Autorkhanov authored numerous books and articles on the history and core issues of Communism . His book '' Staline au pouvoir '' ( '' The Reign of Stalin '' ) , published in French in 1951 , described Joseph Stalin 's reign of terror . His book '' Stalin and the Soviet Communist Party '' is regarded as a primary source for the political background of Stalin 's rise to power . He was one of the first authors to claim , in his 1976 book on Stalin 's death , that Stalin had been murdered by the head of NKVD Lavrentiy Beria . Pyotr Grigorenko made and distributed copies of the book in the Soviet Union by photographing and typewriting
reign of terror
Great Purge
Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov