Stalinism

The following excerpts are translated from the 2011 French edition of Italian philosopher and historian Domenico Losurdo's Stalin: storia e critica di una leggenda near ( Carroci Press, 2008). Losurdo's book is one of the only contemporary, 1 nonRussian, "revisionist" accounts of Stalin's leadership. The only recent book of a similar stripe is professor Grover Furr's Khruschev

This study examines the role of political factors in attitudes toward World War II in contemporary Ukraine. The question under examination is which factors determine public views of the principal warring sides and their leaders in Ukraine. This paper uses a representative national survey specifically designed for this research project and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2012. It analyzes the roles of regionalism, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, age, and sex in attitudes toward the Red Army, Soviet partisans, the German Army (Wehrmacht), and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during the war, as well as toward the wartime leaders of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the UPA. The analysis of the survey data shows that regional values, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, and age have significant effects on views of the Soviet Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during the war and attitudes toward the wartime activities of Joseph Stalin and Roman Shukhevych. Public perceptions of the German Army and Adolf Hitler in Ukraine do not vary much across regions, political parties, and ethnic, language, age, and sex groups.

Nel paese ove sarebbe in costruzione l'economia socialista non solo dunque esistono i rubli, coi quali il salario dei lavoratori viene pagato, ma esiste anche il risparmio sul salario, il deposito di esso nelle casse statali o nelle banche, la possibilità di investire l'accumulato risparmio in titoli fruttifero, da cui ogni sei mesi la salda mano dell'operaio, come quella delle vecchie signore che si affollano nei saloni delle banche, taglierà esitante la "cedola" dell'interesse, il borghesissimo "coupon". E con tutto ciò esiste del pari il pieno diritto di negoziare i titoli, venderli e comprarli, accumulare in quantità illimitata, e passare da stakhanovista a fannullonissimo "rentier".

В революции образ врага всегда функционален. В течение 1920-1930-х годов в СССР был создан целый бестиарий образов врага: белогвардейцы, интервенты, помещики, капиталисты, кулаки, члены антисоветских политических партий, «церковники», нэпманы, специалисты-вредители, оппозиционеры-двурушники всех мастей. В зависимости от интересов партии участники этого ряда варьировались, теряли или приобретали накал «инфернальности». В Сибири властью был создан еще один образ врага. Речь идет об образе сектанта. В статье исследуются механизмы и приемы формирования образа врага в советской прессе.

The paper offers an overview of the history of the anarchist movement in Ukraine during the revolution 1917-1921. The article focuses on the anarchists' role in the unfolding the revolutionary crisis in Ukraine, explores the influence of the revolution on the ideology of the Ukrainian anarchist movent, sheds more light on its organizational structure.

The death of an important sovereign ruler might create a perilous power vacuum leading to a generalised political instability.  As is to be expected, the ideological potency of the Social-Realist paradigm became ineffective. Such sociolinguistic shift in attitude towards Socialist Realism and its official channels of communication marked the beginning of the Thaw. Especially Pomerantsev's On Sincerity in Literature stood as the avantguard of arising liberal tendencies which strikingly resonated with individuals' long-felt opinions about the ungenuine quality of literature and its language. Similarly, their concern and negative perception towards the overly schematic nature of literature and the writers' tight link to the party also aligned with specific early Ottepel's works.

The reverence for Stalinism by the main kibbutz movements, which through revolutionary rhetoric helped perpetuate leaders who had reached the dysfunctional phase, was wrongly interpreted. Historians missed leaders’ efforts to induce reverence and its use for their domination, while social researchers missed its enhancement of oligarchic rule. These are explained by the suppression of critics at the hands of a co-opted functionalist scientific coalition, by ethnographers
missing the impact of inter-kibbutz organizations, and by the differentiation of disciplines. Multiple ethnographies of kibbutzim (pl. of kibbutz) and inter-kibbutz organizations and the integration of various findings by a good theory exposed
these failures. They point to the required integration of disciplines and to the need for reform of scientific publication decision-making aimed at preventing such failures.

В статье путем анализа одного казуса ставится проблема коллективной памяти о сталинизме в современном российском обществе. Рассматриваются аспекты преподава- ния сталинизма в школе и выявляются основные факторы, делающие вопрос о репрес- сиях трудным в рамках современного образования. Предлагается корректировка суще- ствующих теоретических подходов к анализу коллективной памяти в связи с развитием новых информационных технологий.

