Stalin and Stalinism

by Alan Wood

Published 30 August 1990
The second edition of a best-selling pamphlet, Stalin and Stalinism has been fully updated to take in new debates and controversies which have emerged since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Considering the ways in which Stalin's legacy still affects attitudes in and towards post-Soviet Russia, Stalin and Stalinism examines Stalin's ambiguous personal and political legacy, his achievements, and his crimes - all now the subject of major reappraisal both in the West and in the former Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin's twenty-five-year dictatorship is without doubt one of the most controversial periods in the history of the Soviet Union, and it is brought to life here for all students of European history and politics.

Looks at the roots of what has been described as the most important political event in the history of the twentieth century, from the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 to the Bolshevik uprising in 1917.

Alan Wood provides a concise introduction to the Russian Revolution and its origins dating back to the emancipation of the Russian peasant serfs in 1861. The third edition of this successful pamphlet brings the historiography up to date to include the multitude of research in the last ten years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening up of the archives.