"I was more interested, and am more interested, in how such a dark, cunning, and cruel individual could ever have led one of the greatest and most powerful states, not just for a day or a year, but for thirty years!"
This is an excerpt of a book I just finished reading. This particular sentence is taken from the final concluding chapter of the book Conversations with Stalin by Yugoslav communist and author Milovan Đilas. Đilas took several high positions in communist Yugoslav government after the wars. During this time, as a true communist Đilas was sent to the Sovjet Union by his own government to discuss political matter. On several occasions he ended up having encounters with Stalin. In this book Milovan Đilas describes these encounters in high detail and crosses his experiences against the backdrop of historical events of those days. In three chapters, raptures, doubts, and disappointments, the author sketches how he, as once a hardcore communist, slowly changes his views.
Cover picture of the book depicting Stalin. Image taken by me.
I bought this book through a recommendation by Dutch historian Maarten van Rossum in his podcast. Van Rossum praised this little booklet due to the concise description of events as observed first hand by someone in the inner circles.
With the current events in eastern Europe, it is an interesting read that puts things in perspective of history. In the quote at the beginning of this post Đilas asks aloud how such a dark, cunning, and cruel individual can be in power for thirty years. While he first admired Stalin for his practical mind and socialist views, he pivots as he sees this man turn into a despot which lost all touch with reason and reality. Refers to Stalin as, hopefully for the remainder of humanity, the biggest criminal in human history. The quote at the top of this post then continues:
Until precisely this is explained by Stalin's present critics -- I mean his successors -- they will only confirm that in good part they are only continuing his work and that they contain in their own make-up those same elements -- the same ideas, patterns, and methods that propelled him.
While Đilas published this work in 1962, the parallels between his observations and words (now 60 years ago!) and the geopolitical state in the east today are obvious. I'm not claiming things are one-to-one comparable. Let's hope we don't have to assign the title greatest criminal in all human history to someone new. But what I can say is that yet a nation's free press is obliterated, the opposition of power is locked up or dies under suspicious circumstances, and sovereign states are annexed and it's people killed with no motive. This all the while a leader is in effective power for 25 years.
Miovan Đilas in the 1950 during his time as a minister. Image source: Wikimedia
Đilas, who passed away in April of 1995, was very aware of the facts and mechanisms in action. I would have very much loved to hear his views on recent events. It would probably teach us a thing or two.
If you are into non-fiction or history books, I can really recommend this book. It's an easy accessible quick read. Depending on your location and shipping costs, I'm happy to send you my copy!
Previous reads of 2024:
Brilliant! Loved and understood the rough ideas of the book. It's no brainer that Stalin was a bit of a mad man especially when he said "a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic" combined with the description of the book about him you reviewed makes him all the more terrific.