| Description |
1 online resource (xvii, 254 pages) |
| Contents |
The sowing of crosses -- Socially dangerous children -- Fellow travelers -- Peasants -- The intelligentsia -- The clergy -- Twice betrayed -- Forever slandered -- Anti-semitism -- From Kronstadt to Novocherkassk -- Harvest of crosses (In lieu of an epilogue) |
| Summary |
"Alexander N. Yakovlev played a unique role in transforming the Soviet Union during the Gorbachev years. Yakovlev almost single-handedly invented the concept of perestroika and persuaded Gorbachev to pursue it, despite the cataclysmic changes he knew would ensue. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yakovlev has devoted himself to understanding its tragic history. This book is the outcome of ten years of research and a lifetime of reflection on the evils of the system of which he was a part and which shaped the country he loves." "Through his privileged access to the Presidential Archives and other state and Party archives, Yakovlev is able to put Soviet history into unique perspective: like Churchill, he was both participant and witness. His direct personal experience of events and his interactions with important Soviet political figures lend an unprecedented vividness to the episodes in history that he describes. Indicting the Soviet system from its inception, Yakovlev focuses chapter by chapter on different groups of victims, including children, peasants, the intelligentsia, the churches and religious believers, forced laborers, Mensheviks, and Jews. In all, the author estimates that 60 million citizens were killed during the Soviet years and that millions more died of starvation. He unhesitatingly names those individuals who bear responsibility for these catastrophic deaths, bringing into sharper focus than ever before the facts, the perpetrators, and the events of the Soviet Union's years of terror."--Jacket |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-248) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Communism -- Soviet Union -- History
|
|
Political purges -- Soviet Union -- History
|
|
Communism
|
|
Political purges
|
|
Politics and government
|
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Communisme.
|
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Vervolgingen.
|
| SUBJECT |
Soviet Union -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125832
|
| Subject |
Soviet Union
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Austin, Anthony, translator.
|
|
Hollander, Paul, 1932-2019, writer of foreword
|
| ISBN |
9780300149968 |
|
0300149964 |
|