Книга посвящена малоизвестной и практически неизученной проблеме взаимоотношений советского государства и церквей баптистов, евангельских христиан, меннонитов, адвентистов седьмого дня и молокан в 1920–1930-е годы.
Основу сборника составили уникальные рассекреченные архивные документы партийных и советских органов, ВЧК – ГПУ – ОГПУ – НКВД, революционных военных трибуналов и судов, а также материалы партийно-советской периодической печати Сибири. Книга рассчитана как на профессиональных историков, так и на всех интересующихся историей сталинизма и церковно-
государственных отношений в России.

A rare and lost preface to Animal farm; novella written by George Orwell. This preface better known as Freedom to Press was written by Orwell himself and It gives equal cult to the topic which Orwell tried to heed on. I just edited it into readable PDF.

This article is based on previously unpublished sources, mainly the archival materials of the Party Control Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). I argue that luxury can be seen as a phenomenon constructed by the Soviet social and political hierarchy during the 1940s and 1950s. An examination of everyday practices and patterns of consumption of luxury goods (food, clothing , interior furnishings, etc.) indicates that the Soviet elite (nomenklatura) sought to emulate a notional " middle-class " lifestyle. The distribution of so-called " trophy items " imported from East Germany to the Soviet Union caused friction within the party administration and sowed discontent within Soviet society as a whole. The dual policy of the CPSU on the issue of financial security of its members revealed its uncertainty about the state of " permitted " and " unauthorized " luxury. Keywords luxury – Stalinism – distribution of wealth – domestic space – nomenklatura – Soviet Union – CPSU – Party Control Commission.

Denník Pravda v seriáli Svedectvá pravdy priblížil povojnové obdobie, najmä päťdesiate roky minulého storočia. Priniesol príbehy ľudí, ktorých jediná vládnuca komunistická strana označila za triednych nepriateľov a tvrdo ich trestala. Posledný diel prináša pohľad na túto etapu našich dejín, ktorá sa napriek budovaniu a obnove vojnou zničeného štátu stala najkrutejším obdobím komunistického režimu. Do sovietskych gulagov boli odvlečené tisícky slovenských občanov. Autor: ARCHÍV VLADIMÍRA LEHOTAIA " Tri roky som sa každé ráno budil s tým, že možno dnes ma popravia, a počúval, ako viedli ľudí na popravu, " spomínal bývalý politický väzeň Ján Zeman, člen vtedajšej Demokratickej strany. Napokon ho nepopravili. Trest smrti mu po troch rokoch zmenili na doživotie. Viacerí také šťastie nemali. Z politických dôvodov bolo na Slovensku od roku 1948 do roku 1954 popravených 45 ľudí a odsúdených približne 25­tisíc. " Boli medzi nimi aj tí, čo spochybňovali alebo otvorene kritizovali myšlienku "socializácie dediny " , ktorej nosným plánom bolo združstevňovanie. Pod jej rúškom režim tvrdo presadzoval výchovu v duchu socializmu. Straníci vedeli, že je to možné najmä cez učiteľov. Prvá veta nového riaditeľa školy v Slovenskej Vsi znela: Táto dedina bude prvou ateistickou obcou! Žiakom dávali písať sloh na tému Prečo môj otec nevstúpil do JRD, v čase, keď na roľníkov tlačili, aby podpísali prihlášku," približuje František Neupauer, riaditeľ sekcie výskumu Ústavu pamäti národa. Niekde sa presvedčovacie metódy obmedzili na nátlak cez deti, ktoré poslali domov zo škôl či zamestnania, kým rodičia nepodpíšu vstup do jednotného roľníckeho družstva. Inde k nim pribudla aj bitka či namierený revolver. " V roku 1953 sa roľníci v prešovskom regióne začali verejne a hromadne búriť. Dokonca predstavitelia vtedajšieho Sovietskeho zväzu žiadali československú vládu, aby "zvoľnila " proces kolektivizácie. Báli sa, aby vzbury nezasiahli aj ZSSR," dodáva Neupauer. Režim si podriadil všetko Odstrániť vykorisťovanie človeka človekom a rovnosť šancí pre každého! To bolo ústredné heslo komunistickej vlády, ktorá sa dostala k moci 25. februára 1948. " Nová politická moc programovo a cieľavedome rozbíjala staré spoločenské a vlastnícke štruktúry, aby na ich troskách založila novú spoločnosť s novými ľuďmi. Na tento účel propagandisticky zneužila najmä mladú, neskúsenú generáciu

History of the development of the Vakhsh Valley reclamation scheme (Vakhshstroi) in Tajikistan. Vakshstroi was a Stalin-era project as grandiose as better-known ones such as the construction of Magnitogorsk or Noril'sk. By Murat Aminjanov. Don Van Atta commissioned the work but did not write it.

