A. Kemp-Welch (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198278665
- eISBN:
- 9780191684227
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198278665.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. ...
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Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. This collection of chapters provides is a systematic study of his ideas. The book analyses three major areas of his thought: economics and the peasantry, politics and international relations, and culture and science, and examines his influence both on his contemporaries and on subsequent thinkers. The introduction establishes the context for this discussion, and also provides a historical evaluation of Bukharin's role in relation to the emergence of Stalinism, the phenomenon that finally removed him from the political stage. Contributors include Anna diBiagio, John Biggart, V. P. Danilov, Peter Ferdinand, Neil Harding, A. Kemp-Welch, Robert Lewis, and Alec Nove.Less
Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. This collection of chapters provides is a systematic study of his ideas. The book analyses three major areas of his thought: economics and the peasantry, politics and international relations, and culture and science, and examines his influence both on his contemporaries and on subsequent thinkers. The introduction establishes the context for this discussion, and also provides a historical evaluation of Bukharin's role in relation to the emergence of Stalinism, the phenomenon that finally removed him from the political stage. Contributors include Anna diBiagio, John Biggart, V. P. Danilov, Peter Ferdinand, Neil Harding, A. Kemp-Welch, Robert Lewis, and Alec Nove.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly ...
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After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly took shape and approached maturity in 1934. Ironically, this apparent stability coincided with the destruction of much of the ‘first generation’ leadership in Stalin's purges of 1937‐38. Two examples of new leaders who added to the CC in the 1920s and early 1930s, who had much in common with the makers of the 1917 revolution and who fell victim to the purges, were I. M. Vareikis and P. O. Liubchenko. The involvement of the Central Committee in the purges was complex, and its great extent was partly explained by the integrated nature of the elite.Less
After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly took shape and approached maturity in 1934. Ironically, this apparent stability coincided with the destruction of much of the ‘first generation’ leadership in Stalin's purges of 1937‐38. Two examples of new leaders who added to the CC in the 1920s and early 1930s, who had much in common with the makers of the 1917 revolution and who fell victim to the purges, were I. M. Vareikis and P. O. Liubchenko. The involvement of the Central Committee in the purges was complex, and its great extent was partly explained by the integrated nature of the elite.
Jeffrey Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246991
- eISBN:
- 9780191599606
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246998.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
Although most scholars were quick to puncture the Soviet Union's sham claims to democracy, too many accepted at face value its claim to be a federal state. The shifting debates about federalism in ...
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Although most scholars were quick to puncture the Soviet Union's sham claims to democracy, too many accepted at face value its claim to be a federal state. The shifting debates about federalism in Bolshevik doctrine and communist theory are explored. The formation, systematization, and stagnation of the so‐called ‘Soviet federalism’ is examined and debunked through analysis of the constitutions and political realities that existed under Lenin, Stalin, and Brezhnev.Less
Although most scholars were quick to puncture the Soviet Union's sham claims to democracy, too many accepted at face value its claim to be a federal state. The shifting debates about federalism in Bolshevik doctrine and communist theory are explored. The formation, systematization, and stagnation of the so‐called ‘Soviet federalism’ is examined and debunked through analysis of the constitutions and political realities that existed under Lenin, Stalin, and Brezhnev.
John Gaddis, Philip Gordon, Ernest May, and Jonathan Rosenberg (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198294689
- eISBN:
- 9780191601538
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294689.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book aims to promote debate about John Mueller's thesis that questions whether nuclear weapons had revolutionary effects in international relations. By bringing together evidence of how ten Cold ...
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This book aims to promote debate about John Mueller's thesis that questions whether nuclear weapons had revolutionary effects in international relations. By bringing together evidence of how ten Cold War statesmen thought about nuclear weapons, especially at moments when they had to contemplate setting in motion chains of events that might present them with a clear choice of using or not using them, it concludes that nuclear weapons did play the determining role in making great‐power war obsolete. The essays deal not only with Truman, Churchill, and Stalin but also with Truman's immediate successors: Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy; Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev; Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles; and three leaders of other nations: France's Charles de Gaulle, Germany's Konrad Adenauer, and China's Mao Zedong.Less
This book aims to promote debate about John Mueller's thesis that questions whether nuclear weapons had revolutionary effects in international relations. By bringing together evidence of how ten Cold War statesmen thought about nuclear weapons, especially at moments when they had to contemplate setting in motion chains of events that might present them with a clear choice of using or not using them, it concludes that nuclear weapons did play the determining role in making great‐power war obsolete. The essays deal not only with Truman, Churchill, and Stalin but also with Truman's immediate successors: Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy; Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev; Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles; and three leaders of other nations: France's Charles de Gaulle, Germany's Konrad Adenauer, and China's Mao Zedong.
