The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's RussiaDrawing on a huge range of sources - letters, memoirs, conversations - Orlando Figes tells the story of how Russians tried to endure life under Stalin. Those who shaped the political system became, very frequently, its victims. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless. The Whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which Russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or, perversely, later save it: a society in which everyone spoke in whispers - whether to protect themselves, their families, neighbours or friends - or to inform on them. |
Contents
List of Illustrations | |
Maps | |
The Great Break 192832 | |
The Pursuit of Happiness 19326 | |
Remnants of Terror 193841 | |
Wait For Me 19415 | |
Ordinary Stalinists 194553 | |
Memory 19562006 | |
Afterword and Acknowledgements | |
Permissions | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afraid Aleksandr Aleksei ALZhIR Antonina archives Arkhangelsk arrested became believe Bolsheviks collectivization communal apartment Communist comrades dacha Dalstroi daughter denounced diary Elena Elizaveta enemies exile factory father fear Five Year Plan friends German Golovnia grandmother Gulag husband Inna Institute interview Jewish Jews joined Julia Kazakhstan kolkhoz Komsomol Konstantin Simonov Krasnokamsk kulak labour camp Laskin leaders Leningrad letters Liuba Liudmila lived Mama Maria Marksena Mikhail military million Moscow mother Nadezhda Natalia never Nikolai Nina NKVD Norilsk Obukhovo official OGPU orphanage parents Party Party’s peasant Perm Piatnitsky Pioneers political prisoners propaganda purge recalls Red Army repression RGALI Russian Samuil sent Simonov Slavin soldiers Sonia Soviet regime Soviet system Soviet Union special settlements St Petersburg Stalin Stalinist Stalinist regime student talk Tatiana Terror told took Trotskyist Valentina village Vladimir wanted White Sea Canal wife workers writer wrote Yevgeniia Zhenia Zinaida