livefromhooverdc_banner_v2.jpg

The Hoover Institution hosted "Stalinism Triumphant: Famine, Terror, and Hitler's Shadow, 1929-1941" on Friday, December 1, 2017 from 10:00am - 11:15am EST.

In 1929, Joseph Stalin, having already achieved dictatorial power over the vast Soviet Empire, formally ordered the systematic conversion of the world's largest peasant economy into "socialist modernity," otherwise known as collectivization, regardless of the cost. What it cost, and what Stalin ruthlessly enacted, transformed the country and its ruler in profound and enduring ways. Building and running a dictatorship, with life and death power over hundreds of millions, made Stalin into the uncanny figure he became. Stephen Kotkin's Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 is the definitive biography of Stalin and the story of how a political system forged an unparalleled personality and vice versa.

Hoover senior fellow and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Stephen Kotkin discussed the career of Joseph Stalin, from collectivization and the Great Terror to the conflict with Hitler's Germany that is the signal event of modern world history.

Moderated by Hoover fellow: Michael Auslin

 

Upcoming Events

Thursday, May 15, 2025
Ideas-Uncorked_square_May15.jpg
Ideas Uncorked: Biotech And National Security
The Hoover Institution in DC hosts Ideas Uncorked: AI and the Law on Thursday, May 15, 2025 from 5:15–6:30 pm ET. The event will feature Mike Kuiken… Hoover Institution in DC
Monday, May 19, 2025
“Lessons” Of The Past? A Conversation On The Uses And Misuses Of History
The Hoover History Lab invites you to a special keynote conversation “Lessons” of the Past? A Conversation on the Uses and Misuses of History on… Shultz Auditorium, George P. Shultz Building
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Hoover Tower Rotunda
Snippets From The 20th Care And Conservation Of Manuscripts Conference, Copenhagen 2025
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives invite you to a talk with book and paper conservator Laurent Cruveillier about Snippets from the 20th… Stanford, California
overlay image