meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The John Batchelor Show

8/8: Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books Hardcover –by Geoffrey Roberts (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, News

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Photo: No known restrictions on publication.
1935
@Batchelorshow

8/8: 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Holly and Cheneyce are prepping for a big weekend away and it needs to go exactly to plan

0:05.5

so they need to know exactly what they get in, like the choice of over 800 hotels.

0:09.9

Yes! Right in the centre!

0:12.1

So there are only moments away from where they want to be, with a super comfy bed waiting

0:16.8

for them at the end of the night. And with checkout by 12pm they can even hit snooze.

0:21.9

Enjoy the same feeling whatever the trip. Premiere in, rest easy. Only available to book at PremiereIn.com.

0:35.2

This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Bacheler. Jeffery Roberts, professor at University College

0:40.6

Corps, emeritus professor of history. Remember the Royal Irish Academy? His new book is

0:45.4

Stalin's Library, a dictator in his books. Stalin was a big reader, a capacious reader,

0:53.7

and a reader who had opinions, who obliged his lieutenants and admirers to shape their

1:01.7

opinions to his. He also did it with his pencil, his editing pencil, crossing out whole pages.

1:08.3

For example, in a biography about Stalin, he wanted less, is more. He was shy about his own

1:15.1

history, puzzle. But in any event, he had other opinions about a short history of the Soviet Union,

1:22.7

history how it should be presented to children, how all these stories should be told.

1:27.2

You add under where did he get the time? So does everybody when they come across this man.

1:33.7

Jeffery has reproduced in his book pages that show Stalin's cross-outs and the languages in

1:41.2

Russian. But you can understand he's getting rid of whole pages. Some things he keeps

1:46.4

there puzzling. So you can think to yourself, was this a thoughtful, excise, was this a thoughtful

1:52.0

inclusion? We come now to America where Stalin is writing not a book, but he's commenting on America

1:59.6

and his reading of America. And I read this in comparison to America, Stalin believes that the

2:06.4

Soviet Union has a good democracy. He writes, here elections are held in the atmosphere of

2:12.4

collaboration between the workers, the peasants, and the intelligentsia in an atmosphere of mutual

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.