A2 History
Stalin- Historians & interpretations
Part 1- Stalin’s Rise to Power
Historian Commented on Quote/ Idea
Nikolai Sukhanov Calls Stalin a “dull, grey blank”
Stalin was very highly regarded by Lenin and played a
Robert Service
central role in the Bolshevik Party
“Stalin is a Genghis Khan, an unscrupulous intrigue,
Stalin’s personality
who sacrifices everything else to the preservation of
Bukharin, to power”
Kamenev (1928) “He changes his theories according to whom he needs
to get rid of next”
Stalin had the ability to rally support and silence
Socialism in One opponents at critical moments by assuming the role of
Isaac Deutscher
Country the great Russian patriot, concerned with saving the
nation from the grave dangers threatening it
Part 2- Stalin’s governing of the USSR
Historian Commented on Quote/Idea
Stalin had “a gross personality disorder”
Robert Service Stalin saw “malevolent human agency in every personal
or political problem he encountered”
Dmitri Stalin’s character Stalin regarded conscience as a “chimera”
Volkogonov “One cannot speak of the conscience of a dictator; he
(administrator in simply did not have one”
1930’s Russia)
“It was characteristic of Stalin to have his own allies
‘marked’ by their own subordinates: in Stalin’s system
Norman Stone Divide and rule
identical thugs kept on replacing each other”
The Post-Kirov “Stalin’s victory over the party”
Leonard Shapiro
purges
“Nowadays, virtually all writers accept that he
Stalin’s initiation of
Robert Service initiated the terror”
the terror
Purges were a nature for the Bolshevik ideology, an
Ideological view of
Richard Overy “Inevitable law of the revolutionary movement”
the terror
J. Arch Getty The purges came from below as much as above
Simon Sebag Cooperation from The ministers kept their “quasi-religious faith” to
Montefiore subordinates in Bolshevism
initiating terror The ministers believed Bolshevism was a “utopian
David Satter
ideology”
1
Notes compiled by: Chew Wen Min
Stalin- Historians & interpretations
Part 1- Stalin’s Rise to Power
Historian Commented on Quote/ Idea
Nikolai Sukhanov Calls Stalin a “dull, grey blank”
Stalin was very highly regarded by Lenin and played a
Robert Service
central role in the Bolshevik Party
“Stalin is a Genghis Khan, an unscrupulous intrigue,
Stalin’s personality
who sacrifices everything else to the preservation of
Bukharin, to power”
Kamenev (1928) “He changes his theories according to whom he needs
to get rid of next”
Stalin had the ability to rally support and silence
Socialism in One opponents at critical moments by assuming the role of
Isaac Deutscher
Country the great Russian patriot, concerned with saving the
nation from the grave dangers threatening it
Part 2- Stalin’s governing of the USSR
Historian Commented on Quote/Idea
Stalin had “a gross personality disorder”
Robert Service Stalin saw “malevolent human agency in every personal
or political problem he encountered”
Dmitri Stalin’s character Stalin regarded conscience as a “chimera”
Volkogonov “One cannot speak of the conscience of a dictator; he
(administrator in simply did not have one”
1930’s Russia)
“It was characteristic of Stalin to have his own allies
‘marked’ by their own subordinates: in Stalin’s system
Norman Stone Divide and rule
identical thugs kept on replacing each other”
The Post-Kirov “Stalin’s victory over the party”
Leonard Shapiro
purges
“Nowadays, virtually all writers accept that he
Stalin’s initiation of
Robert Service initiated the terror”
the terror
Purges were a nature for the Bolshevik ideology, an
Ideological view of
Richard Overy “Inevitable law of the revolutionary movement”
the terror
J. Arch Getty The purges came from below as much as above
Simon Sebag Cooperation from The ministers kept their “quasi-religious faith” to
Montefiore subordinates in Bolshevism
initiating terror The ministers believed Bolshevism was a “utopian
David Satter
ideology”
1
Notes compiled by: Chew Wen Min
