Hope Against Hope Nadezhda Mandelstam Analysis

Under Stalin’s control, the Soviet Union experienced a foundational transformation that served to create a new empire. The Communist Party became the core of the state, forming a government of party leaders and soviets, as well as replacing capitalist elements of the former era with the ideology of socialism. Stalin’s Soviet Union also underwent rapid industrialization, shifting the country’s chief economy from agriculture to manufacturing. Nevertheless, the push for industrialization saw agriculture regress into a system comparable to that of serfdom in tsarist Russia. In terms of leadership, the Soviet Union returned to a nearly autocratic rule as Stalin used his political positions and cult of personality to accumulate a considerable amount of power over the government. Similarly, both Stalin and the tsar employed violence as a tool to …show more content…
While the tsarist state often made use of the military and other forces of power during times of opposition, Stalin largely curtailed the population through regular imprisonment and execution. Nadezhda Mandelstam, in her memoirs Hope Against Hope, recalls how her husband was taken for writing satirical poems about the Soviet Union’s dictator. Mandelstam discusses the fear of Stalin’s exterminating force, which performed their duties under the saying, “Give us a man, and we’ll make a case.” Regardless of innocence or guilt, all whom Stalin deemed as pests to the state were faced with the possibly of internment, forced labor, or death. This threat of terror included those individuals hindering the progress of the state. Spies and wreckers—those who were condemned for harming the industry or success of the Soviet Union—were hunted, imprisoned, and appeared in show trials where the verdict had often been predetermined; similar to how it was under the tsar, opposition in Stalin’s Russia was met with a swift and often harsh