An American Engineer in Stalin's Russia: The Memoirs of Zara Witkin, 1932-1934In 1932 Zara Witkin, a prominent American engineer, set off for the Soviet Union with two goals: to help build a society more just and rational than the bankrupt capitalist system at home, and to seek out the beautiful film star Emma Tsesarskaia. His memoirs offer a detailed view of Stalin's bureaucracy—entrenched planners who snubbed new methods; construction bosses whose cover-ups led to terrible disasters; engineers who plagiarized Witkin's work; workers whose pride was defeated. Punctuating this document is the tale of Witkin's passion for Tsesarskaia and the record of his friendships with journalist Eugene Lyons, planner Ernst May, and others. Witkin felt beaten in the end by the lethargy and corruption choking the greatest social experiment in history, and by a pervasive evil—the suppression of human rights and dignity by a relentless dictatorship. Finally breaking his spirit was the dissolution of his romance with Emma, his "Dark Goddess." In his lively introduction, Michael Gelb provides the historical context of Witkin's experience, details of his personal life, and insights offered by Emma Tsesarskaia in an interview in 1989. In 1932 Zara Witkin, a prominent American engineer, set off for the Soviet Union with two goals: to help build a society more just and rational than the bankrupt capitalist system at home, and to seek out the beautiful film star Emma Tsesarskaia. |
Other editions - View all
An American Engineer in Stalin's Russia: The Memoirs of Zara Witkin, 1932-1934 Zara Witkin No preview available - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
administration American engineer Amtorg arranged asked beauty began Bolshevik Borodin building bureaucratic called Cessarskaya Clark Commissar Commissariat of Heavy Communist Comrade construction correspondent Council director Dneprostroi Donets Basin Duranty economic Emma Eugene Lyons experience factory felt film Five Year Plan foreign engineers Garry girl Heavy Industry hour housing inspection interlocking blocks Intourist investigation Izvestia Kharkov knew labor later Leningrad letter living Lugashin Magnitogorsk matter meeting memoirs Metro-Vickers months nation Nemetz night Nikitin OGPU once organization Palace of Soviets Party Peasants plant political remained returned to Moscow Revolution revolutionary Rolland Romain Rolland rubles Russian secret secretary sent smiled social Sokolov soon Soviet Russia Soviet Union Soyuzstroi Stalin station story technical telephone told trust Tsesarskaia USSR visa Vorobieff walked wall Walter Duranty Witkin woman workers wrote York Zara Zara Witkin