Ep 66 - The Stalin Eras: Part Two Narrative (1930-1934)

Proles Pod

In the narrative for Part Two of “The Stalin Eras”, Justin and Jeremy detail Soviet society and all that comes with it under Stalin’s leadership from 1930-1934.

This narrative, titled “Stewards of the Human Soul”, covers the varied personal experiences of Soviet citizens from the center to the periphery of the USSR, the winding down of rapid industrialization and collectivization, the controversial anti-religious and anti-kulak campaigns, the so called “show trials” on industrial sabotage, the true nature of internal opposition, and the astonishing results of the first five year plan.

Stay tuned for the next episode which will feature a full length discussion with guest host Jen of How the Red Was Won. Jen joins to guide an in-depth discussion about the era covered in this narrative episode.

The Stalin Eras, inspired by the classic RevLeft Radio episode “Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective, mixes both narrative history (ala Blowback) and discussion (like classic Prolespod) to provide the most comprehensive English overview of the life and impact of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in podcast format.

Whether you’re a socialist history enthusiast, someone who’s just curious to learn more than what you got in school about the Soviet Union, or even a total hater who just wants to rage, this series has something for everyone.

Support the show and get bonus content at patreon.com/prolespod Recomended Resources on "Holodomor" as Genocide Question

Academics who do not consider the Ukraine famine of 1932-1933 to be a genocide include: J. Arch Getty, Stephen Wheatcroft, Mark Tauger, R.W Davies, Hiroaki Kuromiya, Ronald Grigor Suny, Stephen Kotkin to name a few.

Recommended Additional Reading

Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend by Domenico Losurdo

Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens

Recommended Additional Listening

Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective

Foundations of Leninism Episode Sources

The Lesser of Two Hells by Alvin D Coox

Practicing Stalinism by J Arch Getty

Excesses Are Not Permitted byJ Arch Getty

Origins of the Great Purges by J Arch Getty

I Change Worlds by Anna Louise Strong

I Was Stalin's Bodyguard by Achmed Amba

The Pattern Of Soviet Power by Edgar Snow

Revolution on my Mind by Jochen Hellbeck

Stalin's Library by Geoffrey Roberts

The Great Conspiracy by Michael Sayers & Albert E Kahn

Conjuring Hitler by Guido Giacomo Preparata

Molotov Remembers, Conversations with Felix Chuev

Black Bolshevik by Harry Haywood

Teachers of Stalinism by E Thomas Ewing

Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin, Christopher Read, 2017, Routledge Publishing

Next to Stalin by A.T. Rybin

Betrayal of an Ideal by G.A. Tokaev Soviet Famine 1930–1933: "The Law of Spikelets" Myth Explained by Polistrum

In Search of New Facts: Interwar Japanese Military Intelligence Activities in the Baltic States and Finland: 1918–1940 by Shingo Masunaga,

Wrestling with Aspects of Interwar Stalinism by William J. Chase,

Why I resigned from the Trotsky Defense Committee by Mauritz Alfred Hallgren, 1937, International Publishers

Muder at the Kemerovo Mines by Ernst Fischer

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 1949), Vol. 29

The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943 by Joseph Goebbels,

“Secret Hitler-Benes Negotiations in 1936-37.” bt Gerhard L. Weinberg The Road to Terror. Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks by J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov

Russian Soviet Archives

U.S. Archives, Library of Congress

Czech Republic Archives

Vienna Bureau of the Austrian Chancellor

The Red Book, Leon Sedov, 1936, Byulletin Oppositsii, Nos.52-53, October 1936

The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky, (1929–1940), Isaac Deutscher, 1963, Vintage Russian Library

The Russian Enigma, Ante Ciliga, 1940, Pluto Press

“Red Wreckers in Russia.”,by John D Littlepage

My Life, byLeon Trotsky

Leon Sedov: Son, Friend, Fighter, Leon Trotsky Harvard Trotsky Archive, Houghton Library, Harvard University The Great Terror. A Reassessment by Robert Conquest Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution 1888-1938 by Stephen Cohen The Kirov Murder and Soviet History by Matthew Lenoe

Many, many diaries published on https://prozhito.org/