Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison

by Edited by Ian Kershaw , Moshe Lewin

• ISBN13: 9780521565219
• ISBN10: 0521565219
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-04-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The internationally distinguished contributors to this landmark volume represent a variety of approaches to the Nazi and Stalinist regimes. These far-reaching essays provide the raw materials towards a comparative analysis and offer the means to deepen and extend research in the field. The first section highlights similarities and differences in the leadership cults at the heart of the dictatorships. The second section moves to the 'war machines' engaged in the titanic clash of the regimes between 1941 and 1945. A final section surveys the shifting interpretations of successor societies as they have faced up to the legacy of the past. Combined, the essays presented here offer unique perspectives on the most violent and inhumane epoch in modern European history.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: the regimes and their dictators: perspectives of comparison

Part I. The Two Dictatorships: 1. Stalin and his Stalinism: power and authority in the Soviet Union 1930-1953 Ronal Suny

2. Bureaucracy and the Stalinist state Moshe Lewin

3. Cumulative radicalisation and progressive self-destruction: structural determinants of the Nazi dictatorship Hans Mommsen

4. 'Working towards the Fü

hrer': reflections on the nature of the Hitler dictatorship Ian Kershaw

5. The contradictions of continuous revolution Michael Mann

Part II. The War Machines: 6. The economics of war in the Soviet Union during World War II Jacques Sapir

7. Stalin, the Red Army, and the great patriotic war Bern Bonwetsch

8. From Blitzkrieg to total war: controversial links between image and reality Omer Bartov

Part III. The Big Debates: 9. Work, gender and everyday life: reflections on continuity, normality and agency in twentieth century Germany Mary Nolan

10. From 'Great Fatherland War' to the Second World War: new perspectives and future prospects Mark von Hagen

11. German exceptionalism and the origins of Nazism in the career of a concept George Steinmetz

12. Stalinism and the politics of post-Soviet history Mark von Hagen

Conclusion.