Response#1: Stalin by Stephen Kotkin

Part 1: Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin seeks to demonstrate that Stalin was not a mythical super being that rose to the heights of power. Nor was Stalin a lowly destitute peasant at the bottom of the totem pole. Rather Stalin was the unlikely product of various factors and events in history. Kotkin aims to provide the most accurate tale of Stalin bypassing popular myths about the Russian leader in favor of elaborating on the geopolitical situation of Russia.

Part 2: The story of Stalin is surrounded by mystery. The tales involving the Soviet leader range from abused childhood to sexual deviant. It does not help that the Soviet leader himself was always revising his past. Thus, history has portrayed Stalin with many different faces. One popular historical tale is Stalin’s difficult childhood. According to the myth Stalin was born in poverty to a cobbler father, who beat him consistently, and streamstress mother, who worked hard to take care of him. The popularity behind the lore can most likely be attributed to the one sided narrative of Stalin’s mother and the emotional appeal it offers. The alcoholic father plays right into the stereotype that the audience loves. The apparent logic behind this misconception is that Stalin’s poor childhood somehow factors into how he acted later on in life. A similar narrative is also played up for another totalitarian dictator, Hitler. While containing perhaps a hint of truth, too many people focus solely on childhood as a prediction of future behavior. Getting beaten by your father does not give you a free “act as you want” pass.

Like the previous historical misconception, Stalin’s connection to religion is not well known because many textbooks glide over it. Kotkin demonstrates that religion was Stalin’s savior. Religious schools offered some of the highest available education in Georgia. Stalin himself was quite a devotee to Eastern Orthodoxy, evident in his rejection of a full scholarship to a teacher training school in Tiflis in favor of the city’s religious seminary. Without the education that Stalin received from church school he would probably not become the leader of the Soviet Union. Rather it is likely that he would have become a proletariat living a life of misery at the tannery. Unfortunately for East Orthodoxy, Stalin’s later split with religion would lead him down the path of revolution. Later on from his position in the Kremlin, he would launch a vicious, systematic attack on the church authority in Russia.

The story of Stalin as told thus far by Kotkin is one of extreme intrigue to a history student. Perhaps because I have a fascination with World War II history (like most male history students) the tale of the “real” story of Stalin continues to excite me. My previous views on the Soviet dictator were quite mixed. I already knew all the popular myths surrounding him including his hand in the Great Purge and his famous Order 227 “not one step back.” However, I find myself often locked in a Stalin apologist stance because of the sheer sacrifice of the Russian army in World War II. Nevertheless, Kotkin is significantly better at writing out history than YouTube commenters. His attention to geopolitical details to flesh out the Russian environment at the time makes hardcore history nerds squeal in joy. I look forward to reading the rest of Stalin.