I don't know if he was "forced" into it, but you're right in that it was the result of his mother's wishes. His father had wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a cobbler and flipped a **** when he found out about what had happened.

I just came across this thread. Regarding the relationships between Stalin and his henchmen, Simon Montefore wrote an excellent book detailing this. If you have not yet come across it I highly rec it as it gives much insight into Stalin's thought process as well.

Cowboyeyes - is this the one you're talking about?

yes excellent book. There is also an excellent book by an Ivy league scholar of Polish decent whose name escapes me at the moment. It was a bio of Stalin but had some humerous antecdotes. There was a passsage about Stalin when he interjected himself into the field of language. Very funny. I will search my library this evening for the name and the author. You probably already have it as he is a famous scholar but def one of the best books on Stalin I have read and I have read quite a few.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. That Montefiore book will probably be of great help considering the shifting of my topic to the dealings of Stalin with the other leaders of the party. I've gone through Young Stalin but managed to miss that one.

Not sure if I've looked at the other one you're talking about, so please share if you get the chance. I'm currently working on finishing up my research paper for my American Institutions class, but starting tomorrow I'm going to dive into getting this one written head first (lol time management ). If there are any others that you'd like to share, any and all suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks again!

The book I was reffering to was Stalin, The Man and His Era by Adam B. Ulam. In my opinion, this is the best bio of Stalin and goes into great detail about his relationship with the other elites (and how he destroyed them). Also very funny in parts and an entertaining read.

Two other suggestions would be Master of the House by Oleg Khlevniuk and the Great Terror by Robert Conquest.

If you have these works already I apologize. I wish you the best in your writing and look forward to reading your paper when published.

Heard he had a mental breakdown when Hitler betrayed him and invaded.

Thanks! I'll definitely check out the Ulam book, I hadn't come across that one. I do have Master of the House - it's great and there's some really awesome stuff in there. I went through something or other by Conquest but I'm not sure if it was just an article in one of the books I have or a larger work awhile ago. Regardless, I'll check that out as well.



Dare to dream, right?

Dream big brother.

Various stories claim he said something like "Lenin left us the workers state and we got caught with our pants down" or "Lenin left us a great heritage and we ****ted it all up" then stormed off and wasn't heard from again for several days. Molotov in "Molotov Remembers" denies this happened but then again Molotov is a man who remained an arch-Stalinist after Stalin imprisoned his wife on absurd charges and even after Stalin died (and this wasn't because he hated his wife-they reunited after she was released when Stalin died).

More to the point of his relations with others but still entertaining: when Lenin was turning on Stalin and working with Trotsky against him, Stalin asked Lenin's sister to give Lenin (who was unhealthy) the message that "I love him with all my soul'. Lenin ridiculed Stalin in reply. Nevertheless, it shows to what personal lengths Stalin went to in pursuit of his political mission; only after this attempt failed did he attempt to use political bargaining to get Trotsky to lay off. In contrast, Trotsky had scarcely any personal friends at all.

I'm bumping this thread because the discussion in here was great.

Strongly Suggest Russian rulers podcast in Itunes, he's in the Stalin section.

just no.

I've never really put much stock in this theory because both parties knew that Molotov–Ribbentrop was at best a temporary measure. Hitler and Stalin despised each other, and their ideologies were diametrically opposed. Hitler had been the toast of the town in some Western European circles because he represented a counterweight to the communist menace. A confrontation was inevitable. The Soviets might have been caught off guard as to when it would occur (Stalin might have figured Hitler would try and finish off Britain first), but I have trouble believing Stalin was really surprised when Barbarossa was given the go-ahead, let alone troubled enough to have a mental breakdown. Stalin was many things, but weak of mind wasn't one of them.

One day Stalin was walking along his grounds with Khruschev and a few others when they came across a pond Stalin pushed Khrsuchev into it, just to do it. Alpha male, bitches.

As reported in Radzinsky's biography (not verbatim obv.)

Hmm, Service, Montefiore and Beevor are all pretty convinving that Stalin was absolutely flabbergasted by Barborossa. In the build up he'd dismissed numerous warning by the Brits and others. He was shipping Germany material right up to the commencemnet of the invasion and the Soviet army was utterly, hopelessly deployed for the invasion (over a million men were in the far east).

I also thought it was pretty well-established that Stalin had a nervous breakdown and was incommunicado for some time leading to a pretty damaging vaccuum.

Yeah, from what I know, he was warned by numerous people both inside the USSR and out. Apparently he thought it was misinformation from Churchill who he realized hated communism. But I think the point others were making was that the breakdown, if it happened, wasn't because he felt betrayed by Hitler. Both sides were expecting to fight at some point.

From my wiki/documentary based study , I've heard conflicting reports. Krushchev apparently claimed he was so distraught he retired to his daca for days before giving any orders. But that is disputed by some documents that say he was actively directing right after the invasion.

Well, and depending when it's documented, anything Khrushchev said about Stalin should be taken with a grain of salt, since he did almost a 180 after Stalin's death, going from lapdog to attack dog about the tyrant's legacy. Not to say what Khrushchev said after the fact is inauthentic, as I have no doubt he had good cause to hate Stalin, but it's so hard to separate politics, survival games, propaganda, and fact when dealing with the brutality of the Stalinist era.

Started listening to Russian Rulers podcast as well... I like it, though the host could probably use a little more editing--it's not quite up to the very high level of History of Rome, for example.

I think I got that account straight from wiki (from what I remember, the documentaries I remember watching seemed to just state it as fact that he sulked by himself for a few days after)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

Your point is certainly valid though. There seems to be a decent chance that Krushchev is either lying or simply forgot.


EDIT: Thanks for mentioning the podcast...I love Russian history and for some reason never thought about listening to podcasts about it

Yeah...I think when the movement was fledgling and constantly worried about getting stomped out by the Tsarists or capitalists Stalin was a huge asset...but once they gained power any talents he had were useless other than increasing his own power base.