Stalinism as a Way of Life: A Narrative in Documents

In this unique book, we hear the poignant voices of those who experienced firsthand the 1930s in the Soviet Union. The book's 157 documents, selected from newly opened Soviet archives, include primarily letters from ordinary citizens to authorities but also various official reports and correspondence. The documents illuminate in new ways the complex social roots of Stalinism and the texture of daily life during a highly traumatic decade."Maybe some people are shy about writing, but I will write the real truth. . . . Is it really possible that people at the newspaper haven't heard this. . . that we don't want to be on the kolkhoz [collective farm], we work and work, and there's nothing to eat. Really, how can we live?"-A farmer's letter, 1936, from Stalinism as a Way of Life. Annals of Communism series