Sell Us the Rope
by Stephen May | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 1913207889 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 1913207889 Global Overview for this book
1 journaler for this copy...
Added to my permanent virtual library
25/01/23 - I’ve read all Stephen May’s books and this is a departure, fictionalised real historic characters and events (getting closer to a fiction/nf favourite author of mine Francis Spufford). In this case, it follows Stalin ‘Koba’ and the communist great and good to the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic and Labour Party to a church hall in East London! I don’t know how much of Stalin’s character is creative licence, but he comes across as a really complex character, not yet the paranoid mass killer he will become. He has a young family, he is a spy for the Tsarists ‘Okhrana’ secret police (or maybe a double agent?), he is kind to a young sensitive English boy who is being bullied by his father, is a reluctant suitor to the fiery Finn, Elli Vuokko. However, we do have hints of his history of violence and hard-headed desire to be in power; he is the bank-robber-in-chief, using ‘expropriation’ to boost party funds. At this stage Koba seems happy to sit on the sidelines as the Bolsheviks (Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg) and Mensheviks (Martov) battle for the heart and soul of the party. As a Georgian he is not invited to be a full voting member, but his skills and influence are being nurtured, and as we know his day will come.
The title comes from the saying about capitalists that they will sell you the rope to hang you, or lend you the money (with interest) and sell you the rope. This is a brilliant book with vivid imagery of the dirty bustling immigrant East End at a pivotal time and place that would shape the rest of the century and beyond.
25/01/23 - I’ve read all Stephen May’s books and this is a departure, fictionalised real historic characters and events (getting closer to a fiction/nf favourite author of mine Francis Spufford). In this case, it follows Stalin ‘Koba’ and the communist great and good to the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic and Labour Party to a church hall in East London! I don’t know how much of Stalin’s character is creative licence, but he comes across as a really complex character, not yet the paranoid mass killer he will become. He has a young family, he is a spy for the Tsarists ‘Okhrana’ secret police (or maybe a double agent?), he is kind to a young sensitive English boy who is being bullied by his father, is a reluctant suitor to the fiery Finn, Elli Vuokko. However, we do have hints of his history of violence and hard-headed desire to be in power; he is the bank-robber-in-chief, using ‘expropriation’ to boost party funds. At this stage Koba seems happy to sit on the sidelines as the Bolsheviks (Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg) and Mensheviks (Martov) battle for the heart and soul of the party. As a Georgian he is not invited to be a full voting member, but his skills and influence are being nurtured, and as we know his day will come.
The title comes from the saying about capitalists that they will sell you the rope to hang you, or lend you the money (with interest) and sell you the rope. This is a brilliant book with vivid imagery of the dirty bustling immigrant East End at a pivotal time and place that would shape the rest of the century and beyond.
