Stalin and Socialist Experiment in Soviet Russia

2005

Europe-asia Studies, 2004

Despite the fact that more than 60 years have passed since the death of Joseph Stalin, the leader of the USSR from 1922 to 1953, the memory of him remains alive. For several years running Stalin has topped the ranking of the most remarkable figures in Russia's history. Portraits of him appear at political demonstrations and religious events; new monuments to the dictator are erected. The Kremlin's official rhetoric increasingly refers to the positive aspects of the Soviet era, in particular to the victory in World War II. Representatives of the state's administration and the Orthodox Church have been making favourable comments about Stalin. However, Stalin's popularity among society in today's Russia is rather superficial – Russians know little about the dictator and his life; they are rather nostalgic about the period of his rule and the achievements of his era. The image of the Soviet dictator as an outstanding leader is blended with Russians' individual memories of repression and terror which affected almost every Russian family. These reminiscences however do not penetrate the public sphere at the mass level, which makes it possible for the state's narrative to dominate it. The Krem-lin has exploited the ambivalent and superficial attitude which Russians have to Stalin. Even though it does not glorify him, it allows for his social cult to develop, and contributes to it by selectively emphasising the positive aspects of the leader's actions and by mythologising his image. The Kremlin has been legitimising its power based on politics of memory, generating controlled divisions in society and mobilising its proponents. On the other hand, the government has made it more difficult to draw attention to the murderous nature of Stalin's actions. Any criticism of him (from Russian citizens and civil society organisations as well as the international community) is seen as an attack on contemporary Russia and its present government which presents itself as the heir to the USSR's and Stalin's accomplishments and victories.

Lenin's death and the struggle for leadership. Emergence of Stalin, his background, aims, ideology and support. Methods used to come to power. Concept of Totalitarianism: Stalin's aims and overview the extent to which it was achieved. Key Questions: 'What Methods and conditions did Stalin use to gain power?' 'What were Stalin's aims and ideology?' 'To what extent was the rise to power of Stalin due to personal appeal and ability?' Establishment of authoritarian and single party states. Stalin's Communist Government: ideology. Stalin's 1936 Constitution Structure and organisation of Government and administration Methods and use of force: show trials, purges and secret police. Nature, extent and treatment of opposition in his early years. Political opposition, military and ordinary people in opposition. Key Questions: 'How did Stalin keep control?' 'Account for the ineffectiveness of internal opposition to Stalin.' "In order to achieve and retain power a leader of a single-party state needed to be ruthless, blind to human suffering and yet charismatic." To what extent do you agree with this assertion? 'Assess the importance of ideology in Stalin's policies.' 'Assess the methods used by Stalin to maintain power.' Domestic policies and impact. Stalin's Economic Policies: Modernising Industry; the Five Year Plans and impact. Modernising agriculture; Collectivisation and impact. Successes and weaknesses of economic policies. Key Question: 'To what extent were the economic policies for the good of the USSR or were they established to consolidate Stalin's power?' Domestic policies and impact. Propaganda: the Cult of the Personality -Stalinisation Education and the treatment of the young The Treatment of Women in Stalin's Russia Religion, art and culture under Stalin Treatment of the Minorities under Stalin Key Questions: 'How had life changed for people living during Stalin's rule?' 'To what extent had Stalin managed a 'Social Revolution'?' 'Assess the successes and failures of Stalin's Domestic policies'. 'In what ways and with what results was propaganda used under Stalin?' 'Examine the treatment of women in Stalinist Russia.' 'Assess the Education policy and /or the developments of the arts in the USSR under Stalin.' 'To what extent was the USSR an orthodox communist state under Stalin?'

2017

Despite the fact that more than 60 years have passed since the death of Joseph Stalin, the leader of the USSR from 1922 to 1953, the memory of him remains alive. For several years running Stalin has topped the ranking of the most remarkable figures in Russia's history. Portraits of him appear at political demonstrations and religious events; new monuments to the dictator are erected. The Kremlin's official rhetoric increasingly refers to the positive aspects of the Soviet era, in particular to the victory in World War II. Representatives of the state's administration and the Orthodox Church have been making favourable comments about Stalin. However, Stalin's popularity among society in today's Russia is rather superficial-Russians know little about the dictator and his life; they are rather nostalgic about the period of his rule and the achievements of his era. The image of the Soviet dictator as an outstanding

2005

Abstract The paper considers how a number of features of Stalin's rule that appear most pointless or counter–productive from a present day standpoint, summed up as “futile repression”, can be understood as the rational choices of a dictator optimising his regime. The same reasoning may be applied to those aspects of Stalin's legacy that are most commonly seen as positive, such as the industrial and military policies that saved his country in World War II.

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities & Social Sciences, 2021

How does one make sense of Stalin and Stalinism? This question has been at the heart of heated debates for decades, not only within Western scholarship of Soviet history, but more importantly, within contemporary historiographical debates in Russia and other post-Soviet countries (in particular, Georgia). As editors James Ryan and Susan Grant note in the introduction of this volume, quoting from no less a figure than Nikita Khrushchev, the legacy of Stalin is "complicated" (p. 3). Moreover, as historian David Hoffmann wrote, "for students of Soviet history, no problem looms larger than that of Stalinism" (quoted, p. 7). The current volume seeks to further unpack this "Stalin enigma," challenging the commonly held assumptions and narratives about the Soviet dictator and his regime through new archival re

Crisis and Critique, 2016

Translation of Judith Balso's Text "A Thought on Stalin Beginning from Lenin" One cannot write a text on Stalin without also, and at the same time, writing a text on Lenin. Based on precise documentation, it is a question of discerning the real effects of political thought, as well as the effects, no less real, of the destruction of such a thought. Otherwise, we remain confined to a sort of historical process, a process that shares the same rules with the accusation (Bianco) or the defense (Losurdo). The centre of gravity of this analysis is not the "Great Terror" at the end of the 1930s, but rather the period of the first five-year plan and of dekulakization, this analysis is essential if we seek to produce a judgment that is not regulated by morality nor by "efficiency," but by the effective conditions of a real process of emancipation, specifically: popular subjectivity as the new force capable of creating a political opening (I would point out, incidentally, that it is this that makes possible October 1917).

Cultural Logic: A Journal of Marxist Theory & Practice, 2005

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