Stalin, Volume 1

Class in the village, Vyatka province, 1928, on the eve of dekulakization: a “kulak” (rich peasant) with leather boots, depicted watching as a poor peasant, with feet wrapped in towels and bast sandals, does the work. In fact, most peasants who hired labor themselves also worked.

Nikolai Bukharin Stalin caricature, February 20, 1928. Stalin had treated Bukharin, his political ally, as a younger brother, but before the year was out Stalin would turn against him in a way that displayed his political virtuosity and exceptional malice. “He is maneuvering in order to portray us as culprits of a schism,” Bukharin complained to Kamenev of Stalin on July 11, 1928.