Title

Lenin's tomb : the last days of the Soviet Empire

Description

A moment in history, the collapse of the Soviet empire, is examined along with the restoration of truth in the region, the truth about the brutal Soviet past and the bleak Soviet present.

Identifier

444907

679423761

Creator

Remnick, David

Format

1st ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1993

Program air date: July 25, 1993.

Publisher

Random House

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Pamyat 90 supreme dolts. Jewish--Doctor's Plot. Movie--Wall Street. Lenin. Chuck Berry. John Lennon. Baseball. Lenin, Stalin, Krush. Gorby--why did he turn right? Underlinings/notes: Nadezhda Mandelstam's "Hope against Hope." Book went to press--April 1993. Military plants not interested in converting to peacetime economy--subsidies made a mess of Russia's finances. Book chronicles last days of cruelest regimes in human history. Of French Revolution, Zhou Enlai said too soon to tell. Part I--return of history in the Soviet Union; Part II--beginnings of democracy; Part III--confrontation between old regime and new political forces; Part IV--August putsch; Part V--final attempt of Communist Party to justify itself admits a new country being born. Historical memory returns. Vladimir Tokaryev--April 1940 his secret police unit shot 250 Polish officers a night for a month. Right to decent office, cut of meat, month of vacation in Crimea--depended on colossal deception, forced ignorance of 280 million people. Pavel 13 years old, the day Stalin died--inconsolable, cried for days. Pavel read Solzhenitsyn, camp stories of Varlam Shalamov, Robert Conquest's "The Great Terror." Red Square protest--no one escaped punishment. Pavel Litvinov sentenced to five years in internal exile. Pavel and Maya Litvinov began new life in US. Both grandfathers, Alex and Ben, were born around the same time, in the same sort of place. Before leaving for Moscow, visited Ben in Miami. Wife's family suspicious of moving to Moscow. Lenin's approval of Bolshevik Bill of Rights--pure fantasy. Lenin theoretician of state terror. Multiparty system--Dec. 1985 Yakovlev sent confidential memo to Gorbachev asking him to consider splitting Communist Party, siding with more liberal faction. Jewish intellectuals. Igor Shafarevich--one of the most dangerous of the intellectual anti-Semites. Met leaders of Pamyat in Moscow, Leningrad, Siberia--supreme dolts. "Doctor's Plot." Stalin called investigating judge, gave instructions, advised him on methods--beat, beat, and beat. Anti-Semitism of Stalin era and Doctor's Plot two of countless blank spots in official Soviet history. Esther, no idea where her grandfather died/was buried. Dmitri Likhachev--Pushkin. Cinema greatest means of mass agitation. TV. Aleksandr Yakovlev--television image is everything. Ambassador to Canada. Vremya--Time. Krillov anchored Vremya for 20 years. Used as a marionette--though which and through TV a fog was created in the minds of the people. Brezhnev--Vremya began to work against him. Gorbachev--before airtime--called Vremya producers to go over details of his appearance. 19th Party Conference. Ligachev set-up against Yeltsin. Yeltsin did not really appear until June 1988. Gorbachev--signature hand motions--karate chops, raised index finger--and odd grammar/accent. Stalin repressed Gorbachev's grandfathers. His family a paradigm of the Stalinist era--one grandfather punished for failing to fulfill demands of collectivization, the other a victim of Stalin's organized, random terror, By late 1990, 20% of Soviets shared Gorbachev's faith in socialism. Priolnye village where Gorbachev was raised, "quarantined" Remnick not allowed to visit. Principal offered to share Mikhail Sergeyevich's grades--nearly all 5s. 4 in German. KGB caught Remnick at the high school in Sredni. Discovered name of Gorbachev's girl friend, now in Moscow--Uuliya Karagodina. She agrees to meet with him. When he was on the Central Committee, refused to help her move to the city--not his area. At MSU--avoided drinking too much. Never discussed Stalin. Stalin dies in 1953. Not most impressive student, but hardworking, good listener, tolerant, decent. Sakharov--end of 1989. After his death, Bonner accused press of hastening his death by never leaving them alone. Yeltsin walked behind casket--wanted to widen appeal to radical democrats. Remnick felt hollow. Vyacheslav Shostokovsky ran Moscow Higher Party School, ultimate training ground for young Leninists. 1990 ran into Yeltsin. Baker/Bessmertnykh. Gavriil Popov. "A word to the people," signed by right-wing generals--dated 23 July. Gen. Boris Gromov, Gen. Varennikov, Aleksandr Tizakov. 29 July Yeltsin went to Gorbachev's dacha. Lazar Kaganivich, Stalin's last surviving lieutenant, dropped dead. Mystery--Stalin stayed out of sight. Lenin Mausoleum. Suits for Politburo. Volsky--complained that Remnick 's article unfair, made fun of process of creating a market economy. Did not know if Volsky knew Remnick was Jewish. Coup plans. 17 Aug. Shevardnaze--right-wing coup imminent threat. Kryuchkov convened session--Yazov, Pavlov, Shenin, Boldin. Gorbachev vacation compound in Foros--$20 million--security guards, guest house for 30. Coup begins--head of KGB's 9th Directorate--leadership security, Yuri Plekhanov arrives unexpectedly. Yazov--not bright enough to be disloyal. Lukyano...Gorbachev could not see that his college friend had turned on him. After coup upper/middle ranks of secret police/army no faith in leaders. Refuse to have blood on their hands for idiots like Kryuchkov/Yazov. Yazov--not a boy, cannot join yesterday; resign today--sorry go mixed up in coup. Like Greek fable--Sakharov was the fox, man with moral/political ideals, Gorbachev the hedgehog, capable of deceit/cruelty, man of shifting values/ideas--genius at a nasty game.

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

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