Igal Halfin exposes the inner struggles of Soviet communists to identify themselves with the Bolshevik Party during the decisive decades of the 1920s and 1930s. The Bolsheviks preached the moral transformation of Russians into model communists for their political and personal salvation. To screen the population for moral and political deviance, the Bolsheviks enlisted natu
Igal Halfin exposes the inner struggles of Soviet communists to identify themselves with the Bolshevik Party during the decisive decades of the 1920s and 1930s. The Bolsheviks preached the moral transformation of Russians into model communists for their political and personal salvation. To screen the population for moral and political deviance, the Bolsheviks enlisted natural scientists, doctors, psychologists, sexologists, writers and Party prophets to establish criteria for judging people. Self-inspection became a central Bolshevik practice. Communists were expected to write autobiographies in which they reconfigured their life experience in line with the demands of the Party.
...more
Hardcover
,
344 pages
Published
July 30th 2003
by Harvard University Press
For me, Igal Halfin has the most convincing explanation for the Great Purges and answer to the question, why did the Stalinist regime kill so many of its own leaders?