In Stalin's Shadow: The Career of Sergo Ordzhonikidze

by Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Kathy S. Transchel

In the voluminous secret history of the 1930s, one episode that still puzzles researchers is the death in 1937 of one of Stalin's key allies - his fellow Georgian, G.K. Ordzhonikidze. Whether he took his own life or, like Kirov, was murdered, the case of Ordzhonikidze intersects several long-debated problems in Soviet political history. What role did Politburo members play in decision making during the Stalin era? What formed the basis of Stalin's alliances? Were there conflicts between Stalin and his comrades and, if so, how far did they go? Was there in fact opposition to Stalin? These and other questions are addressed by one of Russia's best young historians whose pioneering work in previously closed party and government archives is refining our understanding of the political history of the Stalin era.

Genres: History, Soviet Union, Biography, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1995

About the author

Oleg Vitalyevich Khlevniuk Ukrainian and Russian historian of Stalinism and the Soviet Union. His position as senior researcher of the State Archive of the Russian Federation has given him unprecedented access to source documents kept strictly secret until the fall of Communism in 1991, and he has done much to study the materials and make them available to other scholars.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This looks at the career of Sergo Orzhonikidze, who served as the inaugural Commissar of Heavy Industry in the Soviet Union, and a close confident of Stalin, until their falling out and Ordzhonikidze's apparent suicide in early 1937. Khlevniuk was one of the first historians to access the archives in Moscow, and thus provided material here that had never been available before, especially in English. It is thus an invaluable account of the early years of the Soviet Union, as well as Ordzhonikidze himself. However it is light at times on specific details of Ordzhonikidze, and the reading at times is rather dry and dull, which may be an issue of translation. Even so it is an important work, and valuable for anyone interested in the development of the Soviet industrial capacity, which Ordzhonikidze led for the first decade.

[Dean Hewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful investigation of the life and death of an important figure of Stalinist USSR. Best read with some background knowledge of the time period and Soviet ideology.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little study of a key member of the Stalinist Politburo. A 'soft' Stalinist, Ordzhonikidze's death in early 1937 remains a mystery: did he commit suicide or did Stalin have him murdered?