Stalin Quotes

Question 1

Stalin believes in terror

Answer 1

“Terror was inseparable from Stalin’s view of modernization” (Lee)

Question 2

How good was Stalin’s control?

Answer 2

“No other contender came anywhere near matching Stalin in his hold of the party machine.” (Lynch)

Question 3

How bad was the terror?

Answer 3

“The Terror atomized society.” (Figes)

Question 4

Too far?

Answer 4

“Better too far than not far enough… If an extra thousand people will be shot, that is not such a big deal.” (Yezhov)

Question 5

Stalin the revolutionary

Answer 5

“He had a burning conviction that he embodied the revolutionary imperative” yet “claimed to be a mere pupil of the great man” (Service)

Question 5

Stalin the Bureaucrat

Answer 5

“Stalin is the personification of the bureaucracy.” (Tucker)

Question 6

Terror is in the blood

Answer 6

“Terror was built into the very procedures and objectives of the regime” (Pipes)