This chapter argues that the Cold War was of supreme importance to all aspects of Soviet politics, and that the literature on the period, which is still in an early stage of development following the opening of archives, certainly could pay greater attention to the interaction between domestic and international forces. The Cold War placed the USSR in an equally difficult position in the ideological sphere. The Stalinist economic system was designed to reduce consumption and extract resources from agriculture, 'pumping' them into heavy industries and defence, and the absence of material incentives ensured that the regime had to rely on high levels of coercion. Stalin's political position, like that of most Bolshevik leaders, changed over time, but it is possible to identify a reasonably consistent belief in the primacy of politika. The Cold War did not create a fundamentally different form of politics because the Soviet system was already designed for the mobilisation of its population for war.
