I don’t remember how I was introduced to this book, but once I knew it existed I wanted to read it. I looked forward to reading a firsthand account of one of the victims of Stalin’s purges. Bukharin played a leading role in one of Stalin’s show trials and was sentenced to death. I wanted to see how Larina would portray those events and how she would describe various party members such as Stalin and Lenin.
Larina begins the book when she is already in prison. She starts “In December 1938, I was returning to an “investigative prison” in Moscow following a year and a half of arrests and imprisonments. First came exile in Astrakhan, then arrest and imprisonment there.”
The reader follows Larina on her prison journey with multiple flashbacks to her life before exile and arrest. In some ways this chops the story up so that you don’t get a chronological outline of her life. She can be outlining prison life in 1938 and suddenly she recollects an event from the 1920s.
Larina’s life was an extraordinary one. She was an eyewitness to the inner workings of the Soviet Union. Below is an excerpt from an interrogation she recounted with Beria.
““You can ask this now after the trial?” Beria answered, getting louder. “You can continue to think that Bukharin was devoted to the party? He was an enemy of the people! A traitor! The leader of the bloc of rightists and Trotskyists! And you know what that bloc was. In the camp, you had the opportunity to learn about the trial from newspapers.”
So this is what had been hiding under the mask of phony curtesy: lies and hypocrisy! The floor swam beneath my feet, the room went dark before my eyes, and Beria’s face became a gray, amorphous mass. From that moment on, I felt the same hatred for the “new people’s commissar” as I had for the old. Beria studied me, evidently gauging the effect of his vile words.”
As Bukharin awaited his fate Larina recalls his hunger strike and his thoughts of suicide and of survival. She outlines how he reached out to Stalin for help even though it was Stalin who wanted him dead. She noted: “Even though he knew what Stalin was worth, his hope for life compelled him at times to trust the monster “ She also notes how Stalin “could not resist playing his malevolent game” with Bukharin in the lead up to his arrest.
Overall this is an insightful book that presents a personal view into the abject horror of the show trials and prison camps presided over by Stalin. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
Thomas Aquinas is credited as one of the greatest proponents of natural law. During his time in Cologne he was taught by Albertus Magnus. Magnus used the teachings of Aristotle in his mentorship of Thomas Aquinas.
Samuel Adams believed in American Independence from Great Britain. He is one of the most well know Son's of Liberty. On August 1, 1776 he gave a speech to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
“Charity feeds the poor, so does pride; charity builds an hospital, so does pride. In this they differ: charity gives her glory to God; pride takes her glory from man.”
Francis Quarles
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Thursday 1:00AM
Behind a large mahogany desk in an oversized office hung a portrait. The recess lighting in the room was such that this portrait was always a glow in light, even when the rest of the room was dark. Much like a painting of a medieval king this figure stood arrayed in all his glory. It would be the first thing anyone entering the office would notice. The gold frame only added to eye catching portrait.
If an individual were so inclined they could look about the office and find twelve other portraits of the man. The portrait behind his desk was the most recent and the most grand. Also above the door to exit the office was another portrait of the man. The first and last thing anyone would see when entering or exiting the office was his face.
In addition to his portraits, one would also find his name etched on all of the stationary in the room. If you needed to borrow a pen, that would have his name on it to. There could never be any mistaking who this office belonged to.
Currently two men occupied the office. The man who owned the office and the man ...
