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Politics, Murder, & Love in Stalin's Kremlin, by Paul R. Gregory
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Politics, Murder, & Love in Stalin's Kremlin, by Paul R. Gregory
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Politics, Murder, & Love in Stalin's Kremlin, by Paul R. Gregory
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Politics, Murder, & Love in Stalin's Kremlin, by Paul R. Gregory

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A founding father of the Soviet Union at the age of twenty nine, Nikolai Bukharin was the editor of Pravda and an intimate Lenin's exile. (Lenin later dubbed him "the favorite of the party.") But after forming an alliance with Stalin to remove Leon Trotsky from power, Bukharin crossed swords with Stalin over their differing visions of the world's first socialist state and paid the ultimate price with his life. Bukharin's wife, Anna Larina, the stepdaughter of a high Bolshevik official, spent much of her life in prison camps and in exile after her husband's execution.

In Politics, Murder, and Love in Stalin's Kremlin: The Story of Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina, Paul Gregory sheds light on how the world's first socialist state went terribly wrong and why it was likely to veer off course through the story of two of Stalin's most prominent victims. Drawn from Hoover Institution archival documents, the story of Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina begins with the optimism of the socialist revolution and then turns into a dark saga of foreboding and terror as the game changes from political struggle to physical survival. Told for the most part in the words of the participants, it is a story of courage and cowardice, strength and weakness, misplaced idealism, missed opportunities, bungling, and, above all, love.

Paul R. Gregory, a Hoover Institution research fellow, holds an endowed professorship in the Department of Economics at the University of Houston, Texas, and is a research professor at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 19, 2010
ISBN9780817910341
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Politics, Murder, & Love in Stalin's Kremlin, by Paul R. Gregory

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Originally published on Read Handed.Paul R. Gregory's Politics, Murder, and Love in Stalin's Kremlin: The Story of Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina is a quick read. When's the last time you read a history book aimed at adults that was less than 200 pages long? The chapters are numerous and short; most only three or four pages long.The book chronicles Nikolai Bukharin's fate in Joseph Stalin's regime. Bukharin, once a confidant of Lenin and considered the "Golden Boy" of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, was one of the party leaders sucked into the political upheaval that occurred after Lenin's death and during Stalin's climb to power. Stalin used those around him as pawns to get his way and then disposed of his allies when they became too much of a threat.Though the title and subtitle tout a love story, Gregory doesn't flesh it out in the book. The narrative overall is lacking, leaving the book feeling stale and uninviting. The facts are there, with primary document evidence, quotes from meeting transcripts, and dates, but the emotion behind everything is minimal at best. The reader gets to know Bukharin, but get few relatable details about Anna Larina as an adult. Gregory tells us that as a child she idolizes and adores the much older Bukharin and gives us the facts about their later courtship and marriage, but I still feel like I don't know who these two were as a couple. How did they relate to each other? What challenges did the age difference bring?The book is more about Bukharin's downfall and death then the relationship between him and his young, third wife. I like the human interest side of history, and though the title indicates that this book would deliver, it did not.My senior high school history class discussed Russia a great deal. Our main units encompassed the Cold War and, separately, single party states. The Soviet Union falls into both of those topics, so we covered it thoroughly. I would recommend that anyone reading this book have some prior knowledge of the Bolshevik history of the U.S.S.R., especially about Bolshevik ideology itself and Stalin's great purges. Bukharin's was a name familiar to me, but I did not know much about him.Gregory portrays Stalin as ruthless, jealous, and unbalanced: a portrayal with which most historians agree. Here are some examples of that portrayal:"Stalin's rivals underestimated his willingness to fight as underhandedly as necessary for as long as needed" (pg. xviii) "As always, Stalin maintained an air of equanimity, calm, and reasonableness. But beneath this veneer boiled seething resentment, jealousy, rage, and a desire for revenge" (pg. 37).Meanwhile, he portrays Bukharin as intelligent, sensitive, and bumbling. Interestingly, Gregory discusses how information about Bukharin's life, trials, and death revealed itself slowly after Stalin's reign ended. As would be expected, Stalin erased all evidence of Bukharin from the public party history, but kept meticulous records in the private party archives. The transformation of Bukharin's reputation over the years was one of the most interesting parts of the book.Overall, Politics, Murder, and Love in Stalin's Kremlin was a decent read. Those who wish to take a serious look at Bukharin or Stalin's rise to power should turn to more complete and interesting accounts, but for those who already know a bit about this cast of characters, this quick, but dry, read will add dimension to your perspective, though probably will not tell you much you don't already know.