Vladislav M. Zubok
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198294689
- eISBN:
- 9780191601538
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294689.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Stalin understood the military and political significance of atomic weapons and directed all available Soviet resources to obtaining this weapon. However, he remained largely a statesman operating on ...
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Stalin understood the military and political significance of atomic weapons and directed all available Soviet resources to obtaining this weapon. However, he remained largely a statesman operating on the premises and experience of the pre‐nuclear age. For him, the emergence of atomic weapons made the prospect of a future war more terrifying, but no less likely. America's atomic monopoly in the first phase of the Cold War did not play a substantial role in deterring Stalin. He was determined to defend his spheres of influence and to dispel any sign of possible Soviet weakness in the face of America's atomic saber rattling. Stalin, a genius of state terror, power broking, and war diplomacy, was different from statesmen in the democratic countries, but his outlook on world politics was consistent with the realpolitik of the pre‐nuclear age. He had as much inclination as some of his ’liberal’ Western counterparts to regard nuclear power as a means of augmenting military power and, in larger terms, the power of the state.Less
Stalin understood the military and political significance of atomic weapons and directed all available Soviet resources to obtaining this weapon. However, he remained largely a statesman operating on the premises and experience of the pre‐nuclear age. For him, the emergence of atomic weapons made the prospect of a future war more terrifying, but no less likely. America's atomic monopoly in the first phase of the Cold War did not play a substantial role in deterring Stalin. He was determined to defend his spheres of influence and to dispel any sign of possible Soviet weakness in the face of America's atomic saber rattling. Stalin, a genius of state terror, power broking, and war diplomacy, was different from statesmen in the democratic countries, but his outlook on world politics was consistent with the realpolitik of the pre‐nuclear age. He had as much inclination as some of his ’liberal’ Western counterparts to regard nuclear power as a means of augmenting military power and, in larger terms, the power of the state.
Simon Morrison
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195181678
- eISBN:
- 9780199870806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181678.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile ...
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This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile efforts to bring War and Peace to the stage, and the serious illness (ventricular hypertrophy) that would periodically incapacitate him. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the conception and reception of his Sixth Symphony, and the darkening of the political and cultural climate on the eve of the anti-formalist campaign of 1948.Less
This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile efforts to bring War and Peace to the stage, and the serious illness (ventricular hypertrophy) that would periodically incapacitate him. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the conception and reception of his Sixth Symphony, and the darkening of the political and cultural climate on the eve of the anti-formalist campaign of 1948.
Sabine Dullin and Editions Payot
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748622191
- eISBN:
- 9780748651290
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748622191.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
Making an addition to the new historiography of mid-twentieth-century Soviet history, the author of this book has researched the history of Soviet diplomacy from 1930 to 1939 through a variety of ...
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Making an addition to the new historiography of mid-twentieth-century Soviet history, the author of this book has researched the history of Soviet diplomacy from 1930 to 1939 through a variety of now-accessible diplomatic, political, administrative and social archives. The book adds into the mix the memories and testimonies of diplomatic personnel. The political system established by Stalin in the USSR during the 1930s has remained in part an enigma because little attention has been paid to those who made it function. This book sheds light on the workings of the Soviet bureaucracy and in particular the role of Maxim Litvinov, Soviet Foreign Minister, and his relations with Stalin. The author examines Soviet foreign policy and the process of Stalinisation, and argues that these ‘men of influence’ were not simply agents of the Kremlin, but were able, through the 1930s and with the emergence of Soviet power on the eve of the Second World War, to initiate and pursue their own agendas.Less
Making an addition to the new historiography of mid-twentieth-century Soviet history, the author of this book has researched the history of Soviet diplomacy from 1930 to 1939 through a variety of now-accessible diplomatic, political, administrative and social archives. The book adds into the mix the memories and testimonies of diplomatic personnel. The political system established by Stalin in the USSR during the 1930s has remained in part an enigma because little attention has been paid to those who made it function. This book sheds light on the workings of the Soviet bureaucracy and in particular the role of Maxim Litvinov, Soviet Foreign Minister, and his relations with Stalin. The author examines Soviet foreign policy and the process of Stalinisation, and argues that these ‘men of influence’ were not simply agents of the Kremlin, but were able, through the 1930s and with the emergence of Soviet power on the eve of the Second World War, to initiate and pursue their own agendas.
