Inventing the enemy
Subtitle: denunciation and terror in Stalin's Russia
By: Wendy Z. Goldman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780521191968; 9780521145626
Subjects: Politics and government; Political culture; State-sponsored terrorism; Purges; History; Kommunisticheskai︠a︡ partii︠a︡ Sovetskogo Soi︠u︡za; Interpersonal relations; Social conditions; Factories; Working class; Political purges
Description: "Ordinary people and the Stalinist terror uses stories of personal relationships to explore the behavior of ordinary people during Stalin's terror. Communist Party leaders targeted specific groups for arrest, but also strongly encouraged ordinary citizens and party members to "unmask the hidden enemy." People responded by flooding the secret police and local authorities with accusations. By 1937, every work place was convulsed by hyper-vigilance, intense suspicion, and the hunt for hidden enemies. Spouses, coworkers, friends, and relatives disavowed and denounced each other. People confronted hideous dilemmas. Forced to lie to protect loved ones, they struggled to reconcile political imperatives and personal loyalties. Work places were turned into snake pits. The strategies that people used to protect themselves--naming names, preemptive denunciations, and shifting blame--all helped to spread the terror. A history of the terror in five Moscow factories [that] explores personal relationships and individual behavior within a pervasive political culture of "enemy hunting.""--Provided by publisher.

"This book explores the behavior of ordinary people during Stalin's terror, revealing the terrible dilemmas people confronted in their struggles to survive"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The terror : a short political primer; title: Comrades and coworkers; title: Family secrets; title: Love, loyalty, and betrayal; title: The final paroxysm; title: Conclusion.