Excerpt from Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

That day on Yerevan Square: Roy Stanley De Lon, Stalin and Social Democracy,
1905—1922: The Political Diaries of David A. Sagirashvili (henceforth Sagirashvili), pp.
183—86. Candide Charkviani, “Memoirs,” p. 15, on Kamo and Kote. Robert Service,
Stalin, p. 163. Okhrana on Kamo spending all July with Lenin at dacha: Edward
Ellis Smith, The Young Stalin (henceforth Smith), pp. 200—206. Boris Souvarine,
Staline, pp. 93—110. Essad Bey, Stalin (henceforth Essad Bey), p. 82. L. D. Trotsky,
Stalin, pp. 96—100. Miklos Kun, Stalin: An Unknown Portrait (henceforth Kun), pp.
73—75.

On Tiflis: Stephen F. Jones, Socialism in Georgian Colors (henceforth Jones), pp. 160—67. Razhden Arsenidze, “Iz vospominaniya o Staline” (henceforth Arsenidze). Boris Bazhanov, Stalin, p. 107. A. V. Baikaloff, I Knew Stalin, p. 20. Arrest of Djugashvili, known as teacher of workers and said to be always holding himself apart: GMIKA 116, Report of Chief of Kutaisi Province Gendarmerie to the Police Department, 9 Apr. 1902. Armenian Review no. 2 (3), 7 Sept. 1949, p. 114. Martov libel case: RGASPI 558.2.42. Kun, pp. 81—84; Pravda, 1 April 1918; Vperod, 31 March 1918. Stalin’s role: interviews with Voznesensky, 20 Sept. 1907, and 10 June 1908, and with Comrade Koba ( J. Stalin), 19 Mar. 1908: RGASPI 332.1.53: 15 (2) O2. 23 (10), 1905—1910, TSL Organized Committee to Investigate Tiflis Expropriation. Stalin on the bank robbery: GDMS 87.1955-368.11—13, Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze: Kamo’s sword. The other inside man: GF IML 8.2.1.54.214—15, Kote Charkviani, in which the memoirist, recording his memoirs in 1936, specifies how Stalin and Kamo groomed Gigo Kasradze, who was the brother-in-law of the priest’s son Kote Charkviani. International newspapers: Moskovskie Vedomosti, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21 June 1907. Isari, 14 July 1907. Le Temps, 27 June 1907. Daily Mirror, 27 June 1907. The Times, 27 and 29 June 1907.
[2] In 1903, the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party split into two factions, the Bolsheviks under Lenin and the Mensheviks under Martov, who fought one another but remained part of the same party until 1912 when they formally divided, never to reunite. Lenin organized and led a secret three-man cabal called the Bolshevik Centre to raise money using bank robbery and organized crime rackets.
[3] Berlin: Ostrovsky, pp. 256—59. I. V. Stalin, Sochineniya, 13:122 Stalin to Ludwig; also Smith, pp. 198—99.Trotsky, Stalin, pp. 96—107.
[4] Arsenidze, p. 220–young men followed Stalin. GF IML 8.5.384.3—10, Autobiographical notes by Kamo. Stalin’s magnetism by Kamo’s sister Dzhavaira Khutulashvili: Kun, p. 75. Kamo’s face: Sergei Alliluyev and Anna Alliluyeva, Alliluyev Memoirs, pp. 220—21. Role of girls, etc.: GF IML 8.2.1.624.1—26, Bachua Kupriashvili.
[5] GDMS 87.1955-368.11—13: Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze.
[6] Davrichewy, pp. 174—77, 188—89, 237—39. Charkviani, “Memoirs,” p. 15–Kamo truly amazing.
[7] The distances in this urban village are tiny. The seminary, Stalin’s family home, the Viceroy’s Palace and the bank are all about two minutes’ walk from the site of the bank robbery. Most of the buildings in Yerevan (later Beria, then Lenin, now Freedom) Square that feature here remain standing: the Tilipuchuri Tavern (now empty of any princes or brigands), the seminary (now a museum), the City Hall, the HQ of the Caucasus Command, the State Bank and the Viceroy’s Palace (where Stalin’s mother lived so long) are all unchanged. The Caravanserai, Pushkin Gardens, Adelkhanov Shoe Warehouse (where Stalin had worked) and the bazaars are gone.

Excerpted from Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore Copyright © 2007 by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.