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.
Timothy Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199604036
- eISBN:
- 9780191731600
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604036.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
‘Being Soviet’ takes a refreshing and innovative approach to the crucial years between 1939 and 1953 in the USSR. It addresses two of the key recent debates concerning Stalinism. It answers the ...
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‘Being Soviet’ takes a refreshing and innovative approach to the crucial years between 1939 and 1953 in the USSR. It addresses two of the key recent debates concerning Stalinism. It answers the question ‘what was the logic and language of Soviet power?’ by shifting the focus away from Russian nationalism and onto Soviet identity. ‘Sovietness’ is explored via the newspapers, films, plays, and popular music of the era. Soviet identity, in relation to the outside world, provided a powerful frame of reference in the late‐Stalin years. ‘Being Soviet's’ most significant contribution lies in its novel answer to the question ‘How did ordinary citizens relate to Soviet power?’ It avoids the current Foucault‐inspired emphasis on ‘supporters’ and ‘resistors’ of the regime. Instead it argues that most Soviet citizens did not fit easily into either category. Their relationship with Soviet power was defined by a series of subtle ‘tactics of the habitat’ (Kotkin) that enabled them to stay fed, informed, and entertained in these difficult times. ‘Being Soviet’ offers a rich and textured discussion of those everyday survival strategies including rumours, jokes, hairstyles, music tastes, sexual relationships, and political campaigning. Each chapter finishes by exploring what this everyday behaviour tells us about the collective mentalité of Stalin‐era society. ‘Being Soviet’ focuses on the place of Britain and America within Soviet identity; their evolution from wartime allies to Cold War enemies played a vital role in redefining what it meant to be Soviet in Stalin's last years.Less
‘Being Soviet’ takes a refreshing and innovative approach to the crucial years between 1939 and 1953 in the USSR. It addresses two of the key recent debates concerning Stalinism. It answers the question ‘what was the logic and language of Soviet power?’ by shifting the focus away from Russian nationalism and onto Soviet identity. ‘Sovietness’ is explored via the newspapers, films, plays, and popular music of the era. Soviet identity, in relation to the outside world, provided a powerful frame of reference in the late‐Stalin years. ‘Being Soviet's’ most significant contribution lies in its novel answer to the question ‘How did ordinary citizens relate to Soviet power?’ It avoids the current Foucault‐inspired emphasis on ‘supporters’ and ‘resistors’ of the regime. Instead it argues that most Soviet citizens did not fit easily into either category. Their relationship with Soviet power was defined by a series of subtle ‘tactics of the habitat’ (Kotkin) that enabled them to stay fed, informed, and entertained in these difficult times. ‘Being Soviet’ offers a rich and textured discussion of those everyday survival strategies including rumours, jokes, hairstyles, music tastes, sexual relationships, and political campaigning. Each chapter finishes by exploring what this everyday behaviour tells us about the collective mentalité of Stalin‐era society. ‘Being Soviet’ focuses on the place of Britain and America within Soviet identity; their evolution from wartime allies to Cold War enemies played a vital role in redefining what it meant to be Soviet in Stalin's last years.
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:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than ...
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The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than their predecessors. Members of this ‘second generation’ would dominate Soviet politics until the 1980s. The job‐slot system continued in the form it had reached in 1934, although there was now more stability and personal security. Examples of a new Stalinist generation were N. S. Baibakov and N. K. Patolichev, one a technocrat, the other a party generalist. The Central Committee was also much larger now, but had less real influence in politics, compared to the supreme leader and the Politburo/Presidium.Less
The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than their predecessors. Members of this ‘second generation’ would dominate Soviet politics until the 1980s. The job‐slot system continued in the form it had reached in 1934, although there was now more stability and personal security. Examples of a new Stalinist generation were N. S. Baibakov and N. K. Patolichev, one a technocrat, the other a party generalist. The Central Committee was also much larger now, but had less real influence in politics, compared to the supreme leader and the Politburo/Presidium.
Nanci Adler
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199240906
- eISBN:
- 9780191598869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199240906.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter explores Russia’s attempts to come to terms with its Stalinist past in an endeavour to build a civil society based on the rule of law. It begins by examining the nature of Stalinist ...
