Ep 70 - The Stalin Eras, Part 3.5: War Is Already Here (1936-1939)

Our longest and most controversial episode. This narrative, titled “War Is Already Here” (using the latest archival scholarship) details the legitimacy of the controversial Moscow Trials, the origins of the “Great Terror”,  the climax of the Spanish Civil War, war with Japan and apocalyptically - the beginning of a second globe spanning conflict! 

The Stalin Eras, inspired by the classic RevLeft Radio episode “Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective",  mixes both narrative history (ala Blowback) and discussion (like classic Prolespod) to provide the most comprehensive English overview of the life and impact of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in podcast format.

Whether you’re a socialist history enthusiast, someone who’s just curious to learn more than what you got in school about the Soviet Union, or even a total hater who just wants to rage, this series has something for everyone. 

Support the show at www.patreon.com/prolespod

 

Recommended Supplemental Reading

Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend  by Domenico Losurdo

Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn by Domenico Losurdo 

For a Few Canards More: Counter Inquiry on Stalin and the Soviet Union by Aymeric Monville

 

Recommended Supplemental Listening

How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley

Was the Soviet Union Totalitarian w/ Robert Thurston

Understanding Siege Socialim w/ Gabriel Rockhill 

The American Ambassador Who Supported Stalin w/ Dominique Petit-Wagner

Stalin's Constitution & Life in 1930s Soviet Union w/ Samantha Lomb

 

Sources

Stalin's Failed Alliance: The Struggle for Collective Security, 1936-1939 by Michael Jabara Carley

Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shapped World War II by Stuart D. Goldman

Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat by David Shearer 

International Communism and the Origins of World War II by Jonathan Haslam

Marshal of Victory: The Autobiography of General Georgy Zhukov

The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Spanish Civil War ed. Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez, Alison Ribeiro De Menezes, Adrian Shubert

Reflections on Stalinism ed. J.Arch Getty, Lewis Siegelbaum 

How Russia Blasted Hitler's Spy Machine by Joseph E. Davies

Soviet Archives