Lenin The Dictator

Author : Victor Sebestyen
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 785 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2017-02-09
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781474600460

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Lenin the Dictator by Victor Sebestyen Pdf

'A fresh, powerful portrait of Lenin' Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine 'Richly readable ... An enthralling but appalling story' Francis Wheen, author of Karl Marx The cold, one-dimensional figure of Lenin the political fanatic is only a partial truth. Drawing on extensive material that has only recently become available, Sebestyen's gripping biography casts an intriguing new light on the character behind the politics. In reality, Lenin was a man who loved nature as much as he loved making revolution, and his closest relationships were with women. He built a state based on terror. But he was a highly emotional man given to furious rages and deep passions. While never ignoring the politics, Sebestyen examines Lenin's inner life, his relationship with his wife and his long love affair with Inessa Armand, the most romantic and beguiling of Bolsheviks. These two women were as significant as the men - Stalin or Trotsky - who created the world's first Communist state with him.

Author : Victor Sebestyen
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 675 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2017-11-07
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781101871645

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Lenin by Victor Sebestyen Pdf

Victor Sebestyen's riveting biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the first major biography in English in nearly two decades—is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the twentieth century but also a fascinating portrait of Lenin the man. Brought up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the first Communist revolution in history. Uniquely, Sebestyen has discovered that throughout Lenin's life his closest relationships were with his mother, his sisters, his wife, and his mistress. The long-suppressed story told here of the love triangle that Lenin had with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his beautiful, married mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a more complicated character than that of the coldly one-dimensional leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. With Lenin's personal papers and those of other leading political figures now available, Sebestyen gives is new details that bring to life the dramatic and gripping story of how Lenin seized power in a coup and ran his revolutionary state. The product of a violent, tyrannical, and corrupt Russia, he chillingly authorized the deaths of thousands of people and created a system based on the idea that political terror against opponents was justified for a greater ideal. An old comrade what had once admired him said that Lenin "desired the good . . . but created evil." This included his invention of Stalin, who would take Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to horrifying new heights. In Lenin, Victor Sebestyen has written a brilliant portrait of this dictator as a complex and ruthless figure, and he also brings to light important new revelations about the Russian Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history. (With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs)

Author : Tariq Ali
Publisher : Verso Books
Page : 446 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2017-04-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781786631121

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The Dilemmas of Lenin by Tariq Ali Pdf

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the October 1917 uprising, is one of the most misunderstood leaders of the twentieth century. In his own time, there were many, even among his enemies, who acknowledged the full magnitude of his intellectual and political achievements. But his legacy has been lost in misinterpretation; he is worshipped but rarely read. Tariq Ali explores the two major influences on Lenin's thought - the turbulent history of Tsarist Russia and the birth of the international labour movement - and explains how Lenin confronted dilemmas that still cast a shadow over the present. Is terrorism ever a viable strategy? Is support for imperial wars ever justified? Can politics be made without a party? Was the seizure of power in 1917 morally justified? Should he have parted company from his wife and lived with his lover? In The Dilemmas of Lenin, Ali provides an insightful portrait of Lenin's deepest preoccupations and underlines the clarity and vigour of his theoretical and political formulations. He concludes with an affecting account of Lenin's last two years, when he realized that "we knew nothing" and insisted that the revolution had to be renewed lest it wither and die.

Author : Tony McKenna
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2016-09-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781782843610

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The Dictator, the Revolution, the Machine by Tony McKenna Pdf

It is a commonplace wisdom that from the authoritarian roots of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 grew the gulags and the police state of the Stalinist epoch. The Dictator, the Revolution, The Machine overturns that perspective once and for all by showing how October was inspired by a profound mass movement comprised of urban workers and rural poor -- a movement that went on to forge a state capable of channelling its political will in and through the most overwhelming form of grass-roots democracy history has ever known. It was a single, precarious experiment whose life was tragically brief. In a context of civil war and foreign invasion the fledgling democracy was eradicated and the Bolshevik party was denuded of its social basis -- the working classes. While the party survived, its centrist elements came to the fore as the power of the bureaucracy asserted itself. From the ashes of human freedom there arose a zombified, sclerotic administration in which state functionaries took precedence over elected representatives. One man came to embody the inverted logic of this bureaucratic machine, its remorseless brutality and its parasitic drive for power. Joseph Stalin was its highest expression, accruing to himself state powers as he made his murderous, heady rise to dictator. This book examines his historical profile, its roots in Georgian medievalism, and shows why Stalin was destined to play the role he did. In broader strokes Tony McKenna raises the conflict between the revolutionary movement and the bureaucracy to the level of a literary tragedy played out on the stage of world history, showing how Stalinism's victory would pave the way for the Midnight of the Century.