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This chapter explores Russia’s attempts to come to terms with its Stalinist past in an endeavour to build a civil society based on the rule of law. It begins by examining the nature of Stalinist repression and the legacy of Soviet terror. It goes on to focus on halted official efforts at truth telling, and persistent unofficial efforts, led by the organization Memorial, at remembering and commemorating; this provides insight into the issues that daunted the quest for moral recovery. The chapter then looks at post-Soviet efforts to come to terms with the Stalinist past, and finally it assesses the impact of the discussion of past injustices, or the politics of memory, on Russia’s subsequent process of democratization. The information presented and the conclusions drawn are necessarily based on a number of scattered sources, including memoirs, interviews and official archives; Russia’s experience is unique, and difficult to compare with other post-authoritarian political systems, especially as democracy has not taken substantial hold, and, since the transition is so new, questions of accountability are only beginning to be addressed.Less
This chapter explores Russia’s attempts to come to terms with its Stalinist past in an endeavour to build a civil society based on the rule of law. It begins by examining the nature of Stalinist repression and the legacy of Soviet terror. It goes on to focus on halted official efforts at truth telling, and persistent unofficial efforts, led by the organization Memorial, at remembering and commemorating; this provides insight into the issues that daunted the quest for moral recovery. The chapter then looks at post-Soviet efforts to come to terms with the Stalinist past, and finally it assesses the impact of the discussion of past injustices, or the politics of memory, on Russia’s subsequent process of democratization. The information presented and the conclusions drawn are necessarily based on a number of scattered sources, including memoirs, interviews and official archives; Russia’s experience is unique, and difficult to compare with other post-authoritarian political systems, especially as democracy has not taken substantial hold, and, since the transition is so new, questions of accountability are only beginning to be addressed.
Simon Morrison
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195181678
- eISBN:
- 9780199870806
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181678.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
In 1936, Sergey Prokofiev relocated from France to Soviet Russia, a period marked by the marshalling of musical activities under the auspices of the All-Union Committee on Arts Affairs. The composer, ...
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In 1936, Sergey Prokofiev relocated from France to Soviet Russia, a period marked by the marshalling of musical activities under the auspices of the All-Union Committee on Arts Affairs. The composer, an international celebrity, perplexed his Parisian colleagues by migrating to a totalitarian state whose cultural institutions discouraged creative experiment and fulminated against Western modernism. And indeed while valued by the Stalinist regime and supported by its cultural institutions, he suffered correction and censorship, the result being a gradual sapping of his creating energies. Prokofiev revised and re-revised his theatrical works in an effort to see them staged, but his labors often went to waste. Following his official censure in a political and financial scandal in 1948, jittery concert and theater managers pulled his works from the repertoire. This book provides a detailed chronicle of Prokofiev's career from 1932 to 1953 based on research conducted at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Russian State Archive of Social-Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and several other Russian archives. Beyond furnishing new information about Prokofiev's 1936 relocation and the devastating loss of his ability to travel abroad, the book documents the composer's negative and positive interactions with Stalinist officials, the mandated rewriting of such major works as Romeo and Juliet and War and Peace, and his spiritual and aesthetic views.Less
In 1936, Sergey Prokofiev relocated from France to Soviet Russia, a period marked by the marshalling of musical activities under the auspices of the All-Union Committee on Arts Affairs. The composer, an international celebrity, perplexed his Parisian colleagues by migrating to a totalitarian state whose cultural institutions discouraged creative experiment and fulminated against Western modernism. And indeed while valued by the Stalinist regime and supported by its cultural institutions, he suffered correction and censorship, the result being a gradual sapping of his creating energies. Prokofiev revised and re-revised his theatrical works in an effort to see them staged, but his labors often went to waste. Following his official censure in a political and financial scandal in 1948, jittery concert and theater managers pulled his works from the repertoire. This book provides a detailed chronicle of Prokofiev's career from 1932 to 1953 based on research conducted at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Russian State Archive of Social-Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and several other Russian archives. Beyond furnishing new information about Prokofiev's 1936 relocation and the devastating loss of his ability to travel abroad, the book documents the composer's negative and positive interactions with Stalinist officials, the mandated rewriting of such major works as Romeo and Juliet and War and Peace, and his spiritual and aesthetic views.
