The Moderate Bolshevik: Mikhail Tomsky from the Factory to the Kremlin, 1880-1936 - Paperback

This groundbreaking biography of Mikhail Tomsky reveals his central role in all the key developments in early Soviet history, including the stormy debates over the role of trade unions in the self-proclaimed workers' state. Charters Wynn's compelling account illuminates how the charismatic Tomsky rose from an impoverished working-class to become both a Politburo member and the head of the trade unions, where he helped shape Soviet domestic and foreign policy along generally moderate lines throughout the 1920s. His failed attempt to block Stalin's catastrophic adoption of forced collectivization of agriculture would tragically make Tomsky a prime target in the Great Purges.