The Great Purge was a period in the history of the Soviet Union where Stalin eliminated the majority of the "Old Bolsheviks" and the leadership of the Red Army. This was done through three show trials ...

On his deathbed, Lenin attempted to ensure unified leadership within his party. After his death in 1924, Lev Trotsky, his most trusted follower, was disposed of by Stalin, who eventually forced him ...

In a lecture focused on the political changes in Europe following World War I, Andrew Sobanet, chair of the French department, examined the rise of Stalinist thought in France during the early 20th ...

The world’s dim picture of Joseph Stalin as a human being was sharpened up a little last week. The twelfth volume of Stalin’s collected works, issued in Moscow, contained an unpublished letter—a warm, ...

After Stalin’s 70th birthday in 1949, it took Pravda 22 months to print all the names of his well-wishers. Last week, on the tenth anniversary of the tyrant’s death, there was not a single mention by ...

Editor’s Note: Jade McGlynn is a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and author of two books, “Russia’s War” and ”Memory Makers: The Politics of the ...

MOSCOW -- The typewritten letters on a yellowing page spell out the end of an era in striking shorthand. Next to the time -- 9:50 p.m., March 5, 1953 -- is just a brief entry: "Comrade I.V. Stalin ...