Viacheslav Bitiutckii
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097560
- eISBN:
- 9781526104441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097560.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This paper discusses the search for, exhumation and identification of the remains of victims of mass political repression during the Stalinist Great Terror (1937-1938) in the USSR, concentrating on ...
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This paper discusses the search for, exhumation and identification of the remains of victims of mass political repression during the Stalinist Great Terror (1937-1938) in the USSR, concentrating on those who were subjected to the severest form of repression, that is, those who were shot following sentencing during judicial or extrajudicial processes. Even if historians now agree on the number of victims of Stalin's Great Terror (1937-1938) during which nearly 800,000 people were executed by gunshot, we still know little about the ultimate course these victims took as the full trial procedures, executions and burials were marked with the seal of state secrets. By restoring the history of exhumations undertaken from 1989 - quite exceptionally for Russia - in the Voronezh region 500 kilometres south of Moscow, and in focussing more specifically on the discovery of a site where 62 graves were discovered containing the remains of 2,889 individuals, this text lifts the veil on the Soviet logistics of the production of mass death. It sheds light on the human and material resources mobilized by the NKVD for these executions and illegal burials, utilising the repetitive tasks of dozens of individuals.Less
This paper discusses the search for, exhumation and identification of the remains of victims of mass political repression during the Stalinist Great Terror (1937-1938) in the USSR, concentrating on those who were subjected to the severest form of repression, that is, those who were shot following sentencing during judicial or extrajudicial processes. Even if historians now agree on the number of victims of Stalin's Great Terror (1937-1938) during which nearly 800,000 people were executed by gunshot, we still know little about the ultimate course these victims took as the full trial procedures, executions and burials were marked with the seal of state secrets. By restoring the history of exhumations undertaken from 1989 - quite exceptionally for Russia - in the Voronezh region 500 kilometres south of Moscow, and in focussing more specifically on the discovery of a site where 62 graves were discovered containing the remains of 2,889 individuals, this text lifts the veil on the Soviet logistics of the production of mass death. It sheds light on the human and material resources mobilized by the NKVD for these executions and illegal burials, utilising the repetitive tasks of dozens of individuals.
Polly Jones
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300185126
- eISBN:
- 9780300187212
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300185126.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
Drawing on newly available materials from the Soviet archives, this book offers an innovative account of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev and early Brezhnev eras. The book ...
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Drawing on newly available materials from the Soviet archives, this book offers an innovative account of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev and early Brezhnev eras. The book traces the authorities' initiation and management of the de-Stalinization process and explores a wide range of popular reactions to the new narratives of Stalinism in party statements and in Soviet literature and historiography. Engaging with the dynamic field of memory studies, this book represents the first sustained comparison of this process with other countries' attempts to rethink their own difficult pasts, and with later Soviet and post-Soviet approaches to Stalinism.Less
Drawing on newly available materials from the Soviet archives, this book offers an innovative account of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev and early Brezhnev eras. The book traces the authorities' initiation and management of the de-Stalinization process and explores a wide range of popular reactions to the new narratives of Stalinism in party statements and in Soviet literature and historiography. Engaging with the dynamic field of memory studies, this book represents the first sustained comparison of this process with other countries' attempts to rethink their own difficult pasts, and with later Soviet and post-Soviet approaches to Stalinism.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
‘Stalin's last generation’ was the last generation to come of age under Stalin, yet it was also the first generation to be socialized in the post-war period. Its young members grew up in a world that ...