Katharine Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262894
- eISBN:
- 9780191734977
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262894.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This book is an examination of a poet whose career offers a case study in the complexities facing Soviet writers in the Stalin era. Ol′ga Berggol′ts (1910–1975) was a prominent Russian Soviet poet, ...
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This book is an examination of a poet whose career offers a case study in the complexities facing Soviet writers in the Stalin era. Ol′ga Berggol′ts (1910–1975) was a prominent Russian Soviet poet, whose accounts of heroism in wartime Leningrad brought her fame. This book addresses her position as a writer whose Party loyalties were frequently in conflict with the demands of artistic and personal integrity. Writers who pursued their careers under the restrictions of the Stalin era have been categorized as ‘official’ figures whose work is assumed to be drab, inept and opportunistic; but such assumptions impose a uniformity on the work of Soviet writers that the censors and the Writers Union could not achieve. An exploration of Berggol′ts's work shows that the borders between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ literature were in fact permeable and shifting. This book draws on unpublished sources such as diaries and notebooks to reveal the range and scope of her work, and to show how conflict and ambiguity functioned as a creative structuring principle. The text discusses how Berggol′ts's lyric poetry constructs the subject from multiple, conflicting discourses, and examines the poet's treatment of genres such as narrative verse, verse tragedy and prose in the changing cultural context of the 1950s. Berggol′ts's use of inter-textual, and especially intra-textual, reference is also investigated; the intensively self-referential nature of her work creates a web of allusion that connects texts of different genres, ‘official’ as well as ‘unofficial’ writing.Less
This book is an examination of a poet whose career offers a case study in the complexities facing Soviet writers in the Stalin era. Ol′ga Berggol′ts (1910–1975) was a prominent Russian Soviet poet, whose accounts of heroism in wartime Leningrad brought her fame. This book addresses her position as a writer whose Party loyalties were frequently in conflict with the demands of artistic and personal integrity. Writers who pursued their careers under the restrictions of the Stalin era have been categorized as ‘official’ figures whose work is assumed to be drab, inept and opportunistic; but such assumptions impose a uniformity on the work of Soviet writers that the censors and the Writers Union could not achieve. An exploration of Berggol′ts's work shows that the borders between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ literature were in fact permeable and shifting. This book draws on unpublished sources such as diaries and notebooks to reveal the range and scope of her work, and to show how conflict and ambiguity functioned as a creative structuring principle. The text discusses how Berggol′ts's lyric poetry constructs the subject from multiple, conflicting discourses, and examines the poet's treatment of genres such as narrative verse, verse tragedy and prose in the changing cultural context of the 1950s. Berggol′ts's use of inter-textual, and especially intra-textual, reference is also investigated; the intensively self-referential nature of her work creates a web of allusion that connects texts of different genres, ‘official’ as well as ‘unofficial’ writing.
Charles King
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195177756
- eISBN:
- 9780199870127
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177756.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
In the early twentieth century, the Caucasus witnessed the rise of urban environments. Tbilisi became the jewel in the crown of the Russian Caucasus, the center of administrative and cultural life. ...
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In the early twentieth century, the Caucasus witnessed the rise of urban environments. Tbilisi became the jewel in the crown of the Russian Caucasus, the center of administrative and cultural life. The growth of Baku, a classic boomtown, was fueled by the oil industry. Urban life also created the crucible for the emergence of local nationalism. At the end of the First World War, the south Caucasus formed three independent republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. These short‐lived countries were soon conquered by the Bolsheviks and made part of the new Soviet Union. Later, the region experienced both modernization and violence at the hands of Lavrenti Beria and Joseph Stalin, both originally from the Caucasus itself.Less
In the early twentieth century, the Caucasus witnessed the rise of urban environments. Tbilisi became the jewel in the crown of the Russian Caucasus, the center of administrative and cultural life. The growth of Baku, a classic boomtown, was fueled by the oil industry. Urban life also created the crucible for the emergence of local nationalism. At the end of the First World War, the south Caucasus formed three independent republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. These short‐lived countries were soon conquered by the Bolsheviks and made part of the new Soviet Union. Later, the region experienced both modernization and violence at the hands of Lavrenti Beria and Joseph Stalin, both originally from the Caucasus itself.
