3/8: Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books Hardcover –by Geoffrey Roberts (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 2022
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
13th Party Congress 1924
@Batchelorshow
3/8: Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books Hardcover –by Geoffrey Roberts (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Library-Dictator-his-Books/dp/0300179049/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Stalin, an avid reader from an early age, amassed a surprisingly diverse personal collection of thousands of books, many of which he marked and annotated revealing his intimate thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Based on his wide-ranging research in Russian archives, Roberts tells the story of the creation, fragmentation, and resurrection of Stalin’s personal library. As a true believer in communist ideology, Stalin was a fanatical idealist who hated his enemies—the bourgeoisie, kulaks, capitalists, imperialists, reactionaries, counter-revolutionaries, traitors—but detested their ideas even more.
Transcript
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| 0:55.8 | These books written in or doodled in or crossed out with Stalin's direction, |
| 1:03.4 | his pencil, his ever prominent pencil. |
| 1:06.6 | The library is scattered. |
| 1:08.4 | There are many questions about where the books are, |
| 1:11.0 | what he collected, what he didn't collect, what's missing. |
| 1:14.2 | We're right now in post-revolution. |
| 1:17.3 | Glenn and died of a series of strokes, and he's gone in 1924 and Stalin, |
| 1:22.7 | who sees himself as the inheritor, is not exactly profoundly challenged |
| 1:28.7 | because he was good as General Secretary, |
| 1:30.9 | but he begins his consolidation. |
| 1:33.8 | He has an opponent whose name is Leon Trotsky. |
| 1:37.3 | All of these players are vivid 20th century personalities. |
| 1:41.0 | We're following the library, and the professor takes us to 1925. |
... |
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