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‘Stalin's last generation’ was the last generation to come of age under Stalin, yet it was also the first generation to be socialized in the post-war period. Its young members grew up in a world that still carried many of the hallmarks of the Soviet Union's revolutionary period, yet their surroundings already showed the first signs of decay, stagnation, and disintegration. Stalin's last generation still knew how to speak ‘Bolshevik’, still believed in the power of Soviet heroes, and still wished to construct socialism, yet they also liked to dance and dress in Western styles, they knew how to evade boring lectures and lessons in Marxism–Leninism, and they were keen to forge identities that were more individual than those offered by the state. This book creates a detailed picture of late Stalinist youth and youth culture, looking at young people from a variety of perspectives: as children of the war, as recipients and creators of propaganda, as perpetrators of crime, as representatives of fledgling subcultures, as believers, as critics, and as drop-outs. In the process, the book illuminates not only the complex relationship between the Soviet state and its youth, but also provides a new interpretative framework for understanding late Stalinism — the impact of which on Soviet society's subsequent development has hitherto been underestimated, including its role in the ultimate demise of the USSR.Less
‘Stalin's last generation’ was the last generation to come of age under Stalin, yet it was also the first generation to be socialized in the post-war period. Its young members grew up in a world that still carried many of the hallmarks of the Soviet Union's revolutionary period, yet their surroundings already showed the first signs of decay, stagnation, and disintegration. Stalin's last generation still knew how to speak ‘Bolshevik’, still believed in the power of Soviet heroes, and still wished to construct socialism, yet they also liked to dance and dress in Western styles, they knew how to evade boring lectures and lessons in Marxism–Leninism, and they were keen to forge identities that were more individual than those offered by the state. This book creates a detailed picture of late Stalinist youth and youth culture, looking at young people from a variety of perspectives: as children of the war, as recipients and creators of propaganda, as perpetrators of crime, as representatives of fledgling subcultures, as believers, as critics, and as drop-outs. In the process, the book illuminates not only the complex relationship between the Soviet state and its youth, but also provides a new interpretative framework for understanding late Stalinism — the impact of which on Soviet society's subsequent development has hitherto been underestimated, including its role in the ultimate demise of the USSR.
Scott Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719084355
- eISBN:
- 9781781702338
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719084355.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
This book tells the story of the political and intellectual adventures of Edward Palmer Thompson, one of Britain's foremost twentieth-century thinkers. It shows that all of Thompson's work, from his ...
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This book tells the story of the political and intellectual adventures of Edward Palmer Thompson, one of Britain's foremost twentieth-century thinkers. It shows that all of Thompson's work, from his acclaimed histories to his voluminous political writings to his little-noticed poetry, was inspired by the same passionate and idiosyncratic vision of the world. The book demonstrates the connection between Thompson's famously ferocious attack on the ‘Stalinism in theory’ of Louis Althusser and his assaults on positivist social science in such books as The making of the English working class, and produces evidence to show that Thompson's hostility to both left- and right-wing forms of authoritarianism was rooted in first-hand experience of violent political repression.Less
This book tells the story of the political and intellectual adventures of Edward Palmer Thompson, one of Britain's foremost twentieth-century thinkers. It shows that all of Thompson's work, from his acclaimed histories to his voluminous political writings to his little-noticed poetry, was inspired by the same passionate and idiosyncratic vision of the world. The book demonstrates the connection between Thompson's famously ferocious attack on the ‘Stalinism in theory’ of Louis Althusser and his assaults on positivist social science in such books as The making of the English working class, and produces evidence to show that Thompson's hostility to both left- and right-wing forms of authoritarianism was rooted in first-hand experience of violent political repression.
Charles K. Bellinger
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195134988
- eISBN:
- 9780199833986
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195134982.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ...
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Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ethical sphere of existence. The varying forms of psychopathology they manifest make clear the consequences of human rejection of the divine call to spiritual growth. Naziism and Stalinism can also be interpreted as political religions, in other words, as modern forms of idolatry.Less
Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ethical sphere of existence. The varying forms of psychopathology they manifest make clear the consequences of human rejection of the divine call to spiritual growth. Naziism and Stalinism can also be interpreted as political religions, in other words, as modern forms of idolatry.
Evgeny Dobrenko
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780300198478
- eISBN:
- 9780300252842
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300198478.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This nuanced historical analysis of late Stalinism organized chronologically around the main events of the period—beginning with Victory in May 1945 and concluding with the death of Stalin in March ...
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This nuanced historical analysis of late Stalinism organized chronologically around the main events of the period—beginning with Victory in May 1945 and concluding with the death of Stalin in March 1953—analyzes key cultural texts to trace the emergence of an imperial Soviet consciousness that, the book argues, still defines the political and cultural profile of modern Russia. The book provides a cultural and intellectual history of the era in which the shaping of the Soviet nation was completed. It talks about the era when mental and cultural dominants that determined the character of Russia were definitively affirmed. It also looks into cultural texts of literature, theater, cinema, art, music, scientific and historical texts, and popular literature through which history reveals its internal logic. The book analyzes Stalinism that communicated the new agenda, gave the new political course form through media, and inculcated the new ideological modulations. It explores the prism of Soviet art in order to trace the political and ideological transformation of the Stalinist regime from revolutionary international utopianism to conservatively patriarchal national Bolshevism.Less
This nuanced historical analysis of late Stalinism organized chronologically around the main events of the period—beginning with Victory in May 1945 and concluding with the death of Stalin in March 1953—analyzes key cultural texts to trace the emergence of an imperial Soviet consciousness that, the book argues, still defines the political and cultural profile of modern Russia. The book provides a cultural and intellectual history of the era in which the shaping of the Soviet nation was completed. It talks about the era when mental and cultural dominants that determined the character of Russia were definitively affirmed. It also looks into cultural texts of literature, theater, cinema, art, music, scientific and historical texts, and popular literature through which history reveals its internal logic. The book analyzes Stalinism that communicated the new agenda, gave the new political course form through media, and inculcated the new ideological modulations. It explores the prism of Soviet art in order to trace the political and ideological transformation of the Stalinist regime from revolutionary international utopianism to conservatively patriarchal national Bolshevism.
Michael David-Fox
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794577
- eISBN:
- 9780199932245
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794577.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book is a history of the Soviet tours of European and American intellectuals, writers, bohemians, professionals, and political tourists who saw the “Soviet experiment” in the 1920s and 1930s. It ...
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This book is a history of the Soviet tours of European and American intellectuals, writers, bohemians, professionals, and political tourists who saw the “Soviet experiment” in the 1920s and 1930s. It provides a new framework for understanding the relationship between intellectuals and communism and the Soviet reception of foreign visitors, including the leading fellow-travelers who praised Stalin and Stalinism in the interwar period. The work is based on a far-reaching analysis of the declassified archives of agencies charged with crafting the international image of the first socialist society, including VOKS (the All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad). The book brings this story into new focus as one of the great transnational encounters of the twentieth century. As many visitors were profoundly influenced by their Soviet tours, so too was the Soviet system itself: the experiences of building showcases and tutoring outsiders to perceive the future-in-the-making comprise a neglected international dimension to the emergence of Stalinism. Probing entanglements between far-left and far-right ideological extremes, the work pays special attention to the covert interaction between communism and fascism, including Soviet attempts to recruit German “National Bolsheviks” and fascist intellectuals. The unprecedented scope of Soviet efforts to mold foreign, particularly Western public opinion created a new chapter in the history of modern cultural diplomacy. Setting the revolutionary regime's innovations in the context of the entire history of foreign visitors in Russia, the book argues that Soviet mobilization for the international ideological contest directly paved the way for the cultural Cold War.Less
This book is a history of the Soviet tours of European and American intellectuals, writers, bohemians, professionals, and political tourists who saw the “Soviet experiment” in the 1920s and 1930s. It provides a new framework for understanding the relationship between intellectuals and communism and the Soviet reception of foreign visitors, including the leading fellow-travelers who praised Stalin and Stalinism in the interwar period. The work is based on a far-reaching analysis of the declassified archives of agencies charged with crafting the international image of the first socialist society, including VOKS (the All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad). The book brings this story into new focus as one of the great transnational encounters of the twentieth century. As many visitors were profoundly influenced by their Soviet tours, so too was the Soviet system itself: the experiences of building showcases and tutoring outsiders to perceive the future-in-the-making comprise a neglected international dimension to the emergence of Stalinism. Probing entanglements between far-left and far-right ideological extremes, the work pays special attention to the covert interaction between communism and fascism, including Soviet attempts to recruit German “National Bolsheviks” and fascist intellectuals. The unprecedented scope of Soviet efforts to mold foreign, particularly Western public opinion created a new chapter in the history of modern cultural diplomacy. Setting the revolutionary regime's innovations in the context of the entire history of foreign visitors in Russia, the book argues that Soviet mobilization for the international ideological contest directly paved the way for the cultural Cold War.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter takes a detailed look at the years which removed the veil of silence from late Stalinism — not because late Stalinism became the explicit subject of many discussions, but rather because ...
