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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INTRODUCTION

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

The academic study of history has been significantly reconsidered and retooled during the last two decades. Scholars had to solve a whole number of questions. This process was accompanied by «the struggle for the past» and the filling in of so-called «blank spots», as well as by changes in the subject matter and value orientations of Russian scholars, the destruction of previously existing historical hierarchies, the beginning of coexistence between history and the Internet, market penetration in science and rivalry for the best «packaging» of historical knowledge.

The main reason for understanding the principle characteristics and trends of these transformations is to find out why historical science still attracts public attention in new conditions, and why it is used not only as science but also as a tool for making sense of current events.

Since the middle of the 1980s scholars have been studying Soviet history on the basis of the interests and priorities of Perestroika, elaborating historical patterns according to current political tendencies. While the official state policy was destroying the past, these patterns met the requirements of historical science itself. Researchers were clearing the historical research field of old dogmas and stereotypes. Nobody realized the possible pitfalls of this intellectual revolution. The review of the past was based not on historical science itself but on external factors. Political essays were filling the ideological vacuum. However, the approaches of popular commentators were more political than analytical. Historiography itself was only prepared to remove old concepts taken from Stalin’s Short Course and to replace them with others elaborated in the conditions of a new political situation.

The first animated discussions were actually aimed not at broadening historical science itself, but at «schematizing» it. Some researchers defended and wanted to conserve the old «patterns,» others wanted to destroy them. But neither group went outside the bounds of old stereotypes, stable traditions and claims to have a monopoly on truth. The result of these politicized discussions about the past resulted in a vulgar squabble over whether the country had been moving in the wrong direction for more then seventy years. At the least, this was a positive phenomena because the appearance of many «patterns» and explanatory concepts offered real choices and opened room for debate.

Some historians suggested looking for so called «big algorithms» (that is, large-scale structural imperatives of varying kinds — PTC) of Soviet history in the concepts that «had developed themselves» or penetrated Soviet historical science from western sociology. They could give a fundamental explanation of the historical phenomenon of Russia in the 20th century. These «big algorithms» include: «rapid economic development designed to overtake the West» or industrial modernization, «large-scale revolution», «the algorithm of empire» and the «doctrinal» algorithm. Behind each of them, there is a concept that had already been well elaborated in western sociology and historiography.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the «doctrinal» algorithm was the most popular. This approach reflects the recent past as the realization of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks initial political doctrine. It deals with the different ways Marxist concepts were adapted to fit the Stalinist political system. Today these ideas represent a specific Russian modification of the «totalitarian» approach developed by American Sovietologists of the «Cold War» period.

There are many facts and events in the history of the 20th century that could explain the first algorithm, connected with the modernization pattern, and the «big revolution» algorithm. As for the first algorithm, since the end of the 1960s political scientists had been elaborating concepts explaining the developmental particularities of the second-tier capitalist countries, including Russia. The second algorithm was used by the Bolsheviks’ opponents, such as the Mensheviks, the National-Bolsheviks and the Trotskyists. This algorithm was also supported by those scientists who doubt the revolutionary character of the October Revolution of 1917 and refused to include it among the «great revolutions.» Whatever the attitude toward the Russian revolution, this approach did provide a scientific interpretation of the political extremism, violence and terror that occurred. It also allowed historians to trace the revolution’s ascent, regression and decline — that is, its «Thermidorian» and «Bonapartist» phases. The same can be said of the «algorithm of empire,» which can also be used to explain the birth, development, and collapse of the Russian and Soviet imperial systems.

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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