Recalling the intellectual milieu of Communist Central and Eastern Europe within which Kulcsár Kálmán (1928–2010) and his first book A jogszociológia problémái [The problems of legal sociology] (1960) could serve as a revelative path-breaking in local legal scholarship

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrntbar.

THE FIGHTING AGAINST FORMALISM IN SOVIET FINE ARTS AND THE SOVIET PERIODICALS OF THE SECOND HALF OF 1940s

The analysis of publications in the soviet periodicals of the second half of the 1940-s demonstrates that the fight against formalism in fine arts was organized not so much by the top party functionaries, as by the group of the artists and critics associated with the former Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia and was used to get the key positions in the Academy of Fine Arts of the USSR established in 1947.

Key words: the fight against formalism, cosmopolitism, the Peredvizhniki (members of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions), impressionism, socialist realist painting, Nikolai Punin, Abram Efros, Osip Beskin.

We live now in the wake of the most monstrously violent century in human history, during which the secular order (on both the political right and the political left), freed from the authority of religion, showed itself willing to kill on an unprecedented scale and the with an ease of conscience worse than merely depraved. If ever an age deserved to be thought an age of darkness, it is surely ours. One might almost be tempted to conclude that secular government is the one form of government that has shown itself too violent, capricious, and unprincipled to be trusted. 1 How, then, can anyone today begin to come to grips with this terrifying reality? What would be the quickest way for busy Americans and others to get some kind of exposure to this nightmare called the twentieth century?

The conference contribution will be focused on the situation in the regional apparatus of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Pardubice between years 1949–1951. During this period the cleanings in the Regional Committees of the Communist Party took place throughout the territory of Czechoslovakia. The aim was to discover „ inner enemies“. At first, two large regional cases appeared (the co-called karlovarský and olomoucký). From them, the Central Committee of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia created the illustrative cases. When were these cases discussing in regions, often were „revealing“ as internal enemies. The chief secretary of the Regional Committee of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Brno Otto Šling was identified at the end of the year 1950 as an internal enemy. This case was then discussed in the other regional committees in the country. They were looking for the persons, who used the same „dictatorial methods“ as Otto Šling, which were called „šligovština.“ In the Pardubice region was found as a local dictator Jiří Kotrch (Deputy Chief Secretary of the Regional Committee of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Pardubice) and other several other staff members, who has been called as a „fraction group.“

The article discusses the phenomenon of slavery from the point of view of social anthropology. Here, the slave appears as a person who has lost his/her right to autonomous social self-representation and, correspondingly, to forging any kind
of social relationships beyond the will of the master, i.e. the person who has seized and appropriated this right from the slave. Mikhailin also looks at the network of social connections and hierarchies that give rise to marginal and inferior social statuses (including that of the slave) and which create the perspective (of the slave-owner) necessary for even talking about “marginality” and “inferiority.” The social-anthropological approach to slavery illustrates Mikhailin’s study of the Russian serf and of the social and intellectual consequences of serfdom in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

В иллюстрированной книге о Главном здании МГУ авторы описывают историю (в том числе историю строительства), устройство, а также архитектурные особенности Главного здания. Приводится большое количество фотографий, иллюстраций и схем. Многие материалы публикуются впервые.

