Considering Stalin’s Genocides

Norman M. Naimark is a Professor in Eastern European Studies at Stanford University. His latest book is “Stalin’s Genocides”.

Lenin as Social Architect

It is perhaps significant that Lenin’s biggest contribution to modern Russian life is a monument to death. It was, after all, his characteristic answer to most problems.

Lenin’s period of control over Russia (1917-1924) was dominated by war, conflict and the “Red Terror”. It is the thesis of this essay that he considered that conflict as not only inevitable but necessary in the design and construction of the new Communist order. He saw himself as the architect of that new society. The historian Peter Holquist concluded that Lenin did not initiate “genocide” (as –arguably- Stalin did) but rather showed a “ruthless… dedication to social engineering”, in a “radical attempt to eliminate undesirable social groups.” The distinction is finely drawn, perhaps.