The first book to investigate Soviet socialism from a biopolitical perspectiveWestern theories of biopolitics focus on its liberal and fascist rationalities In opposition to this Stalinism was oriented more towards transforming life in accordance with the communist ideal and less towards protecting it Sergei Prozorov reconstructs this rationality in the early Stalinist project of the Great Break 1928 32 and its subsequent modifications during High Stalinism He then relocates the question of biopolitics down to the level of the subject tracing the way the new Soviet person was to be produced in governmental practices and the role that violence and terror would play in this construction Key FeaturesExtracts Soviet socialism as a distinct strain of political theory distinguishing it from the grab bag of totalitarianism or a Russian deviation from proper socialismCritically engages with the canonical theories of Michel Foucault Giorgio Agamben and Roberto Esposito and the new materialist theories of Michel Henry Quentin Meillassoux and Catherine MalabouAnalyses the origins of the postcommunist rehabilitation of Stalinism under PutinDevelops a new concept of affirmative biopolitics advancing current debates in political theory and philosophy