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This chapter takes a detailed look at the years which removed the veil of silence from late Stalinism — not because late Stalinism became the explicit subject of many discussions, but rather because the life and culture of the years 1953–6 made visible (and audible) what had been growing under the heavy blanket of late Stalinist rule for many years. A quick glance beyond 1956 gives an impression of what happened to Soviet youth culture — both official and unofficial. The story of the Komsomol's spiritual decline and the rise of informal youth cultures is punctuated by various, ultimately ineffective, attempts to reinvigorate the Soviet youth project. Komsomol, official Soviet youth culture, and the Soviet Union itself all came to an abrupt end in 1991. Yet this book's final observations remind the reader of the curious fact that the last chapter of the history of Soviet youth is still happening.Less
This chapter takes a detailed look at the years which removed the veil of silence from late Stalinism — not because late Stalinism became the explicit subject of many discussions, but rather because the life and culture of the years 1953–6 made visible (and audible) what had been growing under the heavy blanket of late Stalinist rule for many years. A quick glance beyond 1956 gives an impression of what happened to Soviet youth culture — both official and unofficial. The story of the Komsomol's spiritual decline and the rise of informal youth cultures is punctuated by various, ultimately ineffective, attempts to reinvigorate the Soviet youth project. Komsomol, official Soviet youth culture, and the Soviet Union itself all came to an abrupt end in 1991. Yet this book's final observations remind the reader of the curious fact that the last chapter of the history of Soviet youth is still happening.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of this book, which is to examine the transformation of Soviet youths from individuals rooted in the hierarchical and cultural structures of the Soviet ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of this book, which is to examine the transformation of Soviet youths from individuals rooted in the hierarchical and cultural structures of the Soviet system, into individuals keen to redefine their identity and those of their peers within Soviet society. It contends that young people who came of age in the later stages of Stalin's rule constituted an important bridge between two distinct Soviet epochs: the pre-war and wartime Soviet Union which directed its energies to the construction of socialist society, and the later years of so-called ‘mature socialism’ which sought to preserve. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of this book, which is to examine the transformation of Soviet youths from individuals rooted in the hierarchical and cultural structures of the Soviet system, into individuals keen to redefine their identity and those of their peers within Soviet society. It contends that young people who came of age in the later stages of Stalin's rule constituted an important bridge between two distinct Soviet epochs: the pre-war and wartime Soviet Union which directed its energies to the construction of socialist society, and the later years of so-called ‘mature socialism’ which sought to preserve. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the relationship between late Stalinist ideological campaigns and post-war youth, highlighting both the important role the topic of youth played in the execution and content of ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between late Stalinist ideological campaigns and post-war youth, highlighting both the important role the topic of youth played in the execution and content of the campaigns and the ambiguous reaction young people had towards them. The overarching impression emerging from the analysis is one of confusion and ambiguity. The adolescent looking for ideological direction in the post-war period encountered multiple problems. First of all there were few directives that could help him in the quest for political meaning and ideological convictions. The policies and campaigns of late Stalinism were, especially in comparison with those of the 1930s, fought on a semi-abstract level and contained a host of unexplained keywords and concepts that obscured their underlying direction and purpose. At the same time the campaigns did leave a lasting, and mainly negative, impact on a small, but significant segment of youth. Young people who found themselves to be victims in the anti-Cosmpolitan and anti-Western drives lost their beliefs in the righteousness of a system, in which they had hitherto fervently believed.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between late Stalinist ideological campaigns and post-war youth, highlighting both the important role the topic of youth played in the execution and content of the campaigns and the ambiguous reaction young people had towards them. The overarching impression emerging from the analysis is one of confusion and ambiguity. The adolescent looking for ideological direction in the post-war period encountered multiple problems. First of all there were few directives that could help him in the quest for political meaning and ideological convictions. The policies and campaigns of late Stalinism were, especially in comparison with those of the 1930s, fought on a semi-abstract level and contained a host of unexplained keywords and concepts that obscured their underlying direction and purpose. At the same time the campaigns did leave a lasting, and mainly negative, impact on a small, but significant segment of youth. Young people who found themselves to be victims in the anti-Cosmpolitan and anti-Western drives lost their beliefs in the righteousness of a system, in which they had hitherto fervently believed.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Several historians have pointed out that, regardless of their factual democratic credibility, Soviet practices and rituals produced integrative powers and gave stable frameworks in which individuals ...
