We've finally reached the last episodes of the Soviet Union during the 1920s. It was a decade of possibility, but the rise of Stalin to undisputed power meant the era wouldn't last forever. His consolidation of power was a years-long process, and would play out over countless congresses and backroom maneuverings. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The years leading up to WWI were tough on Stalin, whatever luck he or the Bolsheviks had before and during the 1905 Revolution had run out. He personally was mostly stuck in exile, managing to escape every so often, but all too quickly caught and returned. The Tsarist regime though was chronically self-defeating, and the Revolution that would be his salvation was not long in coming. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Party business got serious after the 1905 Revolution, as the regime struck back against its enemies and the Socialists turned to every source of support they could. Stalin possessed organizational skills and a lack of scruples, so he began a hybrid life of politics and crime that got him noticed by both Lenin and the authorities. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Having been kicked out of the seminary, young Stalin embarked on the life of a professional revolutionary in earnest. Agitation, a refusal to play nice with older party leaders, and mysterious oil refinery explosions all became his calling cards. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The biography episodes return as today I cover the early life of Joseph Stalin. Born into a conquest of the Russian Empire, young Stalin was not the most likely candidate to become a world leader. But the crucible of living under the Tsarist boot and his own violent homelife shaped him into the revolutionary that he would become. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Today we turn back to the adventures of the Soviet Union's secret police in 1920s. They'd spend most of the decade picking off White exiles and trying to build spy networks abroad. But as the decade starting winding down, they increasingly fell under the influence of Stalin, who preferred looking inward for his enemies. 

While the Soviet Union struggled internally, it did not neglect trying to continue the Revolution abroad. Attempting to rally the troops, the idea of a workers International was rebooted as the Comintern. It would be the home away from home for many Communists and during the first decade of its existence push numerous uprisings aimed at toppling Capitalism. Not with a lot of success, but their efforts kept the champions of Capital awake at night all the same. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Hallas, Duncan The Comintern: A History of the Third International Haymarket Books 2008

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Peacetime in the Soviet Union created an opportunity for social experimentation. The old order was gone, the Communist Party wasn't yet the juggernaut of state power it would become, and change seemed to be the order of the day. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The first peacetime order of business in the new USSR was to re-build the economy. And to do that, they had to liberalize and turn towards a kind of state capitalism that was dubbed the New Economic Policy, the NEP. It wasn't perfect, and the new imbalances it created started conflicts in the Communist Party. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

One-hundred episodes! And to celebrate, here is a completely normal weekly episode. The Soviet Union wasn't built in a day, in fact it took five years for the Bolshevik leaders to finally hammer out the details as to the new nation. And that only happened after Lenin and Joseph Stalin clashed over the question of state power, a clash that was only settled by Lenin's declining health. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]