Katharine Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262894
- eISBN:
- 9780191734977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262894.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This introductory chapter discusses the poetry of Ol′ga Berggol′ts. Unable to pretend to accept the values of the Stalin era without reservation, Berggol′ts combined in her poetry idealistic ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the poetry of Ol′ga Berggol′ts. Unable to pretend to accept the values of the Stalin era without reservation, Berggol′ts combined in her poetry idealistic enthusiasm and Party loyalty with feelings of doubt and disillusion which question everything the Soviet establishment purported to stand for. The chapter then sets out the purpose of the book, which is to explore ways in which the poet sets her own individual emotions and experience at the core of her writing, while retaining a strong sense that those emotions and experiences were shared by her readers. The study contends that Berggol′ts succeeds in giving voice to the complexities of the Soviet experience, and that her engagement with these complexities has contributed to critical neglect of her writing.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the poetry of Ol′ga Berggol′ts. Unable to pretend to accept the values of the Stalin era without reservation, Berggol′ts combined in her poetry idealistic enthusiasm and Party loyalty with feelings of doubt and disillusion which question everything the Soviet establishment purported to stand for. The chapter then sets out the purpose of the book, which is to explore ways in which the poet sets her own individual emotions and experience at the core of her writing, while retaining a strong sense that those emotions and experiences were shared by her readers. The study contends that Berggol′ts succeeds in giving voice to the complexities of the Soviet experience, and that her engagement with these complexities has contributed to critical neglect of her writing.
Steven Casey
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195306927
- eISBN:
- 9780199867936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306927.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Initially, Eisenhower's emergence as the Republican nominee for president also helped to sustain a basic consensus behind the war, for Ike was a moderate who was prepared to defend Truman's decision ...
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Initially, Eisenhower's emergence as the Republican nominee for president also helped to sustain a basic consensus behind the war, for Ike was a moderate who was prepared to defend Truman's decision to intervene in Korea. As the campaign progressed, Eisenhower's comments became more critical. But even his decisive promise to voters to “go to Korea” was ambiguous. It was intended to signal that something new had to be done to end the fighting, while leaving Ike free to decide precisely what—and, crucially, while also ensuring that he kept his distance from MacArthur and the Republican right. On becoming president, Eisenhower therefore retained a good deal of freedom. But in terms of public relations, he swiftly made many of the same mistakes that had plagued Truman's early efforts. And only Stalin's death, which in turn led to a thawing of the communist position, revived the armistice negotiations and resulted in an end to this long and costly war.Less
Initially, Eisenhower's emergence as the Republican nominee for president also helped to sustain a basic consensus behind the war, for Ike was a moderate who was prepared to defend Truman's decision to intervene in Korea. As the campaign progressed, Eisenhower's comments became more critical. But even his decisive promise to voters to “go to Korea” was ambiguous. It was intended to signal that something new had to be done to end the fighting, while leaving Ike free to decide precisely what—and, crucially, while also ensuring that he kept his distance from MacArthur and the Republican right. On becoming president, Eisenhower therefore retained a good deal of freedom. But in terms of public relations, he swiftly made many of the same mistakes that had plagued Truman's early efforts. And only Stalin's death, which in turn led to a thawing of the communist position, revived the armistice negotiations and resulted in an end to this long and costly war.
Paul Maddrell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267507
- eISBN:
- 9780191708404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267507.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter begins by discussing the breakup of Germany into several parts, the expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe, and the establishment of Communist systems, resulting in a huge mass ...
