The Making of a Bolshevik

Abstract

Over the last decade or so, there has been renewed interest in biographical work in the fields of Russian and Soviet history, described recently in the pages of this journal as a potential “biographical turn.”1 One figure, however, has dominated this emerging trend and notably in books reaching a broader audience: Iosif Stalin.2 It is hardly a surprise that Stalin remains firmly at the center of scholarly attention and public imagination. Although a countless number of biographies exist about the dictator worldwide, Stalin is the significant presence looming over Russia’s past. Responsible for propelling the Soviet Union into modernity but also wreaking havoc with his destructive— and contradictory—behavior, if we are better to understand Soviet and broader 20th-century history, we still need to try and better understand Stalin on a personal level. Twenty years have passed, however, since Stalin’s carefully cultivated archive first partially opened, and much of what material was made accessible can now be found online. Stalin’s motivations, moreover, can be notoriously difficult to interpret, and limitations in accessible materials have led to almost irreconcilable disagreements over key parts of the Stalin era.3 With historians