Roy Medvedev facts for kids

Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev (Russian: Рой Алекса́ндрович Медве́дев; born November 14, 1925) is a Russian politician and writer. He is famous for his books that openly criticized the rule of Joseph Stalin and a political system called Stalinism. His most well-known book, Let History Judge, was first published in English in 1972.

Roy Medvedev's Early Life

Roy Medvedev was born in Tbilisi, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time. His name, Roy, was given in honor of an Indian communist leader from the 1920s, M. N. Roy. Roy had an identical twin brother named Zhores Medvedev, who was a biologist. Zhores passed away in 2018.

Their father, Alexander Romanovich Medvedev, was a Soviet military officer. He was arrested in 1938 and accused of being part of a group that disagreed with the government. He was sent to a labor camp and died there in 1941.

Speaking Out Against Stalin

From a Marxist point of view, Roy Medvedev criticized Joseph Stalin, who was the leader of the Soviet Union for many years. Medvedev also spoke out against Stalinism, which was the harsh way Stalin ruled.

In the early 1960s, Medvedev started creating samizdat publications. These were books and writings that were secretly copied and passed around because they were not allowed by the government. He also criticized Lysenkoism, which was a flawed scientific theory supported by the Soviet government.

Medvedev was removed from the Communist Party in 1969. This happened after his book Let History Judge was published outside the Soviet Union. This book criticized Stalin at a time when the government was trying to make Stalin look good again. Let History Judge showed the ideas of people called dissidents. These were intellectuals who wanted to change socialism in the Soviet Union to be more open and fair.

In 1970, Medvedev, along with other important figures like Andrei Sakharov, wrote an open letter to the Soviet leaders. He also wrote a book with his twin brother, Zhores, called A Question of Madness. This book described how Zhores, who was also a dissident, was forced into a mental hospital. This was a way the Soviet government sometimes dealt with people who disagreed with them. Zhores was later sent away to live in Britain in the 1970s.

Return to Politics

Roy Medvedev rejoined the Communist Party in 1989. This was after Mikhail Gorbachev started his programs of perestroika (restructuring the economy) and glasnost (allowing more openness and freedom of speech). Medvedev was elected to the Soviet Union's Congress of People's Deputies. He also became a member of the Supreme Soviet, which was an important government body.

After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Medvedev and other former communist politicians started a new group called the Socialist Party of Working People. He became one of the leaders of this party. In 2008, Medvedev wrote a book about Vladimir Putin, where he spoke positively about Putin's time as president.

Roy Medvedev's Books in English

Roy Medvedev has written many books that have been translated into English. Here are some of them:

• Let History Judge: The Origin and Consequences of Stalinism, 1972
• On Socialist Democracy, 1975
• Problems in the Literary Biography of Mikhail Sholokhov, 1977
• Khrushchev, 1983
• The October Revolution, 1979
• All Stalin's Men, 1984
• A Question Of Madness (with Zhores Medvedev), 1971
• Khrushchev: The Years in Power (with Zhores Medvedev), 1976
• On Soviet Dissent, 1979
• Philip Mironov and the Russian Civil War (with Sergei Starikov), 1978
• Leninism and Western Socialism, 1981
• Nikolai Bukharin: The Last Years, 1983
• China and the Superpowers, 1987
• Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism (Revised and expanded edition), 1989
• Post-Soviet Russia: A Journey Through the Yeltsin Era (with George Shriver), 2002
• The Unknown Stalin (with Zhores Medvedev), 2004

See also

In Spanish: Roy Medvedev para niños