ABSTRACT
Stalin destroyed many documents and materials at the height of hispower. Presumably his reasoning was that they shed too much light onhis thinking and personality. As an inveterate collector of information, he may have surmised that someone else, ill-disposed towards him, could use the papers as evidence against him. This neatly sums up Stalin’s personality and modus operandi. Reveal as little as possible and confuse the opposition. Critical decisions and orders should not be written down, they should be delivered orally. If the order concerns one person or a small group of persons, it can be given orally. However, if it involves a large group, for instance, party officials or NKVD officers, it has to be put down on paper. The historian is thankful for this since it provides invaluable insights into the decisionmaking process during Stalin’s time. As someone who was conscious of his place in history, Stalin wanted to be painted a hero and to leave an indelible mark on Soviet society. He saw himself as a revolutionary whirlwind which would sweep Russia from being a run-of-the-mill European power to become its leading force. The world would then follow Europe. More important than this would be the transformation of Russian society from an underdeveloped bourgeois to a socialist and then to a communist society. The wheel of history had to turn quickly. Since there was no time to waste, change had to be accelerated. The most opportune implement was force. Those who resisted were rejecting a brilliant tomorrow, a paradise on earth. The most effective way of dealing with them was to exterminate them. They were parasites, vermin and a disease on the body politic. It was a service to humankind to dispose of them. Maxim Gorky once remarked perspicaciously that Lenin treated workers, and indeed people, as a miner treats ore. Stalin was of the same mould. Anything was justified which pushed the revolution forward. If some innocents were killed in the process this was a small price to pay for progress. After all, the masses were important, the individual was not.
