LEADER 03666cam a2200421 a 4500003 hubpceuo 005 20220824165523.0 006 a|||||r|||| 00| 0d 007 ta 008 040301s2005 a b 001 0deng 020 9780141003757 040 DLC |cDLC |dhubpceuo |bEnglish 041 eng 043 e-ur--- 050 00 DK268.4 |b.R39 2004 082 00 947.0842/092 100 1 Rayfield, Donald, |d1942- 245 10 Stalin and his hangmen : |bAn authoritative portrait of a tyrant and those who served him / |cDonald Rayfield. 260 London : |bPenguin Books, |c2005. 300 xxvi, 528 p. : |bill. ; |c20 cm. 504 Includes bibliographical references and index, p. 499-528. 520 Founded by Feliks Dzierzynski, the Cheka–the Extraordinary Commission–came to life in the first years of the Russian Revolution. Spreading fear in a time of chaos, the Cheka proved a perfect instrument for Stalin’s ruthless consolidation of power. But brutal as it was, the Cheka under Dzierzynski was amateurish compared to the well-oiled killing machines that succeeded it. Genrikh Iagoda’s OGPU specialized in political assassination, propaganda, and the manipulation of foreign intellectuals. Later, the NKVD recruited a new generation of torturers. Starting in 1938, terror mastermind Lavrenti Beria brought violent repression to a new height of ingenuity and sadism. As Rayfield shows, Stalin and his henchmen worked relentlessly to coerce and suborn leading Soviet intellectuals, artists, writers, lawyers, and scientists. Maxim Gorky, Aleksandr Fadeev, Alexei Tolstoi, Isaak Babel, and Osip Mandelstam were all caught in Stalin’s web–courted, toyed with, betrayed, and then ruthlessly destroyed. In bringing to light the careers, personalities, relationships, and “accomplishments” of Stalin’s key henchmen and their most prominent victims, Rayfield creates a chilling drama of the intersection of political fanaticism, personal vulnerability, and blind lust for power spanning half a century. Though Beria lost his power–and his life–after Stalin’s death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. Indeed, Rayfield argues, the tradition of terror, far from disappearing, has emerged with renewed vitality under Vladimir Putin. Written with grace, passion, and a dazzling command of the intricacies of Soviet politics and society, Stalin and the Hangmen is a devastating indictment of the individuals and ideology that kept Stalin in power. 580 Donation of Anatole Shub 600 10 Stalin, Joseph, |d1878-1953. 610 20 Kommunisticheskaia partiia Sovetskogo Soiuza |xPurges |xHistory. 610 10 Soviet Union. |bNarodnyi komissariat vnutrennikh del |xHistory. 650 0 Political atrocities |zSoviet Union. 651 0 Soviet Union |xPolitics and government |y1917-1936. 651 0 Soviet Union |xPolitics and government |y1936-1953. 856 42 |3Publisher description |uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/random051/2004042833.html 880 |6245 942 |2ddc |cBK 952 |00 |10 |2ddc |40 |6947_084200000000000_092_RAY |70 |8GEN |9129596OSA |bOSA |d2020-08-05 |eOSA |o947.0842/092 RAY |r2020-08-05 |t1 |w2020-08-05 |yBK |zDonation of School of Public Policy. |cOSA Repository 952 |00 |10 |2ddc |40 |6947_084200000000000_092_RAY |70 |8GEN |9160681OSA |bOSA |d2022-08-23 |eShub |o947.0842/092 RAY |r2022-08-23 |t2 |w2022-08-23 |yBK |cGeneral Stacks 920 01 3YRkBEe1 992 01 947_084200000000000_092_RAY |bQVS_ZRVXZZZZZZZZZZZ_ZQX_8P1 966 |cIn the Research Room