The Stalinist Era

by David L. Hoffmann

Placing Stalinism in its international context, David L. Hoffmann presents a new interpretation of Soviet state intervention and violence. Many 'Stalinist' practices - the state-run economy, surveillance, propaganda campaigns, and the use of concentration camps - did not originate with Stalin or even in Russia, but were instead tools of governance that became widespread throughout Europe during the First World War. The Soviet system was formed at this moment of total war, and wartime practices of mobilization and state violence became building blocks of the new political order. Communist Party leaders in turn used these practices ruthlessly to pursue their ideological agenda of economic and social transformation. Synthesizing new research on Stalinist collectivization, industrialization, cultural affairs, gender roles, nationality policies, the Second World War, and the Cold War, Hoffmann provides a succinct account of this pivotal period in world history.

Genres: History, Soviet History, Russia

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2018

About the author

Dr. David L. Hoffmann is a historian and an expert in Russian, Soviet, and East European history. His other interests include Environment, Health, Technology, and Science, as well as Power, Culture, and the State. Since 2017 he has been Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History at the Ohio State University.

Hoffman received his B.A. in history from Lawrence University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Russian History from Columbia University.

Reviews

[DS25 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Riassuntino interessante, ma che si focalizza troppo su questioni relativamente secondarie (come i ruoli di genere) è troppo poco sulle grandi questioni politiche.

[Hans Dunkelberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

David L. Hoffmann's The Stalinist Era is a very helpful, concise overview from the hand of a top expert. It has a decent number of thoroughly selected illustrations and footnotes. The footnotes are practically sorted by page numbers; they in a simple, accessible style point out more specialized reading which the text is built on.

The lead-up to Stalin's time before World War I is expertly exhibited in its nature of a backward country with a power vacuum in which adventurous individuals could seek to skip downsides of capitalist industrialization. Hoffmann then convincingly reveals the gist of the Soviet system as a peacetime continuation of restrictive domestic practices - rationing, deportations, concentration camps - that have been applied by all major belligerents of World War I.

The author sovereignly characterizes the transition from the leftist politics of Lenin of the (earlier) 1920s into a - for Soviet conditions - right-wing policy about gender roles and art justified by the postulate of socialism having been attained so that no further upheaval was due. Hoffmann helpfully focuses on core questions like why Stalin so terroristically collectivized and why he purged so many leaders from the military and from the Communist party, in a push for industrialization and armament amidst fears for the survival of Russia and its Communist elite. In the end of the book one is presented a similarly laconic, well-saturated-with-details short account of how Russia has defeated Hitler despite rather than because of Stalin's purges and of how domestic repression, contrary to hopes, has continued until the dictator's death.

[Leslie Yong · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s very interestingly written (though a slightly boring) but sufficiently with well researched and lots of facts and statistics. Importantly it compresses /summarizes the the long history into some key events and turning points of the account of Stalin tyrannical rules which changes the political setting of today’s world.

[Eric Schwebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*read for Senior Colloq.

Worth a read if you want an intro to the period and Stalin