General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: John Meacham finally goes there on Morning Joe. [View all]NNadir
(33,368 posts)A devoted communist, he was charged, as a trusted figure, with going through the Soviet archives to review the history of the party.
During this process, he became disillusioned with the party, and wrote critical biographies of Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky. I believe the Stalin biography was the first, and as far along as I am, he seems less critical of Lenin but clearly abhors Stalin and Trotsky.
I've heard when he got around to Lenin, he was disabused of enthusiasm for Lenin as well as Stalin and Trotsky. I have the other two biographies, and will do Lenin next and Trotsky last. (I read Trotsky's biography of Stalin many, many, many years ago.)
His research took place before the fall of the Soviet Union, and thus represents the very first honest biography of the Soviet era before the brief thaw during which the archives were open to researchers from the West as well as domestic researchers.