Author : Victor Sebestyen
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2010-11-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9780297865438

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Twelve Days by Victor Sebestyen Pdf

The defining moment of the Cold War: 'The beginning of the end of the Soviet empire.' (Richard Nixon) The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 is a story of extraordinary bravery in a fight for freedom, and of ruthless cruelty in suppressing a popular dream. A small nation, its people armed with a few rifles and petrol bombs, had the will and courage to rise up against one of the world's superpowers. The determination of the Hungarians to resist the Russians astonished the West. People of all kinds, throughout the free world, became involved in the cause. For 12 days it looked, miraculously, as though the Soviets might be humbled. Then reality hit back. The Hungarians were brutally crushed. Their capital was devastated, thousands of people were killed and their country was occupied for a further three decades. The uprising was the defining moment of the Cold War: the USSR showed that it was determined to hold on to its European empire, but it would never do so without resistance. From the Prague Spring to Lech Walesa's Solidarity and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the tighter the grip of the communist bloc, the more irresistible the popular demand for freedom.

Author : Geoffrey Roberts
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780300179040

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Stalin's Library by Geoffrey Roberts Pdf

A biography as well as an intellectual portrait, this book explores all aspects of Stalin's tumultuous life and politics, told through his personal library. Stalin, an avid reader from an early age, amassed a surprisingly diverse personal collection of thousands of books, many of which he marked and annotated revealing his intimate thoughts, feelings, and beliefs

Author : Robert Service
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 624 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2011-02-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780330476331

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Lenin by Robert Service Pdf

Lenin is a colossal figure whose influence on twentieth-century history cannot be underestimated. Robert Service has written a calmly authoritative biography on this seemingly unknowable figure. Making use of recently opened archives, he has been able to piece together the private as well as the public life, giving the first complete picture of Lenin. This biography simultaneously provides an account of one of the greatest turning points in modern history. Through the prism of Lenin's career, Service examines events such as the October Revolution and the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, the one-party state, economic modernisation, dictatorship, and the politics of inter-war Europe. In discovering the origins of the USSR, he casts light on the nature of the state and society which Lenin left behind and which have not entirely disappeared after the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991. 'Immensely scholarly but also vivid and readable. This is a splendid book, much the best that I have ever read about Lenin ...I was overwhelmed by the power and vividness of this portrait.' Dominic Lieven, Sunday Telegraph 'He has managed skilfully to depict the surreal life of an obsessive, brilliant and stubborn individual' Guardian 'Lenin's life was politics, but Service has succeeded in keeping Lenin the man in focus throughout . . . This book deserves a place among the best studies of one of the most fascinating figures in modern history' Harold Shukman, The Times

Author : Catherine Merridale
Publisher : Metropolitan Books
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781627793025

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Lenin on the Train by Catherine Merridale Pdf

One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year A gripping, meticulously researched account of Lenin’s fateful 1917 rail journey from Zurich to Petrograd, where he ignited the Russian Revolution and forever changed the world In April 1917, as the Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution Vladimir Lenin was far away, exiled in Zurich. When the news reached him, Lenin immediately resolved to return to Petrograd and lead the revolt. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia’s adversaries. Millions of Russians at home were suffering as a result of German aggression, and to accept German aid—or even safe passage—would be to betray his homeland. Germany, for its part, saw an opportunity to further destabilize Russia by allowing Lenin and his small group of revolutionaries to return. Now, in Lenin on the Train, drawing on a dazzling array of sources and never-before-seen archival material, renowned historian Catherine Merridale provides a riveting, nuanced account of this enormously consequential journey—the train ride that changed the world—as well as the underground conspiracy and subterfuge that went into making it happen. Writing with the same insight and formidable intelligence that distinguished her earlier works, she brings to life a world of counter-espionage and intrigue, wartime desperation, illicit finance, and misguided utopianism. When Lenin arrived in Petrograd’s now-famous Finland Station, he delivered an explosive address to the impassioned crowds. Simple and extreme, the text of this speech has been compared to such momentous documents as Constantine’s edict of Milan and Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses. It was the moment when the Russian revolution became Soviet, the genesis of a system of tyranny and faith that changed the course of Russia’s history forever and transformed the international political climate.

