Postwar Soviet Politics: The Fall of Zhdanov and the Defeat of Moderation, 1946-53

Andrei Zhdanov has the reputation of being the prince of dogmatists who carried the day with Stalin in the early years after World War II, but Hahn's extensive study of Soviet material brings forth the conclusion that he was relatively a "moderate" and fell from grace in mid-1948 for that reason. Throwing light on controversies within the Soviet leadership in those years, on the subsequent "Leningrad case," and on the intrigues and excesses of Stalin's last years, it is a fascinating exercise in Sovietology that will have to be taken into account by all who attempt to reconstruct this period or to assess its influence on later developments.