This article relates the intriguing story of Chateau Dobříš, a meeting place in Czechoslovakia for Latin American intellectuals during the late 1940s and1950s. Based primarily on the contemporary testimonies of selected authors and their memoirs, the study describes this little known chapter in cultural relations between Latin America and eastern Europe. At that time, Chateau Dobříš, which was administered by the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, played a significant role in the cultural scene of Latin America. It was here that Jorge Amado, Pablo Neruda, Nicolás Guillén, and other luminaries came into contact with one another and started friendships with their European colleagues. At the same time, the chateau became a place in which some of Latin America’s luminaries met for the very first time, because the political situation in their own countries made it impossible to do so otherwise. The experience at Chateau Dobříš was therefore an important phase for Latin American writers. By analyzing this phenomenon, this article aims to contribute to the investigation of “New Cold War History” and our understanding of the Communist cultural politics during the era.

Научные политические биографии советских вождей остаются одним из слабых мест как российской, так и зарубежной историографии. Даже биографии советских деятелей «первого
ранга» все еще можно пересчитать по пальцам, не говоря уже о представителях партийно-государственных и военных элит, находившихся в «тени вождя» и его ближайшего окружения.
Настоящая публикация посвящена последнему периоду жизни двух большевистских деятелей, которые уже давно заслужили своих собственных биографов – партийному функционеру Левону
Мирзояну и чекисту Станиславу Реденсу. Судьба ненадолго свела их в Казахстане в 1938 г. в качестве первых лиц республики. Они оба являются типичными представителями сталинской
номенклатуры, которая приняла непосредственное участие в реализации Большого террора и сама стала его жертвой. Цель публикации состоит в том, чтобы на основе ряда документов,
ранее не вводившихся в научный оборот, три из которых публикуются в качестве документального приложения, изучить функционирование неформальных структур и практик
партийно-государственных элит в период Большого террора. Большое внимание в публикации уделяется клановой системе и культу почитания советских вождей как специфической черте
большевистской политической культуры. Авторы солидаризуются со мнением ряда исследователей, согласно которому именно стремление И.В. Сталина разрушить отношения патронажа и клиентелы и ввести в рамки персональные культы почитания местных вождей, расцветавшие на всех этажах советского политического Олимпа, являлось одной из главных
причин чистки советских элит.

In Tismaneanu, Vladimir (ed.), Stalinism Revisited
The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe. Budapest, 2009, CEU Press, 231-254.
Paper begins by clarifying the meaning of two concepts in the context of this study: of Stalinism, and of Hungarian Stalinism. Then comes a word on three periods in the historiography of Hungarian Stalinism. The third part sets out to pinpoint the main historical problems raised by Hungarian Stalinism.

В настоящее издание вошли документы Архива Президента Российской Федерации, Архива внешней политики Российской Федерации, Центрального архива Федеральной службы безопасности Российской Федерации, Государственного
архива Российской Федерации, Российского государственного архива экономики, Российского государственного архива социально-политической истории, посвященные подготовке, организации и последствиям одного из основных судебных
политических процессов советской эпохи — процесса над группой отечественных и немецких управленцев, инженеров и техников, обвиненных в «экономической контрреволюции в Донбассе».
В первой книге публикуются документы тематических дел фонда Политбюро ЦК ВКП(б) за 1928–1929 гг., хранящиеся в АП РФ Основу корпуса источников составляют постановления Политбюро по «Шахтинскому делу», подготовительные материалы к ним, решения других центральных органов власти, а также инициативная и отчетная документация органов ОГПУ, в которых отражен механизм подготовки, принятия и реализации политических, репрессивных, судебных, пропагандистских и других решений, связанных с данным процессом.

Upon its adoption in December 1936, Soviet leaders hailed the new so-called Stalin Constitution as the most democratic in the world. Scholars have long scoffed at this claim, noting that the mass repression of 1937-1938 that followed rendered it a hollow document. This study does not address these competing claims, but rather focuses on the six-month-long popular discussion of the draft Constitution, which preceded its formal adoption in December 1936. Drawing on rich archival sources, this book uses the discussion of the draft 1936 Constitution to examine discourse between the central state leadership and citizens about the new Soviet social contract, which delineated the roles the state and citizens should play in developing socialism. For the central leadership, mobilizing its citizenry in a variety of state-building campaigns was the main goal of the discussion of the draft Constitution. However, the goals of the central leadership at times stood in stark contrast with the people's expressed interpretation of that social contract. Citizens of the USSR focused on securing rights and privileges, often related to improving their daily lives, from the central government.