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This chapter begins by discussing the breakup of Germany into several parts, the expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe, and the establishment of Communist systems, resulting in a huge mass flight. It explains the importance of Berlin as the escape hatch from Stalin's empire. It narrates the refugees' experiences during their migration, particularly the full interrogation in order to identify a valuable source to provide economic and political intelligence or a security suspect. It discusses that these interrogations served the West's two main policies designed to weaken the East German economy: embargo and induced defection. It defines defection as a product of the Soviet system itself, which is a natural consequence of disaffection with Communist totalitarianism and the wretchedness of life in Stalin's USSR. It also explains the reason behind the adoption of the policy of induced defection by the American and British intelligence services.Less
This chapter begins by discussing the breakup of Germany into several parts, the expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe, and the establishment of Communist systems, resulting in a huge mass flight. It explains the importance of Berlin as the escape hatch from Stalin's empire. It narrates the refugees' experiences during their migration, particularly the full interrogation in order to identify a valuable source to provide economic and political intelligence or a security suspect. It discusses that these interrogations served the West's two main policies designed to weaken the East German economy: embargo and induced defection. It defines defection as a product of the Soviet system itself, which is a natural consequence of disaffection with Communist totalitarianism and the wretchedness of life in Stalin's USSR. It also explains the reason behind the adoption of the policy of induced defection by the American and British intelligence services.
Paul Maddrell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267507
- eISBN:
- 9780191708404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267507.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on the increased suspicion of British and Americans and the effect on the character of their containment policy by the threat posed by Stalin's arms build-up. It adds that the ...
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This chapter focuses on the increased suspicion of British and Americans and the effect on the character of their containment policy by the threat posed by Stalin's arms build-up. It adds that the West's demand for more intelligence on the Soviet build-up and decision to induce the defection of East German scientific workers so as to deny them to their rival resulted in the exploitation of the scientific returnees of the 1950s. It assumes that the defectors reduced the scientific potential available. It explains that a mass of intelligence was acquired from refugees about the activities of factories and research institutes, particularly their production, and that it was used for embargo. It adds that mass flight caused serious damage to East German research and development and supplied the west with sources who reported on its difficulties. It explains that refugee interrogation was a great technique of obtaining information.Less
This chapter focuses on the increased suspicion of British and Americans and the effect on the character of their containment policy by the threat posed by Stalin's arms build-up. It adds that the West's demand for more intelligence on the Soviet build-up and decision to induce the defection of East German scientific workers so as to deny them to their rival resulted in the exploitation of the scientific returnees of the 1950s. It assumes that the defectors reduced the scientific potential available. It explains that a mass of intelligence was acquired from refugees about the activities of factories and research institutes, particularly their production, and that it was used for embargo. It adds that mass flight caused serious damage to East German research and development and supplied the west with sources who reported on its difficulties. It explains that refugee interrogation was a great technique of obtaining information.
Steven A. Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151120
- eISBN:
- 9781400838615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151120.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter offers a general reconsideration of the Gulag's origins and the role it played in Stalin's Soviet Union, and an extended look at the variety of institutions that made up this penal ...
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This chapter offers a general reconsideration of the Gulag's origins and the role it played in Stalin's Soviet Union, and an extended look at the variety of institutions that made up this penal universe. The Gulag was simultaneously, and for Soviet authorities unproblematically, a site of both violence and reform—death and redemption. From a prisoner's first day in the Gulag, they were confronted by a social space permeated by Soviet-style socialism. Bands played; posters announced the duty to remake oneself; collective life dominated both barracks and labor; and people died in unspeakably brutal conditions—all in the name of engineering a total human transformation. In some measure, the authorities succeeded. Prisoners learned to negotiate that social space, and in so doing learned to live on Soviet terms.Less
This chapter offers a general reconsideration of the Gulag's origins and the role it played in Stalin's Soviet Union, and an extended look at the variety of institutions that made up this penal universe. The Gulag was simultaneously, and for Soviet authorities unproblematically, a site of both violence and reform—death and redemption. From a prisoner's first day in the Gulag, they were confronted by a social space permeated by Soviet-style socialism. Bands played; posters announced the duty to remake oneself; collective life dominated both barracks and labor; and people died in unspeakably brutal conditions—all in the name of engineering a total human transformation. In some measure, the authorities succeeded. Prisoners learned to negotiate that social space, and in so doing learned to live on Soviet terms.
Steven A. Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151120
- eISBN:
- 9781400838615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151120.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter focuses on the period after Stalin's death. It looks at the explosive uprisings in the Gulag with a particular focus on the forty-day revolt at the Kengir division of Steplag. It also ...
