The central thesis of robert gellatelys work lenin stalin and hitler the age of social catastrophe is that the advent of lenin and the bolshevik party to power in russia in 1917 directly led to the nightmare societies of germany and the soviet union in the 1920s 30s and beyond gellately expertly makes the case that stalin was the logical successor to lenin and dismisses the notion that lenins ideas while flawed were noble and ultimately corrupted by stalin it was lenin who . A bold new accounting of the great social and political upheavals that enveloped europe between 1914 and 1945 from the russian revolution through the second world warin lenin stalin and hitler. The central thesis of robert gellatelys work lenin stalin and hitler the age of social catastrophe is that the advent of lenin and the bolshevik party to power in russia in 1917 directly led to the nightmare societies of germany and the soviet union in the 1920s 30s and beyond gellately expertly makes the case that stalin was the logical successor to lenin and dismisses the notion that lenins ideas while flawed were noble and ultimately corrupted by stalin it was lenin who . Lenin stalin and hitler the age of social catastrophe lenin stalin and hitler between 1914 and 1945 european society was in almost continuous upheaval enduring two world wars the russian. Lenin stalin and hitler the age of social catastrophe by robert gellately 720 pp knopf 2007 purchase sign in and save to read later save to pocket share print this article save share on twitter share on facebook send by email get a link on one level gellatelys book is a well told but familiar narrative of the horrors committed in germany and russia between the start of world