Nomenklatura

Fülszöveg

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It is an invisible aristocracy whose reign is more oppressive than that of the czars. Its members lead lives of insulated luxury by concealing their existence behind a smokescreen of ideology and extolling the virtues of the People's State. Even in Russia it is sometimes called the nomenklatura: the Soviet ruling elite. But who are these rulers? How did they come into power? How do they live?
Here is a penetrating look at the real face of power in the U.S.S.R.—a look behind the rhetorical masquerade of Soviet propaganda, at an omnipotent bureaucratic labyrinth riddled with corruption and intrigue. And at the terrible human toll, in both psychological and economic terms, of a system that demands total obedience and a veneer of obsessive loyalty.
Published to wide acclaim — and controversy — throughout Europe, Nomenklatura has, in this English translation, been considerably updated and includes a new chapter on Brezhnev's demise, followed by Yuri... Tovább

Fülszöveg

nomEnKMTUBD
niiîliiienraslBns^
It is an invisible aristocracy whose reign is more oppressive than that of the czars. Its members lead lives of insulated luxury by concealing their existence behind a smokescreen of ideology and extolling the virtues of the People's State. Even in Russia it is sometimes called the nomenklatura: the Soviet ruling elite. But who are these rulers? How did they come into power? How do they live?
Here is a penetrating look at the real face of power in the U.S.S.R.—a look behind the rhetorical masquerade of Soviet propaganda, at an omnipotent bureaucratic labyrinth riddled with corruption and intrigue. And at the terrible human toll, in both psychological and economic terms, of a system that demands total obedience and a veneer of obsessive loyalty.
Published to wide acclaim — and controversy — throughout Europe, Nomenklatura has, in this English translation, been considerably updated and includes a new chapter on Brezhnev's demise, followed by Yuri Andropov's anomalous rise to prominence, and Constantin Chernenko's assumption of power.
Not since Milovan Djilas's world-famous study The New Class has there been such a comprehensive, intimate (continued on back flap)
(continued from front flap)
examination of the inner workings of a soviet state. Of Voslensky's work Djilas says, "Nomenklatura indisputably belongs to the best that has ever been written about the Soviet system one of those rare books that need not wait to join the treasury of political reflections. Its time is right now!'
Doctor Michael Voslensky, a prominent Soviet historian, is a graduate of Moscow University He has occupied various positions in the Soviet Union including Professor in the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Executive Secretary of the Disarmament Commission, Vice Chairman of the Bilateral Historians Commission, Member of the Soviet Committee for European Security, and Professor at the Lumumba University Moscow In 1977 he was expatriated by the Soviets and he moved to Austria. Now he is Director of the Institute of Contemporary Soviet Research in Munich, West Germany He is author of five books, and 450 other publications. Voslensky is internationally recognized as one of the foremost experts on the internal affairs of the Soviet Union.
Eric Mosbacher has won rwo of the principal British awards made to translators: the John Floria Prize for translation from Italian, and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for translation from German, which he has won twice.
JACKET DESIGN © 1984
BY LAWRENCE RATZKIN
Printed in the U.S.A naaA
"Voslensky develops his thesis in detail, historically, statistically, theoretically and on the basis of personal experience. He presents a comprehensive and complete picture of the Soviet system—a picture that is exhaustive, meticulous, and well informed
"The book has special value due to its analytic quality and due to the objective, though not totally disengaged, spirit with which it is leavened. Voslensky does not hate, he does not accuse; even less does he curse or predict.
"He describes and analyzes, simply clearly and in a documented manner. Voslensky is not driven by ideology or religion, but by realism and striving for the truth. Nomenklatura indisputably belongs to the best that has ever been written atx)ut the Soviet system!'
from the Introduction by Milovan Djilas, author o/The N^ Class Vissza