pass, but deeds remain. Now believe me,there are millions of people abroad who do not knowabout some of your words and deeds, but who do knowabout your legendary pipe.

Stalin: I left my pipe at home.

Apparently, Stalin preferred cigarettes, especially Herzegovina Flor. In public, he wo...