Stalin phenomenon

by Jean Elleinstein

English, French (translation)

221 pages

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Dingsdaninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr guter kurzer und neutraler Abriss. Hat bei mir sehr stark das Interesse nach einer ausführlicheren Beschäftigung mit dem Thema geweckt. Die Biografie von Isaac Deutscher liegt bereits bereit.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know you've written a great book when it gets you fired. Jean Elleinstein got expelled from the French Communist Party (PCF) after years of faithful militancy for publishing this book in 1976. He interprets Stalinism not as the product of one diseased megalomaniac nor a natural and ineluctable outgrowth of Marxism but a phenomenon born of the peculiarities surrounding the birth of the USSR, above all an eighty percent peasant country, industry ravaged by the Civil War, and encirclement and invasion by 14 imperialist powers. Hmm. That analysis sounds suspiciously like the one by...you know who. In an example of the ironies of history the PCF endorsed this view of Stalin and the Soviet Union the following year, and dropped all references to the dictatorship of the proletariat from its platform, but did not invite Jean back.

[Fuzzy Dunlop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much came in hand for when I was writing my dissertation.