Souvarine, Boris

Boris Konstantinovich Souvarine, the self-educated pioneering Sovietologist, was born in Kiev, Russia but brought to France as a small boy. He was the only foreign communist to have been a member of all three leading bodies of the Comintern for three years in succession. His most well known work was the first biography of Joseph Stalin, published in 1935 as Staline, Aperçu Historique Bolchévisme. For the next sixty years he was a leading Sovietologist and anti-communist, founder of L'Institut d'Histoire Sociale (Paris), as well as an author, editor, historian, journalist and publisher.

From the guide to the Boris Souvarine papers, 1915-1984 (inclusive), 1940-1984 (bulk)., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Biographical/Historical Note

Russian-born French journalist and author; French communist leader, 1919-1924.

From the guide to the Boris Souvarine papers, 1925-1971, (Hoover Institution Archives)