The purges of the Red Terror in the 1930s ended with Beria who replaced Nikolai Yezhov (or Ezhov) and ended the Yezhovshchina. Stalin probably realized that war was coming and, as pointed out by his friend Kliment Voroshilov, he had already decimated the members of the Politburo and the officers of the Red Army. It […]
Bolshevik Women and Stalin—Free Love Advocates? If, as we had privately discussed, Dr. Faria, Lenin was much more of a sexual creature than he is traditionally portrayed by the Russians, why did he have such contempt for Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), the foremost Bolshevik feminist who gave her body to any man she found attractive? I
I went to Communism as one goes to a spring of fresh water, and I left Communism as one clambers out of a poisoned river strewn with the wreckage of flooded cities and the corpses of the drowned.— Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler is worth reading and not forgetting. It is
Book Review of Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. Reviewed by Miguel A. Faria, MD Read More »
Young Stalin by Simon Montefiore is a well-researched, well-written, absorbing, and authoritative biography of Joseph Stalin’s early years. Following the usual formalities, the book begins with a tantalizing “Prologue,” the audacious robbery and bloody bombing at the festive Yerevan Square in the center of the town of Tiflis (now Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia). The
Young Stalin — from Georgia Bandit to Red Tsar! Read More »
“One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic,” said Joseph Stalin (1879-1953). It is estimated that between 20 to 40 million people, mostly Russians, were killed by Stalin during his dictatorship (1924-1953). Stalin, the Soviet dictator, not only exterminated purported “enemies of the peoples” but also liquidated almost the entire slate of communist
Stalin, Communists, and Fatal Statistics Read More »
Stalin’s Loyal Executioner: People’s Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940 by Marc Jansen and Nikita Petrov is a great addition to the story of Soviet communism, a story that is still unfolding, but has not completely been told. This book will remain the authoritative source of the life and times of Nikolai Yezhov, until the Russian archives
