Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism

This thought-provoking collection of essays analyses the complex, multi-faceted, and even contradictory nature of Stalinism and its representations. Stalinism was an extraordinarily repressive and violent political model, and yet it was led by ideologues committed to a vision of socialism and international harmony. The essays in this volume stress the complex, multi-faceted, and often contradictory nature of Stalin, Stalinism, and Stalinist-style leadership, and. explore the complex picture that emerges. Broadly speaking, three important areas of debate are examined, united by a focus on political leadership: * The key controversies surrounding Stalin's leadership role * A reconsideration of Stalin and the Cold War * New perspectives on the cult of personality Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism is a crucial volume for all students and scholars of Stalin's Russia and Cold War Europe.

James Ryan is Senior Lecturer in Modern European (Russian) History at Cardiff University, UK. He is the author of Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence (2012), and his articles have appeared in journals such as Slavic Review, Europe-Asia Studies, and Historical Research. Susan Grant is Reader in Modern European History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. She is the author of Physical Culture and Sport in Soviet Society (2013), and articles in journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Medical History, and Revolutionary Russia.

List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK) and Susan Grant (Liverpool John Moores University, UK) Part I. The Controversial Vozhd': Stalin as Leader and Statesman 1. The Many Lives of Joseph Stalin: Writing the Biography of a 'Monster', Christopher Read (Warwick University, UK) 2. Stalin's Purge of the Red Army and Misperception of Security Threats, Peter Whitewood (York St. John University, UK) 3. Stalin and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939: The New Historiography, Daniel Kowalsky (Queen's University Belfast, UK) 4. Brute Force and Genius: Stalin as War Leader, Chris Bellamy (University of Greenwich, UK) Part II. Challenging Stalinist Models: Cults of Personality 5. The Stalin Cult in Comparative Context, Judith Devlin (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) 6. From Heroic Lion to Streetfighter: Historical Legacies and the Leader Cult in 20th Century Hungary, Balázs Apor (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) Part III. New Ways of Understanding the Stalinist System: The Cold War 7. Revisioning Stalin's Cold War, Caroline Kennedy-Pipe (Loughborough University, UK) 8. Working Towards the Vozhd'? Stalin and the Peace Movement, Geoffrey Roberts (University College Cork, Ireland) 9. Construction of a Confession: The Language and Psychology of Interrogations in Stalinist Czechoslovakia, Molly Pucci (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) Part IV. In Lieu of an Epilogue 10. Reckoning with the Past: Stalin and Stalinism in Putin's Russia, James Ryan (Cardiff University, UK) Select Bibliography Index