The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

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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 13.
SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES: FROM REFORMS TO STAGNATION

Our theme in this essay will argue that there was real progress in Brezhnev’s USSR, in economic as well as in cultural-political terms, if we define progress as a movement away from a command economy, and as greater room for dissent. This progress was not the result of Brezhnev’s thought out goals, but had to happen because of the increasing complexity of the economy.

The change of leaders in October 1964 was the beginning of a new turn in Soviet History. Spokesmen of the «Third Generation» Soviet leadership, headed by Leonid Brezhnev, occupied positions at the upper power levels.

Who were they? Many of them started their careers during Stalin’s purges at the end of the Thirties. The new administrators were educated inside the school of the Stalinist system. A special generation of leaders disappeared with Khrushchev. They were apparatchiks, but not typical ones. They were still full of revolutionary ideas; they were fighters, soldiers of the revolution. They felt themselves to be participants of «the march for bright future for the whole of mankind». Their positions were now occupied by featureless «executives», who were trained never to take any responsibility or to produce any original ideas. Double moral standards and intrigues became the rule of their conduct, and they could survive only by keeping their true thoughts to themselves. They combined a rather small store of knowledge with a yearning for material wealth. The main qualifications of this «elite» were not professional skills or moral principles, but controllability and devotion to their leaders the main method of selecting one’s personnel. Patronage and nepotism became one.

In these conditions the role of the main leader increased tremendously. Brezhnev, a cunning and rather active statesman, firmly held the reins of the government. But he lacked the gift of foresight and his education was scanty. A man of rather archaic mentality, he tried to create the image of a reasonable, calm politician, who wouldn’t make a step without the advice of his comrades. Brezhnev was against sudden turns, and weary of situations. He didn’t enjoy a great authority among the Soviet people. He was considered to be an ungrateful Khrushchev protege. Everybody remembered his glee when he decorated «dear Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev».

When he had taken the top position in the Soviet hierarchy, Brezhnev began to grope cautiously for his own style. He and his people couldn’t ignore that changes were imperative. In reality, the efforts to reform the economy were mainly owing to the head of the Government Aleksey Kosygin. The essence of reforms may be summed up as follows:

1. Changes in the administrative structure. (Khrushchev’s territorial Councils of National Economy were abolished, and a management through the system of bureaucratic monopolies of the Soviet Union and of its Republics, for each branch of the industry, was reinstituted.)

2. Correction of the planning system. Plans were made in order not to sell more products, without increasing total production.

3. Improvement of material incentives and wages. The main concept of these reforms was to extend the economic independence of enterprises.

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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