Everyday Stalinism Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s

by Fitzpatrick, Sheila

• ISBN13: 9780195050011
• ISBN10: 0195050010
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Here is a pioneering account of everyday life under Stalin, written by a leading authority on modern Russian history. Focusing on the urban population, Fitzpatrick depicts a world of privation, overcrowding, endless lines, and broken homes, in which the regime's promises of future socialistabundance rang hollowly. We read of a government bureaucracy that often turned life into a nightmare, and of how ordinary citizens tried to circumvent it. We also read of the secret police, whose constant surveillance was endemic at this time, and the waves of terror, like the Great Purges of 1937,which periodically cast society into turmoil.

Author Biography

Sheila Fitzpatrick teaches modern Russian history at the University of Chicago. A former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, and a co-editor of The Journal of Modern History, she is also the author of The Russian Revolution, Stalin's Peasants, and many other books and articles about Russia. She lives in Chicago.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The Party is Always Right""	p. 14
Hard Times	p. 40
Palaces on Monday	p. 67
The Magic Tablecloth	p. 89
Insulted and Injured	p. 115
Family Problems	p. 139
Conversations and Listeners	p. 164
A Time of Troubles	p. 190
Conclusion	p. 218
Notes	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 267
Index	p. 281
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