Work competition appeared in Soviet Union, and it posed an ideologist form of professional rivarly, with a purpose to intensify of production with simultaneous affirmation of the communist system. Participants of the work race were offered a chance to earn more money, get promoted and become recognized by authorities. Work leaders were presented on first pages of newspapers, famous artists painted their portraits, which were carried during marches and demonstrated during celebrations. In the Work competition, the economic postulates were irreversibly combined with ideological assumptions and guidelines of the propaganda. The first attempts to implement this idea in Poland were undertaken in 1945, however with no success. Not until two years later, when the scope of power and influences of the communist party expanded, did it succeed to initiate the movement of work competition. Zabrze was chosen to be its cradle. In July 1947, the press published an appeal by Wincenty Pstrowski, a miner from the „Jadwiga” mine in Zabrze, to increase output and exceed the norm through participation in the work competition. The presented text is an attempt to answer the question why Zabrze was chosen for a den of the work competition concept, and how this fat  influenced the city’s history and its image within half of the century after the war. It presents a genesis and beginnings of the idea of work competition in Poland, with special stress on the role of Wincenty Pstrowski, a miner from the „Jadwiga” mine in Zabrze. Based on archives, press and latests works, the author does not arrange facts from his biography, but he verifies the legends developed for years and the promoted lies. It shows the role of Zabrze as a city-symbol of revolutionary changes in the mining industry, as it was presented in the communist propaganda. The article is finished  with an analysis of discussion around the Zabrze monument of Wincenty Pstrowski, which already took place after the fall of Communism.

Este libro es el producto del esfuerzo y el compromiso de un grupo de docentes de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación de la UNLP que desde hace mucho tiempo viene apostando a la elaboración de materiales especialmente  pensados para los estudiantes universitarios y basados en la firme voluntad de articular los resultados de la investigación con las necesidades y objetivos de la enseñanza en un campo de enorme complejidad como es el de la historia del siglo XX. En efecto, los equipos de cátedra de las materias “Introducción a la problemática del mundo contemporáneo” e “Historia social
contemporánea”, coordinados por la Dra. María Dolores Béjar, han venido produciendo textos y recopilando fuentes escritas y audiovisuales que desde 2009 han nutrido un campus virtual al
que los alumnos pueden acceder a través de la página web de la Facultad.
Por otra parte, esta iniciativa se apoya también en la permanente voluntad de la Dra. Béjar y su equipo por sistematizar –con una mirada crítica y pluralista a la vez– los últimos avances de la investigación y acercarlos a través de formatos innovadores a lectores no especializados pero sí involucrados en la docencia y el aprendizaje sobre el mundo contemporáneo en las distintas dimensiones que su estudio supone. Un significativo
antecedente en este sentido son las “Carpetas de Historia” dirigidas a los docentes del nivel medio, emprendimiento único en su género que también está disponible en acceso abierto a
través de internet <http://www.carpetashistoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/>.
Esta propuesta se nutre de los debates en torno a una posible historia del tiempo presente, que coloca a la historia frente al desafío de comprender y explicar el presente a través del
pasado. Junto con las controversias sobre su naturaleza y sus alcances temporales, la historia contemporánea plantea abiertamente la tensión que recorre la tarea del historiador: la
demanda de objetividad sostenida por el ámbito académico y las preocupaciones e interrogantes que atraviesan la sociedad de la que forma parte. Este libro parte del reconocimiento de esta tensión y se propone intervenir sobre la misma desde la primacía
asignada a los conocimientos elaborados en el campo historiográfico. Se propone, por un lado, aportar nuevos conocimientos sobre la historia contemporánea y, por el otro, incidir en la construcción de propuestas para la formación de las nuevas generaciones.
En suma, creemos que se trata de un aporte original que viene a llenar un vacío y a contribuir a un mejor desempeño de nuestros estudiantes facilitándoles el acceso al estudio del mundo contemporáneo, pero al mismo tiempo brindándoles herramientas para profundizar el análisis desde una perspectiva interdisciplinaria y capacitándolos para continuar explorando
críticamente los distintos temas a partir de fuentes y materiales diversos. Un aporte, en definitiva, a los objetivos de combinar inclusión, retención y calidad en la educación universitaria que compartimos e impulsamos desde nuestra Facultad.
Aníbal Viguera
Decano de la Facultad de Humanidades y Cs. de la Educación de la UNLP.
Ensenada, 8 de noviembre de 2014.