The Soviet Experiment Russia, The USSR, and the Successor States

by Suny, Ronald Grigor

• ISBN13: 9780195081053
• ISBN10: 0195081056
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-11-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The West has always had a difficult time understanding the Soviet Union. For decades Americans have known a Soviet Union clouded by ideological passions and a dearth of information. Today, with the revelations under glasnost and the collapse of the Communist empire, Americans are now able tosee the former Soviet Union as a whole, and explore the turbulent tale of a Soviet history that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. One of the eminent Soviet historians of our time, Ronald Grigor Suny takes us on a journey that examines the complex themes of Soviet history from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. He examines the legacies left by former Soviet leaders andexplores the successor states and the challenges they now face. Combining gripping detail with insightful analysis, Suny focuses on three revolutions: the tumultuous year of 1917 when Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik takeover of the tsarist empire; the 1930s when Joseph Stalin refashioned theeconomy, the society, and the state; and the 1980s and 1990s when Mikhail Gorbachev's ambitious and catastrophic attempt at sweeping reform and revitalization resulted in the breakup of the Soviet Union led by Boris Yeltsin. He unravels issues, explaining "deeply contradictory" policies toward thevarious Soviet nationalities, including Moscow's ambivalence over its own New Economic Policy of the 1920s and the attempts at reform that followed Stalin's death. He captures familiar as well as little-known events, including the movement of the crowds on the streets of St. Petersburg in theFebruary revolution; Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's much-predicted invasion; and Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding as he pushed the disintegration of the Soviet Union and faced down his rivals. Students and social scientists alike continue to be fascinated by the Soviet experiment and its meaning. The Soviet Experiment recovers the complexities and contradictions of the 70 years of Soviet Power, exploring its real achievements as well as its grotesque failings. Clearly written andwell-argued, this narrative is complete with helpful anecdotes and examples that will not only engage students and offer them an opportunity to learn from new material but also afford them the opportunity to form their own opinions by reading the text and looking into the suggested readings. Withinsight and detail, Suny has constructed a masterful work, providing the fullest account yet of one of the greatest transformations of modern history.

Author Biography

Ronald Grigor Suny is currently Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He was previously Alex Manoogian Professor of Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Utopia and Its Discontents

Crisis and Revolution

The Imperial Legacy

Land and People

Autocracy, Nobility, Bureaucracy, and the Church

The Coming of Capitalism

The Russian Intelligentsia

Marx, Lenin, and the Case of Russia

The Final Crisis of Tsarism

The Tsar''s Last War

The Double Revolution

The February Revolution and the End of Romanov Rule

Overlapping Revolutions, Dual Power

The Revolution Deepens

On the Road to October

The October Insurrection

Socialism and Civil War

On the Road from Democracy to Dictatorship

After October

Socialism, What''s in a Name? Building State Capitalism

Founding the New State: War, Peace, and Terror

Intervention and the Civil War in the South

Civil War in Siberia and the Volga

Russia on its Own

Waiting for the International Revolution

Where Have All the Workers Gone? The Peasant Revolution

Why the Bolsheviks Won the Civil War

Nationalism and Revolution

Transcaucasia

Ukrainians and Belorussians

Poland and the Russo-Polish War

The Balitc Peoples

The Finns

The Jews

Islam and the Peoples of the East

Nationalist and Class Struggles

Retreat and Rebuilding

The Evolution of the Dictatorship

Five Easy Steps

One-Party Government

The Weakening of the Soviets

The Party-State

Opposition within the Party

Resistence, Rebellion, and Mutiny

A Retreat to State Capitalism

Socialism in One Country

The Nationality Question

The General Secretary

Lenin''s Mantle

Early Crisis of the NEP Economy

Socialism in One Country

The Final Crisis of NEP

Retreat and Retrenchment

The Soviet Union Isolated

Continuing Revolution in Asia

The War Scare of 1927

Stalin and the Comintern

Balance and Power

Stalin''s Path to Power

NEP Society

Cultures and Classes

Workers under State Capitalism

Peasant Russia

The Nepmen

The Red Army

The New Soviet Man and Woman

Religious Wars

Building Legitimate Authority

Culture Wars

Intelligentsia and Revolution

Fellow-Travelers and Proletarian Writers

Film and Popular Culture

Soviet School Days

Cultural Revolution

Stalinism

The Stalin Revolution

Revolution from Above

War on the Peasants and the Final Opposition

Collectivization and Dekulakization

Famine in Ukraine

The Countryside After the Storm

Stalin''s Industrial Revolution

Industrialization Stalin-Style

Class War on the "Specialists"

Extension and Centralization

Stalin''s Working Class

The New Class of Bosses

The Second Five-Year Plan and Stakhanovism

Making the Socialist City

Building Stalinism

Politics and the Party

Retreat

The Great Purges

Culture and Society in the Socialist Motherland

Socialist Realism

Going to the Movies with Stalin

Disciplining the Intelligentsia

Women and the Family

Mind, Body, and Soul

Indestructible Union

Collective Security and the Coming of World War II

The Fascist Menace

The Popular Front and Collective Security

Communism versus Fascism

War in Europe

The Great Fatherland WarInvasion

From Blitzkrieg to War of Attrition

The Supreme Commander and the Road to Stalingrad

War and Diplomacy, at Home and Abroad

Endgame

The Big Chill: The Cold War Begins

Historians Look at the Cold War

Diplomacy and the War Effort

Yalta and its Aftermath

Atomic Diplomacy

A New World Order

The Left in Europe

The Soviets in Eastern Europe

Perceptions and Misperceptions

The Division of Europe

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Yugoslavia

The Finnish Exception

The German Question

Late Stalinism at Home and Abroad

From under the Rubble

Reconstructing Hearts and Minds

Stalinizing Eastern Europe

Cold War and Hot War

High Politics in the Kremlin Court

Reform and Stagnation

From Autocracy to Oligarchy

The Several Deaths of Stalin

The Man

The Soviets Enter the Nuclear Age

Peaceful Coexistence and its Setbacks

Khrushchev in Crisis

Khrushchev and the Politics of Reform

The Thaw and Destalinization

Farm, Factory, and School

The Arms Race

Rift with China

Crises in the West

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