Stalin's Library: A Dictator and His Books

After his death the Soviet Union relaunched itself as far less violent, repressive and ideologically orthodox. Yet it remained recognisably Stalin’s system – governed by ideas and led by people whose politics were framed by Marxist-Leninist theory. No post-Stalin Soviet leader was as intellectual as he was, but to one degree or another they all shared his love of reading, as did millions upon millions of their compatriots. The Bolsheviks failed to revolutionise people’s consciousness, but their book culture continued to flourish. Its marks and traces linger on in contemporary Russia, not least in the archival remnants of Stalin’s library.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION: THE KREMLIN SCHOLAR

1. D. Shepilov, The Kremlin’s Scholar, Yale University Press: London & New Haven 2014 pp.2–3, 6; J. Rubenstein, The Last Days of Stalin, Yale University Press: London & New Haven 2016 chap.1.

2. The Russian title of Shepilov’s memoir was Neprimknyvshii, literally: not-joined – a reference to his association with but non-membership of the Molotov-led group on the Presidium (Politburo) that tried to overthrow Khrushchev in 1957.

3. On Stalin’s efforts at learning English, French and German, see M. Kun, Stalin: An Unknown Portrait, CEU Press: Budapest 2003 chap.8. In a party registration questionnaire dated October 1921, Stalin stated he could speak German as well as Georgian and Russian but this seems to have been an exaggeration. (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial’no-Politicheskoi Istorii (hereafter RGASPI), F.558, Op.4, D.333, L.1.)

4. D. Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen, Viking: London 2004 p.44.

5. S. Alliluyeva, 20 Letters to a Friend, Penguin: Harmondsworth 1968 p.187.

6. S. Fitzpatrick, The Commissariat of Enlightenment: Soviet Organisation of Education and the Arts under Lunacharsky, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 1970 pp.1–2.

CHAPTER 1: BLOODY TYRANT AND BOOKWORM

1. I. Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography, 2nd edn, Penguin: Harmondsworth 1966 p.44.

2. A. Alvarez, Under Pressure: The Writer in Society: Eastern Europe and the USA, Penguin: London 1965 p.11.

3. See D. Priestland, ‘Stalin as Bolshevik Romantic: Ideology and Mobilisation, 1917–1939’ in S. Davies & J. Harris (eds), Stalin: A New History, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 2005.

4. E. van Ree, ‘Heroes and Merchants: Stalin’s Understanding of National Character’, Kritika, 8/1 (Winter 2007) p.62.

5. Cited by P. Hollander, Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society, Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick NJ 1998 p.xxxv.

6. J. Brent & V. P. Naumov, Stalin’s Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948–1953, HarperCollins: New York 2003.

7. Intelligent – a member of the intelligentsia, the educated stratum of society engaged in intellectual, critical or creative work. The Bolsheviks believed that the role of the radical section of the intelligentsia should be to teach and lead the working class and its peasant allies towards its historic mission of overthrowing capitalism and replacing it with socialism. Stalin never referred to himself as an intelligent or an intellectual. His self-definition was political: he was a Marxist and a revolutionary socialist. In Soviet times the concept of the intelligentsia was broadened to include administrative and technical cadres, the group as a whole being deemed an ally of the working class and the peasantry in the building of socialism. My use of the term ‘intellectual’ in this book is purely descriptive.

8. For a summary of reports of the fiction read by the young Stalin, see I. R. Makaryk, ‘Stalin and Shakespeare’ in N. Khomenko (ed.), The Shakespeare International Yearbook, vol. 18, Special Section on Soviet Shakespeare, Routledge: London July 2020 p.46. I am grateful to Professor Makaryk for a copy of her article.

9. Cited by E. van Ree, The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin, Routledge: London 2002 p.186.

10. A. Sergeev & E. Glushik, Besedy o Staline, Krymskii Most: Moscow 2006 pp.55–7. Sergeev was the son of an Old Bolshevik who died in a train accident in 1921. Adopted by Stalin, he was a companion and friend of Vasily’s. His memoirs derive from conversations with the co-author of the book cited here.