I Chose Freedom Explained

I Chose Freedom: The Personal Political Life of a Soviet Official is a book by the Soviet Ukrainian defector Viktor Kravchenko. It was a bestseller in the United States and Europe. The book was written in 1946 and published in 1947. A review was published in The New York Times that year.^[1] I Chose Freedom depicts many episodes in Soviet history, including the Soviet famine of 1932–1933, the Gulag system, and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (1939).

The book received support from the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret branch of the UK Foreign Office which specialised in disinformation, anti-communism, and pro-colonial propaganda.^{[2] [3]} Through the IRD, the British government bought the foreign rights to I Chose Freedom and then deployed their agents to promote both the author and its works both within Britain and across the globe.^[4]

It depicted collectivization in the USSR and caused a serious strike to the communist regime and Stalin. It depicted the crimes of the Stalinist regime, in particular the Famine of 1932-1933, the Gulag, the cooperation of the governments of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler and the Holodomor. It was reprinted many times, including decades after its first publication, at least in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2022.^{[5] [6]}

It was published:

• 73 times in English
• 42 times in French
• 28 times in German
• 27 times in Spanish
• some times in Italian ^[7]
• Several times in Ukrainian ^{[8] [9]}

Western researchers often refer to it.^{[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]}

It has at least 50 references in other books.^[16]

The book is still popular.^{[17] [18]}

References

1. Web site: I CHOSE FREEDOM REVIEWED BY THE NYT - New York City April 1946. sites.google.com.
2. Book: Mitter. Rana. Across the Block: Cold War Cultural and Social History. Major. Patrick. Frank Cass and Company Limited. 2005. Taylor & Francis e-library. 125.
3. Book: Jenks, John. British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War. Edinburgh University Press. 2006. Edinburgh. 132.
4. Book: Jenks, John. British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War. Edinburgh University Press. 2006. Edinburgh. 71.
5. Web site: Editions of I Chose Freedom by Victor Kravchenko. www.goodreads.com. 2019-08-25.
6. Web site: Escolhi a Liberdade . 2022-10-23 . Goodreads . en.
7. Book: Kravchenko, Victor. Yo escogí la libertad; In the area of policy and politics, it is a fundamental task of the Emigration of the U.R.S.S. en Washington.. 1946. Nos. Madrid. es. 21958815.
8. Web site: Formats and Editions of <>. [WorldCat.org]]. www.worldcat.org. en. 2019-08-01.
9. Book: Kravchenko, Victor. I͡A vybrav voli͡u : osobyste ĭ politychne z͡hyttii͡a sovi͡etsʹkoho uri͡adovi͡a. 1948. Druk. "Ukraïnsʹkoho robitnyka ". Toronto. 977648184.
10. Book: Parry-Giles, Shawn J.. The Rhetorical Presidency, Propaganda, and the Cold War, 1945-1955. 2002. Greenwood Publishing Group. en. 9780275974633.
11. Book: Снайдер, Тимоти. Кровавые земли: Европа между Гитлером и Сталиным. 2015. Дуліби. ru. 9789668910975.
12. Book: Overy, Richard. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. 2005-04-28. Penguin Books Limited. en. 9780141912240.
13. Book: Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. 1999-03-04. Oxford University Press. en. 9780199839247.
14. Book: Miner, Steven Merritt. Stalin's Holy War: Religion, Nationalism, and Alliance Politics, 1941-1945. 2003-10-16. Univ of North Carolina Press. en. 9780807862124.
15. Book: Lee, Stephen J.. Stalin and the Soviet Union. 2005-06-20. Routledge. en. 9781134665747.
16. Web site: "I Chose Freedom" Kravchenko - Пошук Google. www.google.com.ua. 2019-05-14.
17. Web site: I Chose Freedom. 2019-05-14. www.goodreads.com.
18. Web site: Escolhi a Liberdade . 2022-10-23 . Goodreads . en.