Author : Oleg V. Khlevniuk
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 425 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2015-05-19
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780300166941

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Stalin by Oleg V. Khlevniuk Pdf

An engrossing biography of the notorious Russian dictator by an author whose knowledge of Soviet-era archives far surpasses all others. Josef Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. During that quarter-century, by Oleg Khlevniuk’s estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin’s policies. What drove him toward such ruthlessness? This essential biography offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator’s life while assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world history. In brief, revealing prologues to each chapter, Khlevniuk takes his reader into Stalin’s favorite dacha, where the innermost circle of Soviet leadership gathered as their vozhd lay dying. Chronological chapters then illuminate major themes: Stalin’s childhood, his involvement in the Revolution and the early Bolshevik government under Lenin, his assumption of undivided power and mandate for industrialization and collectivization, the Terror, World War II, and the postwar period. At the book’s conclusion, the author presents a cogent warning against nostalgia for the Stalinist era. “This brilliant, authoritative, opinionated biography ranks as the best on Stalin in any language.”—Martin McCauley East-West Review “A historiographical and literary masterpiece.”—Mark Edele, Australian Book Review “A very digestible biography, yet one packed with revelations.”—Paul E. Richardson, Russian Life Magazine

Author : Helen Rappaport
Publisher : Random House
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2009-10-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781409065807

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Conspirator by Helen Rappaport Pdf

Conspirator is the compelling story of Lenin's exile: the years in which he and his political collaborators plotted a revolution that would change 20th century history. It tells the story of Lenin in the long and difficult years leading up to the Russian Revolution, years that were spent constantly on the move in and around Europe in the company of his loyal and longsuffering wife Nadezhda Krupskaya. Conspirator strips away the arid politics of Lenin's official life and reveals the real man, as well as describing his many conflicts, personal and political, with those who shared his exile. It also looks at the loyal circle of women who unquestioningly supported Lenin, at Russian émigré lives in the enclaves of the cities in they lived and the risks taken in support of Lenin's vision by the wider network of Russian revolutionaries in the underground movement, both at home and abroad.

Author : Barnes Carr
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2020-10-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781643133997

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The Lenin Plot by Barnes Carr Pdf

It remains the most audacious spy plot in American history—a bold and extremely dangerous operation to invade Russia, defeat the Red Army, and mount a coup in Moscow against Soviet dictator Vladimir Ilich Lenin. After that, leaders in Washington, Paris, and London aimed to install their own Allied-friendly dictator in Moscow as a means to get Russia back into the war effort against Germany. The Lenin Plot had the “entire approval” of President Woodrow Wilson. As he ordered a military invasion of Russia, he gave the American ambassador, the U.S. Consul General in Moscow, and other State Department operatives a free hand to pursue their covert action against Lenin. The result was thousands of deaths, both military and civilian, on both sides. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the true beginning of the Cold War, The Lenin Plot tells the shocking story of this untold episode in American history in fascinating and striking detail.

Author : Victor Sebestyen
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2017-05-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 147460045X

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Lenin by Victor Sebestyen Pdf

Victor Sebestyen's intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world. Lenin believed that the 'the political is the personal', and while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen's focus will be on Lenin the man - a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, and whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his ménage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend. Told through the prism of Lenin's key relationships, Sebestyen's lively biography casts a new light the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.

Author : Louis Fischer
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 707 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Heads of state
ISBN : 1842122304

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The Life of Lenin by Louis Fischer Pdf

Lenin was a revolution. He lived and breathed and died for it. Born in 1870 in the sleepy Volga town of Simbirsk, he died in 1924 at the age of 53 having changed the course of history throughout the world. What was the genius that enabled Lenin to create and sustain a revolution that constantly hovered on the brink of utter chaos? It was his incredible strength of will and personality, his fantastic organisational ability and complete dedication to the goal of revolution which enabled him to surmount domestic dissension and disorder, political rivalries, and economic ruin. It was his supreme ability to adapt, to change, to pursue any means to achieve his ends that enabled the revolution to survive.Louis Fischer's book is based on meticulous sifting of the Soviet sources. The author first met Lenin in 1922 when the country was in the throes of revolution and remained a devoted scholar of Soviet affairs throughout the rest of his life.

Author : George Vernadsky
Publisher : Ams PressInc
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 1970
Category : History
ISBN : 0404067581

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Lenin, Red Dictator by George Vernadsky Pdf

Author : Georgij Vladimirovič Vernadskij
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1931
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:601958082

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Lenin, Red Dictator by Georgij Vladimirovič Vernadskij Pdf