{"product_id":"life-and-terror-in-stalins-russia-19341941-9780300064018","title":"Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia  1934-1941","description":"\u003cp\u003eTerror  in the sense of mass  unjust arrests  characterized the USSR during the late 1930s. But  argues Robert Thurston in this book  Stalin did not intend to terrorize the country and did not need to rule by fear. Memoirs and interviews with Soviet people indicate that many more believed in Stalins quest to eliminate internal enemies than were frightened by it. Drawing on recently opened Soviet archives and other sources  Thurston shows that between 1934 and 1936 police and court practice relaxed significantly. Then a series of events  together with the tense international situation and memories of real enemy activity during the savage Russian Civil War  combined to push leaders and people into a hysterical hunt for perceived \"wreckers\". After late 1938  however  the police and courts became dramatically milder. Coercion was not the key factor keeping the regime in power. More important was voluntary support  fostered at least in the cities by broad opportunities to criticize conditions and participate in decision making on the local level. The German invasion of 1941 found the populace deeply divided in its judgement of Stalinism  but the countrys soldiers generally fought hard in its defence. Using German and Russian sources  the author probes Soviet morale and peformance in the early fighting. Thurstons portrait of the era sheds light on Stalin and the nature of his regime. It presents a view of the Soviet people  depicted not simply as victims but also as actors in the violence  criticism  and local decisions of the 1930s. Ironically  Stalinism helped prepare the way for the much more active society and for the reforms of 50 years later.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648222257205,"sku":"ByrdShop_0300064012","price":50.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780300064018.jpg?v=1781713295","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/life-and-terror-in-stalins-russia-19341941-9780300064018","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}