The effect of the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism has been explored in popular culture in America through a variety of ways, such as The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Was there a similar exploration in the Soviet union after the Great Terror and the death of Stalin?

The thing that springs to mind is George Orwell’s Animal Farm, published in 1945. Orwell was a democratic socialist and heavily criticised Stalin’s regime. The manuscript was initially rejected by numerous publishers because of the controversial content, with the fear that publication would upset the alliance with the SovIet Union. It was, obviously, written too early to be a commentary on Stalin’s death. I won’t give away too much in case you haven’t read it, but it is meant as a criticism of the Russian Revolution, and the communist takeover, and Stalin’s regime.