Stalinism on Trial - (Lse Studies in Spanish History) by Jonathan Sherry (Hardcover)

About the Book

Stalinism on Trial is a history of Communism and anti-Communism in the Spanish Civil War. Using newly available archival material, it analyses the wartime prosecution of the left-wing party, POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), to reassess Soviet intervention in Spain and reappraise the role of Premier Juan Negrín.

Book Synopsis

Stalinism on Trial is a history of Communism and anti-Communism in the Spanish Civil War. It uses newly available archival material to reassess Soviet intervention in Spain and reappraise the role of Premier Juan Negrín. How did the Soviet operation affect attempts to rebuild the Republican justice system that the war had shattered? How did Negrín use the courts to combat wartime espionage and treason in the era of the Soviet mass repressions? How did wartime trials communicate politics, both domestic and international? Finally, how have Cold War politics distorted our understanding of Communism in the Spanish Civil War? Stalinism on Trial traces the Republic's tribunals through revolution and war, focusing in particular on the prosecution and "show trial" of the anti-Stalin Marxist party, POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), in whose militia George Orwell served. This small party was thrown onto centre stage when police arrested its leadership on suspicion of espionage and its leader, Andreu Nin, disappeared while in police custody. The ensuing prosecution and dramatic courtroom trial highlighted the contradictions of Soviet intervention in Spain. It also illustrated the disastrous impact that western anti-Communism and appeasement had on Spain's war effort. The book is at once a penetrating microhistory of the POUM's prosecution and an expansive transnational history of antifascism in interwar Europe.

Review Quotes

Jonathan Sherry's lucid prose and thorough research are the basis of a truly important contribution to the history of the Spanish Civil War. It is a painstaking analysis of the trial for treason of the leaders of the left Communist POUM, in whose militia George Orwell was a volunteer. Dr Sherry's demolition of the damaging, and enduring, Cold-War myth that this was a Soviet show-trial mounted in Spain reads like an espionage thriller. It undermines Orwell's claim in Homage to Catalonia that the Republican government was "virtually under Communist control".

"Dr Sherry's scholarly study debunks the Cold-War myth that Stalin 'imported' his war against 'Trotskyism' to Republican Spain. Sherry's research reveals a Republican prime minister and judiciary grappling with the complexities of an internationalised conflict, but successfully protecting the Republic's own interests in its war against fascism." Professor Helen Graham, Royal Holloway University of London

"This is a highly original, well-written, and superbly researched work. It builds on and complements some recent literature produced by leading scholars in the field." Dr Paco Romero Salvado, University of Bristol

About the Author