Stalin and Machiavelli 2

Abstract

In 1929 the journal Istorik Marksist, issued by the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow, published a long article by Vladimir Nikolaevich Maksimovskii entitled ‘The Idea of Dictatorship in Machiavelli’.¹ M. N. Pokrovskii was the journal’s general editor. The article was based on a paper that Maksimovskii had presented to the Institute’s section on west European history, as part of a larger project on the theme of dictatorship. The article’s publication coincided with the effusive celebrations of Stalin’s 50th birthday in December 1929. This event occasioned a great outpouring of praise in honour of the vozhd, and was a turning point in elevating Stalin to the position of virtual dictator. The article, together with three other articles published by Maksimovskii at this time, must be seen against this background.