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Several historians have pointed out that, regardless of their factual democratic credibility, Soviet practices and rituals produced integrative powers and gave stable frameworks in which individuals were able to find identities and meaning. It is thus worthwhile to take a closer look at the practices and rituals that defined the life of young Soviets and examine them dispassionately in terms of their resonance and effectiveness. This chapter focuses on the mundane, yet crucial, fixtures of everyday Komsomol life such as the Komsomol assembly, Komsomol insignia, electoral practices, and the vexed question of expected and permissible discussion. It was the day-to-day practices that shaped people's relationship with the system. It was here that bonds were formed and it was here that ties were cut. It was also in the mundane where Soviet forms of thinking and behaviour proved to be most durable.Less
Several historians have pointed out that, regardless of their factual democratic credibility, Soviet practices and rituals produced integrative powers and gave stable frameworks in which individuals were able to find identities and meaning. It is thus worthwhile to take a closer look at the practices and rituals that defined the life of young Soviets and examine them dispassionately in terms of their resonance and effectiveness. This chapter focuses on the mundane, yet crucial, fixtures of everyday Komsomol life such as the Komsomol assembly, Komsomol insignia, electoral practices, and the vexed question of expected and permissible discussion. It was the day-to-day practices that shaped people's relationship with the system. It was here that bonds were formed and it was here that ties were cut. It was also in the mundane where Soviet forms of thinking and behaviour proved to be most durable.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter analyses to what extent official norms of interpersonal relations were accepted by youth and to what extent they found expression in everyday realities. Friendship, love, romance, and ...
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This chapter analyses to what extent official norms of interpersonal relations were accepted by youth and to what extent they found expression in everyday realities. Friendship, love, romance, and sex were all features of young people's lives under Stalin — and for many of them these elements make up the main and domineering part of their memories of this time. Yet the many forms in which these interpersonal relationships took place do not simply suggest that personal lives always existed, even under the most hostile circumstances. Rather, a detailed look at Soviet intimacy has revealed a much more complex picture of the relationship between state, individual, official, and private values. There is no doubt that the advice on and interference in matters of personal relations by the state was not only accepted but actively sought by many young Soviets. Emotional ties to other people were not considered to be in a realm separate from one's life as a member of the public. The conduct of personal relations served as an important identifier of people's position within the Soviet collective — both in the eyes of others and in the mind of the subject.Less
This chapter analyses to what extent official norms of interpersonal relations were accepted by youth and to what extent they found expression in everyday realities. Friendship, love, romance, and sex were all features of young people's lives under Stalin — and for many of them these elements make up the main and domineering part of their memories of this time. Yet the many forms in which these interpersonal relationships took place do not simply suggest that personal lives always existed, even under the most hostile circumstances. Rather, a detailed look at Soviet intimacy has revealed a much more complex picture of the relationship between state, individual, official, and private values. There is no doubt that the advice on and interference in matters of personal relations by the state was not only accepted but actively sought by many young Soviets. Emotional ties to other people were not considered to be in a realm separate from one's life as a member of the public. The conduct of personal relations served as an important identifier of people's position within the Soviet collective — both in the eyes of others and in the mind of the subject.
Norman Birnbaum
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195158595
- eISBN:
- 9780199849352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195158595.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
The end of the Second World War brought a renewal of the conflict between democratic socialism and Stalinism, mainly in the form of the integration of the Western socialist and social democratic ...
