by Igal Halfin
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007
Paper: 978-0-8229-5952-6 | Cloth: 978-0-8229-4329-7 | eISBN: 978-0-8229-7317-1
Library of Congress Classification HX313.H34 2007
Dewey Decimal Classification 324.24707509042

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ABOUT THIS BOOK
Intimate Enemies is a brilliant study of the transformation of Bolshevik Party ideology, language, and power relations during the crucial period leading up to Stalin's seizure of power. Combining extensive research in recently opened Soviet archives with an insightful rereading of intra-Party struggles, Igal Halfin uncovers this evolution in the language of Bolshevism.  This language defined the methods for judging true party loyalty-in what Halfin describes as an examination of the 'hermeneutics of the soul,' and became the basis for prosecuting the Party's enemies, particularly the “intimate enemies” within the Party itself.  Halfin argues that Bolshevism-which claimed sole access to truth and morality-ultimately demonized its enemies, and became in effect a theology that facilitated a monumental power shift.