- Paperback: 228 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt Brace International; 1st Thus edition (1 Jan 1963)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0156225913
- ISBN-13: 978-0156225915
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.6 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 811,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A memoir by the former vice president of Yugoslavia describing three visits to Moscow and his encounters there with Stalin. Index. Translated by Michael B. Petrovich.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Milovan Djilas was one of four senior members of Tito's government until his expulsion from the Yugoslav Communist party in 1954 and eventual imprisonment on political charges. He wrote "Conversations With Stalin" in 1961, between arrests. The book is a diary of Djilas' three voyages to Moscow in 1943, 44, and 48. Djilas, his memories no doubt leavened by hindsight, titles the three meetings "Raptures", "Doubts", and "Disappointments", and as these names indicate, the book chronicles his growing disillusionment with Soviet-led socialism.
Djilas was an educated man, a sophisticated thinker and a writer. So that when we read passages in the "Raptures" section such as, "My entire being quivered from the joyous anticipation of an imminent encounter with the Soviet Union", it seems clear that he was not the naïf that he makes himself out to be. Rather, given his circumstances at the time that he was writing, he was heightening the sense of his early fascination with all things Soviet so that his later disenchantment is all the more palpable.
The book fascinates with its detail. Djilas travels to Moscow as a foreign dignitary to discuss Yugoslav-Soviet policies. He must cool his heels for days before he is finally summoned to meet Stalin, and then the meetings are typically all night dinners with copious drinking and byzantine political subtext to the conversation. Stalin dominates the discussion so thoroughly that when he insists that the Netherlands was not a member of the Benelux union, nobody dares correct him. Djilas recognizes traits of greatness in Stalin, his ruthlessness and far-sightedness. He describes these not out of regard or respect, but because they are precisely the qualities which make Stalin evil. "Every crime was possible to Stalin, for there was not one he had not committed."
As doubts begin to creep in for Djilas, he records the development of his own cynicism. "In politics, more than in anything else, the beginning of everything lies in moral indignation and in doubt of the good intentions of others". His portraits of Krushchev, open-minded and clever; of Molotov, Stalin's taciturn lieutenant; Dimitrov, the powerful Bulgarian kept on Stalin's string; Beria, sinister and drunk; and a host of other prominent figures make this book required reading for those interested in the era. The descriptions of machinations surrounding Yugoslav-Albanian-Bulgarian politics and his unflattering characterization of Croatian hero Andrija Hebrang are of great interest to students of Balkan history.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is a 1961 recollection of three visits to Russia, which included several meetings with Stalin in the period of 1943 to 1948, written by Milovan Djilas, a then leading Yugoslav communist. Djilas, who wrote the book inbetween two stints in jail over no longer toeing the party line, does an excellent job of combining both the rapture of the meetings from his 1940s perspective, as well as the sobering effect that both the meetings, as well as his later experiences had.
The book is perhaps not the most useful source of historical info on the period, or even of a comprehensive understanding of Stalin's character but it does form a good puzzle piece to get a 'rich picture' understanding of the Yugoslav-Soviet relationships at the time, as well as of how Moscow operated from a foreign Communist movement's point of view.
Djilas peppers the book with his impressions of leading characters of the time, from Dimitrov (Comintern & Bulgarian Communist leader), to Khruschev, Beriya, Molotov, various leading figures of the Yugoslav communist movement (Hebrang does not a good character reference get; Tito, Kardelj and Rankovic are not explicitly assessed, though) and these impressions are certainly one of the strengths of the book.
At the same time, he describes some of his disenfranchisement with the Soviet approach and the slowly developing disillusionment of many aspects of the communist ideals or more precisely, of the implementation thereoff (especially the Soviet kind).
The author does not hide his fascination with Stalin as a character, although it is never without reservations. The late night dinner events, filled with thrusts and parries, probing and other means used by the Soviet leadership to further their goals. At the same time it is interesting to see the creeping insularity of the Soviet leadership, the toadying going on in front of Stalin, the gradual senility setting in...
Overall a much recommended book, made all the better by the ease with which it can be read (not quite a page turning thriller but reasonably gripping nevertheless). If you are interested in getting a more comprehensive picture of the period, of the Soviet-Yugoslav relationships of the time, the idea of a Bulgarian / Yugoslav / Albanian union, or a personaliy illustration of some key figures, the book is a valuable addition to your library.
The book is perhaps not the most useful source of historical info on the period, or even of a comprehensive understanding of Stalin's character but it does form a good puzzle piece to get a 'rich picture' understanding of the Yugoslav-Soviet relationships at the time, as well as of how Moscow operated from a foreign Communist movement's point of view.
Djilas peppers the book with his impressions of leading characters of the time, from Dimitrov (Comintern & Bulgarian Communist leader), to Khruschev, Beriya, Molotov, various leading figures of the Yugoslav communist movement (Hebrang does not a good character reference get; Tito, Kardelj and Rankovic are not explicitly assessed, though) and these impressions are certainly one of the strengths of the book.
At the same time, he describes some of his disenfranchisement with the Soviet approach and the slowly developing disillusionment of many aspects of the communist ideals or more precisely, of the implementation thereoff (especially the Soviet kind).
The author does not hide his fascination with Stalin as a character, although it is never without reservations. The late night dinner events, filled with thrusts and parries, probing and other means used by the Soviet leadership to further their goals. At the same time it is interesting to see the creeping insularity of the Soviet leadership, the toadying going on in front of Stalin, the gradual senility setting in...
Overall a much recommended book, made all the better by the ease with which it can be read (not quite a page turning thriller but reasonably gripping nevertheless). If you are interested in getting a more comprehensive picture of the period, of the Soviet-Yugoslav relationships of the time, the idea of a Bulgarian / Yugoslav / Albanian union, or a personaliy illustration of some key figures, the book is a valuable addition to your library.
Format:Hardcover
See other reviews. If these copies are indeed good-condition hardbacks they would be good value.
Djilas began to doubt Communism (or rather, the Soviet-style bureaucratic state) partly through meeting and seeing through its erstwhile "god" and "guru", Stalin. No doubt he had been party to some dubious Titoist goings-on himself, in wartime Yugoslavia, but to be fair to him he would, and not far ahead, come to realise that there was something wrong with "aparats" and "aparatchiks" in general (his "new class"), and not just this sly monster in the Kremlin. This is what makes his recollections of Stalin interesting.
I would advise getting the book: other reviewers are in danger of paraphrasing it rather than telling you why it is so valuable!
Djilas began to doubt Communism (or rather, the Soviet-style bureaucratic state) partly through meeting and seeing through its erstwhile "god" and "guru", Stalin. No doubt he had been party to some dubious Titoist goings-on himself, in wartime Yugoslavia, but to be fair to him he would, and not far ahead, come to realise that there was something wrong with "aparats" and "aparatchiks" in general (his "new class"), and not just this sly monster in the Kremlin. This is what makes his recollections of Stalin interesting.
I would advise getting the book: other reviewers are in danger of paraphrasing it rather than telling you why it is so valuable!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Drinking bouts with Stalin
Milovan Djilas was a leading member of the Yugoslav Communist Party until he had a fall out with Tito and became a dissident. This book, however, is about earlier events. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ashtar Command
conversations with Stalin
The author of this book went to see Stalin 2 or 3 times as Yugoslavia's representative at the height of commununism and it's mainly about conversations Djilas had with Stalin and... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2006 by R. C. Morris
a great book
It was a great book. Gilas was a great. I'm comunist and Gilas opened my eyes.
Published on 19 Jan 1999
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