Comrade Pavlik: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Boy Hero - Tapa dura

September 1932. Gerasimovka, Western Siberia. Two children are found dead in the forest outside a remote village. Both have been repeatedly stabbed and their bloody bodies are covered in sticky, crimson cranberry juice. Who committed these horrific murders has never been satisfactorily proved, but the elder boy, 13-year-old Pavlik Morozov, was quickly to become the most famous boy in Soviet history - statues of him were erected, biographies published, and children across the country exhorted to emulate him. This book sets out to explore why he rose to fame, and later fell from grace. This is the first book in English on the extraordinary legend of Pavlik. To write it, Catriona Kelly, who has long been fascinated by the case, has visit Pavlik's village, the Siberian forest where he was murdered, and previously inaccessible local archives. Her aim is not to find out who really killed the boys, but rather to explore how Stalin's regime turned Pavlik into a hero designed to produce good Soviet citizens. Pavlik's story is intriguing and multi-layered: did he denounce his own father to the authorities? Was he murdered by members of his own family? Did he ever belong to the Pioneers, the Communist youth organization who claimed him as member No. 001? But the book also depicts the background against which the dramatic events unfolded- around the country roamed fugitive Kulaks (wealthy peasants), marauding bandits, and escaped prisoners, any one of whom could have been responsible for Pavlik's death.

Catriona Kelly is Professor of Russian at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of New College. Her books include Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction.