Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945–1953
Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg V. Khlevniuk
Abstract
In the period from the end of World War II until his death, Stalin became an increasingly distrustful despot. He habitually picked on and humiliated members of his inner circle, had them guarded around the clock, had their correspondence decoded by secret police, bugged the lines of even his most senior deputies, and even drove several to the point of publicly betraying their spouses in order to prove their allegiance. This book argues that Stalin's behavior was not entirely paranoid and erratic but followed a clear political logic. This book contends that his system of leadership was at once ... More
In the period from the end of World War II until his death, Stalin became an increasingly distrustful despot. He habitually picked on and humiliated members of his inner circle, had them guarded around the clock, had their correspondence decoded by secret police, bugged the lines of even his most senior deputies, and even drove several to the point of publicly betraying their spouses in order to prove their allegiance. This book argues that Stalin's behavior was not entirely paranoid and erratic but followed a clear political logic. This book contends that his system of leadership was at once both modern — Stalin vested authority in committees, elevated younger specialists, and made key institutional innovations — and patrimonial-repressive, informal, and based on personal loyalty. Always, Stalin's goal was to make the USSR a global power and, though the country teetered on the edge of violence during this period of acute domestic and international pressure, he succeeded in achieving superpower status and in holding on to power despite his old age and ill health.
Keywords:
Stalin,
political logic,
leadership,
personal loyalty,
USSR,
global power,
superpower
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2004 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195165814 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165814.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Yoram Gorlizki, author
University of Manchester
Author Webpage
Oleg V. Khlevniuk, author
State Archive of the Russian Federation
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