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The end of the Second World War brought a renewal of the conflict between democratic socialism and Stalinism, mainly in the form of the integration of the Western socialist and social democratic parties in the Western bloc. That bloc was organized and led by the United States in precisely the period in which we had a limited social contract, our own equivalent of social democracy. The postwar integration of the Western socialists in capitalism did have a large positive result: the development of a welfare model of capitalism, quite distinct from the absolute sovereignty of the market. Before examining some of the present dilemmas of the socialist movement, this chapter inquires into the movement's history. Wrong turnings were taken, false ideas unscrutinized, major errors treated as indispensable assumptions. This book attempts to identify all these.Less
The end of the Second World War brought a renewal of the conflict between democratic socialism and Stalinism, mainly in the form of the integration of the Western socialist and social democratic parties in the Western bloc. That bloc was organized and led by the United States in precisely the period in which we had a limited social contract, our own equivalent of social democracy. The postwar integration of the Western socialists in capitalism did have a large positive result: the development of a welfare model of capitalism, quite distinct from the absolute sovereignty of the market. Before examining some of the present dilemmas of the socialist movement, this chapter inquires into the movement's history. Wrong turnings were taken, false ideas unscrutinized, major errors treated as indispensable assumptions. This book attempts to identify all these.
Norman Birnbaum
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195158595
- eISBN:
- 9780199849352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195158595.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Political History
By the mid-1930s, the socialist movement was everywhere on the defensive, visibly incapable of defending the parliamentary democracy to which it was attached. Leon Blum's Popular Front government ...
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By the mid-1930s, the socialist movement was everywhere on the defensive, visibly incapable of defending the parliamentary democracy to which it was attached. Leon Blum's Popular Front government decided that it could not risk rupturing a fragile civil peace in France by aiding the Spanish Republic. The impotence of the rest of Europe, as Germany and Italy showed no compunctions about military intervention on behalf of the Spanish Fascists, was but one aspect of the agony of the decade. The problem of Stalinism was as grave. That problem became more acute as the disaster of the collectivization of agriculture, the brutality of accelerated industrialization, systematic intensification of terror, and what was later to be termed the cult of personality—the grotesque adulation of Joseph Stalin—deprived the Soviet Union of the vestiges of any claim to represent socialist democracy.Less
By the mid-1930s, the socialist movement was everywhere on the defensive, visibly incapable of defending the parliamentary democracy to which it was attached. Leon Blum's Popular Front government decided that it could not risk rupturing a fragile civil peace in France by aiding the Spanish Republic. The impotence of the rest of Europe, as Germany and Italy showed no compunctions about military intervention on behalf of the Spanish Fascists, was but one aspect of the agony of the decade. The problem of Stalinism was as grave. That problem became more acute as the disaster of the collectivization of agriculture, the brutality of accelerated industrialization, systematic intensification of terror, and what was later to be termed the cult of personality—the grotesque adulation of Joseph Stalin—deprived the Soviet Union of the vestiges of any claim to represent socialist democracy.
Timothy Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199604036
- eISBN:
- 9780191731600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604036.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
The official post-war diplomatic identity of the USSR continued to stress the strength of the great power alliance until the autumn of 1947. However, the population of the Soviet Union was not ...
More
The official post-war diplomatic identity of the USSR continued to stress the strength of the great power alliance until the autumn of 1947. However, the population of the Soviet Union was not convinced and a series of war rumours and war panics broke out in the early post-war months. From late-1947, the Soviet press stressed above all the peace-loving nature of the USSR and its role as a defender of the oppressed, particularly in East Asia. The late-Stalinist campaigns for peace after 1948 were unusually successful in their attempts to mobilize the population of the USSR. Their success was a product of ongoing war anxiety but also the creative reappropriation of the campaigns into a platform through which participants could speak about the suffering they had experienced in the recent conflict. This behaviour offers an insight into certain aspects of the Soviet early Cold War mentalité Less
The official post-war diplomatic identity of the USSR continued to stress the strength of the great power alliance until the autumn of 1947. However, the population of the Soviet Union was not convinced and a series of war rumours and war panics broke out in the early post-war months. From late-1947, the Soviet press stressed above all the peace-loving nature of the USSR and its role as a defender of the oppressed, particularly in East Asia. The late-Stalinist campaigns for peace after 1948 were unusually successful in their attempts to mobilize the population of the USSR. Their success was a product of ongoing war anxiety but also the creative reappropriation of the campaigns into a platform through which participants could speak about the suffering they had experienced in the recent conflict. This behaviour offers an insight into certain aspects of the Soviet early Cold War mentalité