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This chapter focuses on the period after Stalin's death. It looks at the explosive uprisings in the Gulag with a particular focus on the forty-day revolt at the Kengir division of Steplag. It also examines the new leadership's policy that largely emptied the camp and exile systems of all those charged with either petty or political offenses. Before Stalin's death, no level of economic loss or amount of systemic crisis could cause a serious reevaluation of the need for this mass social institution. Yet his death almost immediately ushered in a radical change in the size of the system. The Gulag's decline was marked by fits and starts, resulted in a paroxysm of mass disobedience throughout the system, and finally the system's almost total collapse.Less
This chapter focuses on the period after Stalin's death. It looks at the explosive uprisings in the Gulag with a particular focus on the forty-day revolt at the Kengir division of Steplag. It also examines the new leadership's policy that largely emptied the camp and exile systems of all those charged with either petty or political offenses. Before Stalin's death, no level of economic loss or amount of systemic crisis could cause a serious reevaluation of the need for this mass social institution. Yet his death almost immediately ushered in a radical change in the size of the system. The Gulag's decline was marked by fits and starts, resulted in a paroxysm of mass disobedience throughout the system, and finally the system's almost total collapse.
Steven A. Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151120
- eISBN:
- 9781400838615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151120.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This concluding chapter summarizes the preceding discussions, covering the Gulag's emergence as a mass social phenomenon in the 1920s to its collapse by the end of the 1950s. The system took a ...
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This concluding chapter summarizes the preceding discussions, covering the Gulag's emergence as a mass social phenomenon in the 1920s to its collapse by the end of the 1950s. The system took a terrible toll on Soviet society, with victims numbering into the millions, and even those who survived often crushed by the experience. After Stalin, the Soviet state decisively moved away from the use of mass terror as a normal, permanent feature of the political system. However, it also engaged in numerous incidents of violence and political repression in its final thirty-five years, from the bloody suppression of uprisings within its borders and the countries of the Warsaw Pact, to the use of labor camps and psychoprisons to devastate the small but vocal human rights dissident movements of the Brezhnev years. Nonetheless, the Gulag never reemerged as the mammoth complex of its heyday.Less
This concluding chapter summarizes the preceding discussions, covering the Gulag's emergence as a mass social phenomenon in the 1920s to its collapse by the end of the 1950s. The system took a terrible toll on Soviet society, with victims numbering into the millions, and even those who survived often crushed by the experience. After Stalin, the Soviet state decisively moved away from the use of mass terror as a normal, permanent feature of the political system. However, it also engaged in numerous incidents of violence and political repression in its final thirty-five years, from the bloody suppression of uprisings within its borders and the countries of the Warsaw Pact, to the use of labor camps and psychoprisons to devastate the small but vocal human rights dissident movements of the Brezhnev years. Nonetheless, the Gulag never reemerged as the mammoth complex of its heyday.
Otto Kircheimer
John Herz (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter focuses on the “Statement on Atrocities,” which contains a joint declaration concerning war crimes and war criminals. Issued by the Tripartite Conference over the signatures of U.S. ...
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This chapter focuses on the “Statement on Atrocities,” which contains a joint declaration concerning war crimes and war criminals. Issued by the Tripartite Conference over the signatures of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the report details that the declaration constitutes the first common announcement of intentions on the part of all three major powers. The chapter considers parallel statements issued on October 25, 1941, by Roosevelt and Churchill, which drew the attention of the world to the shooting of hostages during World War II and announced that retribution would be exacted from the guilty. It also addresses the question of the effect of the Moscow Declaration on Germany and the use which can be made of it in psychological warfare operations.Less
This chapter focuses on the “Statement on Atrocities,” which contains a joint declaration concerning war crimes and war criminals. Issued by the Tripartite Conference over the signatures of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the report details that the declaration constitutes the first common announcement of intentions on the part of all three major powers. The chapter considers parallel statements issued on October 25, 1941, by Roosevelt and Churchill, which drew the attention of the world to the shooting of hostages during World War II and announced that retribution would be exacted from the guilty. It also addresses the question of the effect of the Moscow Declaration on Germany and the use which can be made of it in psychological warfare operations.
Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg V. Khlevniuk
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195165814
- eISBN:
- 9780199788811
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165814.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
In the period from the end of World War II until his death, Stalin became an increasingly distrustful despot. He habitually picked on and humiliated members of his inner circle, had them guarded ...
