On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography.[Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]We start off dealing with your questions from the first two Reading Clubs of the year, before Phil takes us through the famous biography of the Soviet leader. We discuss:

• Deutscher's work in historical context

• Stalin’s parents' experience as serfs and the significance of his boyhood education in an Orthodox seminary

• How the oppression of the Russian Empire and the promises of Soviet industrialisation shaped young Stalin's lifecourse

• Whether, compared to other Bolshevik leaders, Stalin would have succeeded anytime, anywhere

• Was Stalin honest in his commitment to the revolution? Was Trotsky right that Stalin was just a cynic?

• How did Stalin compare to the other leaders at Yalta, such as the aristocratic Churchill?

• How do we compare Stalin to Cromwell or Napoleon?

• And what's behind cheeky internet Stalinism today?

Links:

• Message of the Non-Jewish Jew, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org

• On Orwell: 1984 - The Mysticism of Cruelty, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org

• I must start completely alone: Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London, LRB