Stalin's Swans

Download or read book Stalin's Swans written by James Coffey and published by . This book was released on 2017-01-12 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Stalin knew Eleanor Stefanov when she was a girl, and he was a young Marxist revolutionary in Saint Petersburg. He admired this child for her beauty, intelligence, and courage, but what he admired most was seeing this lovely Russian girl as a committed church hating, Romanov hating, capitalist hating Communist. However, what Stalin didn't know was Eleanor, as a teenager, would be given a gift, a revolver, and that gift would change her life forever. Secretly she would develop the motto: A woman's right to own a gun is her right to be free.The Soviet secret police destroyed millions of lives. What if every Russian, whom the secret police had sought to arrest, had met their oppressors with a gun? Eleanor Stefanov did. Excerpt: "She knew how to use her pistol: clean and load. Sights on target. Squeeze the trigger. Problem solved. During the chaos of the February Revolution, which toppled Nicholas II, a member of the Red Guard had given Eleanor the revolver and taught her how to use it. She would report to work dressed as a humble proletariat secretary, but as soon as her duties were finished, she would rush home and change into men's clothing. For a season she drifted away from voluntary party activities, even though these were important for party advancement. The power of the gun was more alluring. Target practice became her top priority. Secretly she became very skilled. . . . The police never challenged her because there was no real police enforcement, just bands of armed, illiterate men with a few women mixed in. The old gentleman who had given her the revolver told her, "Protect your virtue with this pistol. A lot of men, Bolshevik or Menshevik, will rape a young woman like you and think nothing of it-like eating a meal-and then give the leftovers to their buddies. This will stop them. Don't hesitate for a moment, Comrade Daughter."