From the Editors

Stalin did not act alone. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the Soviet Union during the three decades of Stalin’s dictatorship, were the result of a tight network of trusted henchmen (and women), spies, psychopaths, and thugs. At the top of this pyramid of terror sat five indispensable hangmen who presided over the various incarnations of Stalin’s secret police. Now, in his harrowing new book, Donald Rayfield probes the lives, the minds, the twisted careers, and the unpunished crimes of Stalin’s loyal assassins.<br><br>Founded by Feliks Dzierzynski, the Cheka–the Extraordinary Commission–came to life in the first years of the Russian Revolution. Spreading fear in a time of chaos, the Cheka proved a perfect instrument for Stalin’s ruthless consolidation of power. But brutal as it was, the Cheka under Dzierzynski was amateurish compared to the well-oiled killing machines that succeeded it. Genrikh Iagoda’s OGPU specialized in political assassination, propaganda, and the manipulation of foreign intellectuals. Later, the NKVD recruited a new generation of torturers. Starting in 1938, terror mastermind Lavrenti Beria brought violent repression to a new height of ingenuity and sadism.<br><br>As Rayfield shows, Stalin and his henchmen worked relentlessly to coerce and suborn leading Soviet intellectuals, artists, writers, lawyers, and scientists. Maxim Gorky, Aleksandr Fadeev, Alexei Tolstoi, Isaak Babel, and Osip Mandelstam were all caught in Stalin’s web–courted, toyed with, betrayed, and then ruthlessly destroyed. In bringing to light the careers, personalities, relationships, and “accomplishments” of Stalin’s key henchmen and their most prominent victims, Rayfield creates a chilling drama of the intersection of political fanaticism, personal vulnerability, and blind lust for power spanning half a century.<br><br>Though Beria lost his power–and his life–after Stalin’s death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. Indeed, Rayfield argues, the tradition of terror, far from disappearing, has emerged with renewed vitality under Vladimir Putin. Written with grace, passion, and a dazzling command of the intricacies of Soviet politics and society, <i>Stalin and the Hangmen</i> is a devastating indictment of the individuals and ideology that kept Stalin in power.
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Customer Response

Chock full of data, but reads like a phonebook
1. There is no way I can critique the content of this book, in that I'm pretty much ignorant about Russian history and Stalin in particular... which is why I was interested in this book in order to increase my knowledge about the infamous J. Stalin.

2. With the above being said, regardless of the content, however good it may be, the book reads like a phonebook, specifically the white pages. Unfortunately with many historical books, this author somehow fails to realize that data alone, even profuse amounts of data alone does not make a quality book.

3. Thus, perhaps for the reader who is already well versed with history of J. Stalin, this will be a welcome addition. However, for the neophyte, look else where for a book on Stalin.

Noble Effort
Like any history involving hundreds of characters, spanning several decades, and based on still largely incomplete primary sources, Rayfield's achievement adequately satisfies but does not pleasingly satiate.

Rayfield's seminal achievement is to flesh out the young Stalin and place that character at a key start line of history. These formative years explain much. It is unfortunate that with rare exception Rayfield was unable to do the same for the hangmen.

The crucial obstacle which Rayfield does not overcome (and I am not convinced that any 20th century Soviet historian can overcome) is the central dominance of Stalin. Everything revolves and must revolve around him. Thus Rayfield's survey of underlings can only go so far; their character descriptions are too often cursory and their contributions diminished, or sublimated, by the constancy of Stalin. I think that Rayfield knew this.

Hence "Stalin and His Hangmen", not "The Hangmen of Stalin".

Enlightening and disturbing -
I have read close to a dozen books on the Soviets, but this is one of the most haunting accounts for me. I needed many breaks away from this book to help me recover from the relentless bloodbath outlined in its pages. Stalin had a lot of violent and willing minions to help him terrorize an entire people. A system of terror that would often end up consuming even his most ardent henchmen. In addition to shedding light on who Stalin's Goebbels and Himmlers were - the author also focuses on Stalin's impact on the literary world and the media during Stalin's reign. Lots of letters/quotes/poems from the Soviet archives listed. Many chilling final letters penned as a last plea for their lives (to Stalin) by his former comrades. Love letters. Hate mail. The dark poetry inspired by the killings committed by the Chekists, and the guards of the gulags. Words that perfectly describe the banality of evil. Rayfield's haunting reminder of Russia's current political trends at the end of the book is very insightful as well. I think for anyone who is interested in Stalin/Soviet/Literature - this is a MUST read.

Himmler times 5
I bought this book immediately after reading a biography of Himmler by Peter Padfield. I wanted to know if there had been an equivalent of "der treue Heinrich" in Stalin's regime. I actually discovered that there had not been one, but five characters who could easily earn the title of Stalin's Himmler. This book traces the careers, deeds, and personalities of each of them, the most notorious being the last one, Beria.

It is an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of the USSR (and, in truth, of current-day Russia). Buttressed by many previously untapped sources, the analysis is precise and leaves nothing behind of the many murders and deportations which were the pillars of Stalinism. The pervading paranoid presence of Stalin, who promoted, goaded and ultimately killed most of his henchmen (Beria was dealt with in the same violent manner by his successor)only amplifies the impression that in the world of totalitarianism, there are very few differences, whether your flag bears a hammer and sickle or a svastika.

Paranoia
Stalin is a character that has always interested me mainly, because unlike other criminals like Hitler he won. His state and his ideology kept going.

This book is a good study of Stalin. I confess because I have read many books about him, that I doubt that I learned much more about Stalin reading it.

Although many details were interesting, one fascinated me that Stalin was diagnosed by his doctor as a paranoiac. This the writer feels, correctly I think was the cause of much of his killings. Still to a man in his position, some paranoiac was real. He certainly had enemies. As he killed, he gained more. As his state became staffed by people that kill millions even if they were their wives, family or friends. It must have been nervous to him, what these people he depended on were like and what they would do given a chance. Later if Beria was more paranoiac, it would have saved him.

I do have some minor troubles about the book. Partly the language sometimes the writer seems to be trying to impress the reader with the obscure words he selects. I had to look up dictionary just to find them. Parts of what he write, I am not so sure. For example the murder of Sergei Kirov, most people accept that Joseph Stalin planed the assassination. Stalin did murder people without trials too such as Solomon Mikhoels. Lenin was probably shot by Fanya Kaplan. I think what the writer is trying to do is make his book sound more controversial and new than what it is.

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