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Young Stalin | 
 enlarge | Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Publisher: Phoenix
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 3958
Media: Paperback
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0753823799
EAN: 9780753823798
ASIN: 0753823799
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
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 Amazing August 25, 2008
This is a great biography. It's fast moving, full of action and Montefiore really brings the young Stalin to life as you flick from page to spell-binding page.
You find yourself at turns liking the passion and charisma of the protagonist, and then repelled by his nascent cruelty and emotional coldness.
This book really explodes the myth that Stalin was simply a "grey blur" before he began to seize power in the 1920's. He was a competent, intelligent and experienced revolutionary, who was important to Lenin and popular with the party grass roots. His drive and personal magnetism are awe-inspiring, and Sebag Montefiore's book is an exercise in demonstrating how true greatness is born.
I can't wait to read the author's book on Stalin's later life, "The Court of the Red Tsar".
 Stalin planned 9/11 August 15, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
It is now twenty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the triumphal proclamation of the victory of capitalism and the 'end of history'. Yet this victory has not made the world a better, safer place. Rather it unleashed imperialst aggression on massive scale, accompanied by ethnic hatred and economic chaos. Unable to justify the bankrupcy of their own system,the apologists for capitalism have continually been forced to exhume the corpse of communism,dress it up in a fresh shroud, and show it to the world.
Nationalist despots like Milosovic and Saddam were described as being essentially communist - being in possession of a strong, murderous state - whilst North Korea was linked in with the Axis of Evil. Even today, the propaganda offensive against China is in full swing, whilst the Russo - Georgian conflict is presented in Cold War terms.
Who would have believed the West would miss the Cold War so much ? It provides ideological certainty in these uncertain times. Our enemy today, of course, is Islam, and how convenient to show the public its true power and evil than by establishing a link with Stalin, officially the most evil man in history.
The author presents the October Revolution a terrorist conspiracy. Marxist theory is mentioned, but is not allowed to intrude on the real issues. The Bolshevik Party is seen to be continually engaged in bank robberies, murder of opponents, intiidation and gangsterism, its memebers a collection of psycopaths who loved their work. Virtually no attention is paid to the repressive nature of Tsarism which produced centralised party organisation, nor is there any attention paid to the political work of the revolutionay groups amongst the workers and peasants at this time. Only very briefly does Montefiore touch on the brutality of the Russian workers existence, when he describes the conditions in the Baku oilfields (p197).The tactics of the Bolsheviks of 'the gun and the ballot box' in our own age have been used by the IRA, Hamas and Hizbollah(p179).
Having established the terroristic methods of the Bolsheviks, Montefiore goes on to creaed a tenuous link to Islam. Marxism is presented as a secular religion. The Bolsheviks are described as Marxists 'of semi-Islamic fervour' (p230). Stalin himself, the product of an Orthodox seminary, is revealed as having links to 'a Muslim Bolshevik group', whatever that may mean.
This book is a combination of Cold War and anti-Islamic propaganda, reflecting the pressing needs of our rulers, and is significant for this fact rather than being important as an historical work in its own right. If you want a more reasoned discussion of Stalin, I suggest Isaac Deutschers 'Stalin'.
How could this man have become the hard hearted monster of the Soviet Republic? May 14, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
A topic I would never have thought could be so very interesting. The early years of the black hearted Red Tsar and what made him become so dogmatic and ultimately wicked. A fascinating blockbuster of a story, with qualities that keep you reading to the end. Interspersed with photographs and even poems by 'Soso' the 'romantic'.
Joseph did not have much going for him in his early life with an alcoholic, shoe maker father and headstrong and angry mother and I admired his thirst for knowledge and ambition in his youth, always trying to gain an education where so little was available. He ruthlessly strived to achieve his aim to become the leader of the USSR and in my opinion regardless of his charming manner, good looks and high intelligence he seems to have had the symptoms a psychopath. His ability to encourage sympathy from people for himself at any opportunity and his cause whilst hiding a completely hard heart is evidence of that.
A great book for anyone interested in the former USSR and understanding the present situation and the Russian people.
Best biography for years May 7, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Having just finished Tim Jeal's excellent biography of Stanley I stated that that was the best biography I had read for years. I immediately started on this one and three days later am pleased to announce that THIS is the best biography I have read for years. I could resort to cliches (OK I will resort to cliches)this is a virtually unputdownable, page turner. A boys own adventure - well perhaps a bit brutal to be boys own, but in all seriousness, if someone came to a publisher with this as a work of fiction they'd be laughed out of court at the sheer improbability of it. But having said that, the rip-snorting action packed nature of this work allows the prose to flow in a fictional "style" as it were, making this a slightly better "read" than the same author's "The court of the Red Tsar" about Stalin's years in power
I'm not going to repeat a lot of facts and snippets from the book that have become apparent since the opening of the Russian archives, all I'm going to do is urge you to read this book. You will definitely not regret it.
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