The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

Оглавление

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION. Theme 1. THE STUDY OF MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY: MAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS

Theme 2. RUSSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY: ITS SELF-IMAGE, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION, AND CONTRADICTIONS OF ITS DEVELOPMENT

Theme 3. FESTIVAL OF THE OPPRESSED OR SOCIAL DISEASE? THE NATURE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS

Theme 4. EMERGENCY MEASURES AND THE «EXTREME EMERGENCY REGIME» IN THE SOVIET REPUBLIC AND OTHER STATE FORMATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA, 1918‒1920

Theme 5. FROM «WAR COMMUNISM» TO THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY: CONTRADICTIONS OF THE NEP

Theme 6. NEP DOWNSIZING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLICY OF EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES INTO A PERMANENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

Theme 7. THE 1930S: CRISES, REFORMS, REPRESSIONS

Theme 8. THE HIERARCHY OF THE GREAT TERROR

Theme 9. ILLUSIONS AND AWAKENING OF THE GENERATION OF 1930S

Theme 10. THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1941‒1945: MAIN EVENTS AND POPULAR MOOD IN THE UNOCCUPIED SOVIET UNION

Theme 11. THE PEOPLE AND PROBLEMS OF THE POST-WAR ERA

Theme 12. THE KHRUSHCHEV’S THAW AND ITS REVERSE SIDE

Theme 13. SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES: FROM REFORMS TO STAGNATION

Theme 14. THE 1980S: THE SPACE OF POWER AND A SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS OF HISTORICAL PROGRESS

Theme 15. AUGUST PUTSCH OF 1991 AND THE TERMIDOR OF YELTSIN

CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA. WITH WHAT DOES RUSSIA ENTER THE NEW MILLENNIUM?. Theme 16. THE REALM OF POWER UNDER VLADIMIR PUTIN

Theme 17. REFORMS AND THE HIERARCHY OF NATIONAL PROJECTS

Theme 18. LOCATING OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD OF 1917 IN RUSSIAN HISTORICAL MEMORY

Theme 19. THE GREAT VICTORY OF 1945 IN HISTORICAL MEMORY

Theme 20. TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN UTOPIAS: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE AS IMAGINED BY THE STATE AND DESIRED BY THE INTELLIGENTSIA

MAIN EVENTS, DATES AND GLOSSARY

SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES

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Theme 9.
ILLUSIONS AND AWAKENING OF THE GENERATION OF 1930S

We concluded our previous theme with the picture of the Great Terror. We also discussed the repressions against millions of innocent people. Today, the younger generation sternly asks the older one: «Why did not you resist?»

The author of a well-known book «Gulag Archipelago», Alexander Solzhenitsyn, also asks this question. He concludes that it is precisely the lack of any resistance that was the cause of the mass terror. In Leningrad, — the writer notices, — three quarters of the inhabitants were hiding while one quarter was put behind bars. Nobody denounced the murderers. Nobody punctured the tires of the NKVD cars. Nobody stopped the machine of the NKVD. Therefore the people deserved what they got. Is it possible to agree with Solzhenitsyn? Did the Soviet people really deserve the terror? Soviet historians haven’t as yet studied the problem of the Soviet society’s opposition to terror. Who has counted how many people happened to be saved by those who opposed Stalin’s state during the harvest of times? And what did the people who suspected the extent of the terror, do? What did the generation of the 1930 believe in?

If one looks through the Soviet newspapers of the great purge period, one will find them full of «people’s anger», against «wreckers», against so-called «spies», trotskysts and bukharinists. But was the indignation sincere and unanimous? In Russia, there are several opinions on that score today. We would begin with the two extremes. Some people take official indignation for the true public feelings of the majority. Others believe that those who lived in that period of terror kept silence not because they had faith in Stalin, but because they were afraid.

It might seem strange that we have evidence in support of both points of view. Indeed, there were people who believed in the existence of hundreds and thousands of enemies. There were also those who pretended to believe. We find a normal distribution curve of opinions in between the two extremes. The generation of the 30s had every reason both for agreement with the official propaganda and for doubting it that is grounds both for silence and for frankness.

Let us start with the believers. It was difficult for an ordinary man to understand the situation. He was probably not a highly cultured man; he had scant information available. Many people were really defenseless in the face of the overpowering official propaganda. For years there were accustomed to the thought that the new society has many enemies inside and outside their homeland. That was not always a myth. In 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany. There were troubles in the Far East due to Japanese provocations. Stalin’s policy of terror constantly increased the number of people, who were discontent and embittered by the violence and injustice. Of course, these people were not the enemies of their own country. But there is no doubt that many of them hated (with plenty of reason) the Stalin made state system. Most people went along with the official propaganda and considered all critics of the regime to be «enemies of the people.»

История Bordyugov G., Devyatov S., Kotelenet E. The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

История Bordyugov G., Devyatov S., Kotelenet E. The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

The XXth Century Political History of Russia presents lecture materials for academics working with undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers of Russian history.<br /> The chapters are an unusual insight into the Russian past, which makes the readers think, analyze and also reconsider some events of the Russian history. It is an exciting blend of stories of the past and future trends, allowing to make forecasts and predictions.

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