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In the period from the end of World War II until his death, Stalin became an increasingly distrustful despot. He habitually picked on and humiliated members of his inner circle, had them guarded around the clock, had their correspondence decoded by secret police, bugged the lines of even his most senior deputies, and even drove several to the point of publicly betraying their spouses in order to prove their allegiance. This book argues that Stalin's behavior was not entirely paranoid and erratic but followed a clear political logic. This book contends that his system of leadership was at once both modern — Stalin vested authority in committees, elevated younger specialists, and made key institutional innovations — and patrimonial-repressive, informal, and based on personal loyalty. Always, Stalin's goal was to make the USSR a global power and, though the country teetered on the edge of violence during this period of acute domestic and international pressure, he succeeded in achieving superpower status and in holding on to power despite his old age and ill health.Less
In the period from the end of World War II until his death, Stalin became an increasingly distrustful despot. He habitually picked on and humiliated members of his inner circle, had them guarded around the clock, had their correspondence decoded by secret police, bugged the lines of even his most senior deputies, and even drove several to the point of publicly betraying their spouses in order to prove their allegiance. This book argues that Stalin's behavior was not entirely paranoid and erratic but followed a clear political logic. This book contends that his system of leadership was at once both modern — Stalin vested authority in committees, elevated younger specialists, and made key institutional innovations — and patrimonial-repressive, informal, and based on personal loyalty. Always, Stalin's goal was to make the USSR a global power and, though the country teetered on the edge of violence during this period of acute domestic and international pressure, he succeeded in achieving superpower status and in holding on to power despite his old age and ill health.
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195156508
- eISBN:
- 9780199868230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156508.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter begins by discussing misconceptions about the Soviet Union that stem from the substitution of a struggle of leaders for power. It explains Marxism and Leninism ideologies. It stresses ...
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This chapter begins by discussing misconceptions about the Soviet Union that stem from the substitution of a struggle of leaders for power. It explains Marxism and Leninism ideologies. It stresses that personal dictatorship, occasionally modified by a narrow oligarchy of a few, became the standard form. It discusses that the Soviet Union became divided into fifteen union republics and, within them, over a hundred smaller subdivisions, based again on the ethnic principles. It clarifies that during some seventy-five years of Communist rule, the Soviet people, particularly Russian people believed in Marxism and Leninism, to different depths and degrees of comprehension.Less
This chapter begins by discussing misconceptions about the Soviet Union that stem from the substitution of a struggle of leaders for power. It explains Marxism and Leninism ideologies. It stresses that personal dictatorship, occasionally modified by a narrow oligarchy of a few, became the standard form. It discusses that the Soviet Union became divided into fifteen union republics and, within them, over a hundred smaller subdivisions, based again on the ethnic principles. It clarifies that during some seventy-five years of Communist rule, the Soviet people, particularly Russian people believed in Marxism and Leninism, to different depths and degrees of comprehension.
Peter Dickson and Jose Harris
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264348
- eISBN:
- 9780191734250
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264348.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, a Fellow of the British Academy, was born at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on December 13, 1914. He was the only child of Edith Brand and Frank Allen Bullock. The future ...
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Alan Louis Charles Bullock, a Fellow of the British Academy, was born at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on December 13, 1914. He was the only child of Edith Brand and Frank Allen Bullock. The future biographer of Adolf Hitler arrived in Oxford in 1933, the year when the latter was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Europe made an impact on Bullock and on his peers. But his choice of research subject, when he began work on a doctorate in November 1938, after the award of a Bryce Studentship, and a Harmsworth Senior Scholarship at Merton College in the same year, was ‘Anglo-French diplomatic relations 1588–1603’. From the official opening of St Catherine's College, Bullock played an active role as Master until his retirement in 1980. In an interview in 1985, he said that he loved the University of Oxford but had always felt an outsider in it. Bullock wrote a book each on Hitler and two other important political figures in history: Josef Stalin and Ernest Bevin.Less
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, a Fellow of the British Academy, was born at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on December 13, 1914. He was the only child of Edith Brand and Frank Allen Bullock. The future biographer of Adolf Hitler arrived in Oxford in 1933, the year when the latter was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Europe made an impact on Bullock and on his peers. But his choice of research subject, when he began work on a doctorate in November 1938, after the award of a Bryce Studentship, and a Harmsworth Senior Scholarship at Merton College in the same year, was ‘Anglo-French diplomatic relations 1588–1603’. From the official opening of St Catherine's College, Bullock played an active role as Master until his retirement in 1980. In an interview in 1985, he said that he loved the University of Oxford but had always felt an outsider in it. Bullock wrote a book each on Hitler and two other important political figures in history: Josef Stalin and Ernest Bevin.
