Stalin - Source E and Source F are completely different to one another. One is biased in favour of Stalin and one is highly critical of him.

It was written in 1935 which was a year after the purges had begun. It is utterly one sided and does not tell us anything about the meeting with Stalin or what was going on at that time.

Source F talks about how unhappy Stalin was and how narrow minded, malicious and dangerous he was. Bukharin had first hand knowledge of Stalin as he knew Stalin since he was a little boy and he was the one who brought down Trotsky as Lenin’s successor and enabled Stalin to rise to power by eliminating all his rivals. He was the architect of the revolution. But later on Stalin turned on him because he saw him as a threat to his leadership. Stalin also knew that Bukharin knew that Lenin had specifically written that Stalin should not be his successor and had wanted Trotsky to succeed him. Not many people knew this and those that did were exterminated in the purges. Bukharin was the last one to know the content of Lenin’s will and Stalin wanted to get rid of him as he was a threat to the propaganda that Stalin was the greatest leader and approved by Lenin.

The speech is bitter and related after Bukharin fled to Paris. There was no reason to lie as there was freedom of speech in France and there was no threat to his life or freedom.  It is biased against Stalin but is a more informative piece from someone who knew Stalin intimately.

Both sources are biased. Source E is totally not believable. It was written to Congress – a one-party system with no opposition. There was no freedom of speech so the writer could not write anything he wanted and it was written in the year after the purges had started.

Source F is biased against Stalin but is more believable as it was written in Paris and there was no reason to lie rather there was good reason to inform the free world of what Stalin was really like. Bukharin might have exaggerated because he held a grudge against the man he had known and supported for so long who had then turned against him. Therefore  I think Source F is more reliable.