COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines twentieth-century Russia, emphasizing revolutionary ideology, the industrialization of agrarian society, the emergence of Soviet institutions and culture, and their breakdown in recent years. New definitions of gender, national and class identity, and the interaction between elite and popular culture receive special treatment. Lectures not only convey basic information about Russia's past, but also attempt to model the work of historians, who must identify problems, study the pertinent sources, and develop coherent and graceful interpretations. Students, therefore, should not are not accept unquestioningly the interpretations advanced in lectures; rather, they should view the lectures as hypotheses that they should test against their reading. Essay examinations and course papers represent opportunities for students to develop their own abilities to identify, state, investigate and solve problems, and to communicate the results skillfully. Classroom discussion serves many of the same purposes, but presents the process and results in oral, rather than written, form. Readers of Russian have the option of doing some course reading in Russian, either as a +2 or as a substitute for regular reading in English. Students interested in this option should discuss the matter with the instructor early in the semester.

REQUIRED TEXTS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT COLLEGE BOOKSTORE:

• Fitzpatrick, Sheila.  Everyday Stalinism.  NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Ginzburg, Eugenia. Journey Into the Whirlwind. Trans. Paul Stephenson and Max Hayward. NY: Harcourt, 1975.
• Gladkov, Fedor.  Cement. Trans. A. S. Arthur, C. Ashleigh.  Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1994.
• Kaiser, Daniel H., ed. The Workers' Revolution in Russia, 1917: The View From Below. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
• Scott, John.  Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Stalin's Russia.  Rev. ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
• The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents. Ed. Ronald Grigor Suny. NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States. NY: Oxford University Press, 1997.

RESERVE READINGS AVAILABLE AT BURLING RESERVE DESK (indicated by an asterisk [*] in Course Schedule):

• Fitzpatrick, Sheila.  Everyday Stalinism.  NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Ginzburg, Eugenia. Journey Into the Whirlwind. Trans. Paul Josephson and Max Hayward. NY: Harbrace, 1967.
• Gladkov, Fedor.  Cement.  Trans. A. S. Arthur, C. Ashleigh.  London: M. Lawrence, 1929; reprint ed., NY, 1980.
• Kaiser, Daniel H., ed. The Workers' Revolution in Russia, 1917: The View From Below. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1987
• Kanatchikov, S. I.  "From the Story of My Life," e-reserves.
• Scott, John.  Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Stalin's Russia.  Rev. ed.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
• The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents.  Ed. Ronald Grigor Suny.  NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States. NY: Oxford University Press, 1997.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

COURSE SCHEDULE:

1/19 LECTURE: The Emergence of Modern Russian Imperial Society

Suny, Soviet Experiment (hereafter S) 3-33
For on-line images of turn-of-the-century Moscow, Petersburg, Kiev, and Nizhnii, click on:

Russia1
Russia2

1/21 LECTURE: The Economy of Late Imperial Russia

 To Be Announced

1/23 DISCUSSION: Factory Life in Late Imperial Russia

*Kanatchikov, "From the Story of My Life" (available thru electronic reserve)

1/26 LECTURE: The Russian Revolutionary Tradition: Populist Terrorism

Extract from Turgenev's Fathers and Sons on nihilism
Sergei Nechaev's 1868 Catechism of a Revolutionary

1/28 LECTURE: The Avant-Garde in Turn-of-the-Century Russia

WebMuseum, Paris: short essay on Malevich, and examples of paintings (be sure to click on "suprematism" link)
Kandinsky, with examples of his paintings
Works of prominent women avant-garde artists ("Amazons of the Avant-garde")

1/28 7:30PM Screening of "Kazimir Malevich" in ARH 224 (55 mins.)

1/30 DISCUSSION: Revolution in the Arts

#"Kazimir Malevich" (RUS-VHS-VT-155)

2/2 LECTURE: Preconditions to Revolution

Kaiser 1-58

2/4 LECTURE: Marxism in Russia

Skim Ch. IV of Lenin's 1902 work, What is to be Done?, noting the main proposals for forming Russian Social Democratic movement
Read more carefully Lenin's 1908 essay on "Marxism and Revisionism"

2/4 7:30 PM Screening of "Strike" (Eisenstein, 1924, 75 mins.) in ARH 224

2/6 DISCUSSION: Origins of the Russian Revolution

#"Strike" (Eisenstein, 1924) (RUS-VHS-VT-065)
See Kustodiev's painting, "The Merchant's Wife," for one artist's commentary on the Revolution

2/9 LECTURE: The Revolutions of 1917: February

S 35-54
The abdication of Nicholas II
Structure 32-47

2/11 LECTURE: The Revolutions of 1917: October

Kaiser 59-97, 132-41
Graphic representations of election results of 1917 in

Petrogra d
Moscow
Russia

2/11 7:30 PM Screening of "End of St. Petersburg" (Pudovkin, 1927, 75 mins.) in ARH 224

2/13 DISCUSSION: Interpreting the Russian Revolution

#"End of St. Petersburg" (Pudovkin, 1927) (RUS-VHS-VT-141)

2/16 LECTURE: Who Was V. I. Lenin?

View a Timeline of Lenin's life, and a series of Photographs of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
A RealAudio file of 2.5 minutes of Lenin speaking (in Russian) in 1918

2/18 LECTURE: The Revolution in 1918

Kaiser 98-131
Structure 62-83
Graphic representations of returns from 1917 elections to the Constituent Assembly

from whole country
by region
from Western Front
from Kursk Province
from Vladimir Province
from Petrograd Province
from Moscow Province

See also Petrov-Vodkin's "The Year 1918 in Petrograd" (1920)

2/20 DISCUSSION: Making Sense of 1917: Review

2/23 LECTURE: War Communism and Civil War

S 56-94
Structure 48-62, 103-117
Lenin's The State and Revolution - Chapter 1
Chapters 1-5 and 13 in the 1918 RSFSR constitution

2/25 LECTURE: Civil War and the Nations

S 96-120
Structure 83-86, 93-102
Chapter 7 of Stalin's 1913 work, The National Question

2/27 FIRST EXAMINATION

3/1 LECTURE: The Rise of Stalin

S 123-68
Structure 117-30, 137-47
View the history of Lenin's death and "immortalization"
View several images of Stalin (scroll down to "Images")
Read Stalin’Äôs January 26, 1924 speech On the Death of Lenin

3/3 LECTURE: New Economic Policy and NEP Society

S 170-93

3/3 7:30 PM Screening of "Bed and Sofa" (Room, 1927, 75 mins.) in ARH 224

3/5 DISCUSSION: Gender and NEP Society

#"Bed and Sofa" (Room, 1927) (RUS-VHS-VT-115)
Structure 130-37

3/8 LECTURE: Primer on the Soviet 1930s

Stalin's short summary of Socialism in One Country
Stalin in 1929 laying out the "Great Turn":  A Year of Great Change
Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism 1-66

3/10 LECTURE: Gender, Family and State in the Soviet 1930s

Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism 114-63

3/10 7:30 PM Screening of "Three Songs of Lenin" (Vertov, 1934, 62 mins.) in ARH 224

3/12 DISCUSSION: "The Great Turn"

#"Three Songs of Lenin" (Vertov, 1934) (RUS-VHS-VT-050)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * S P R I N G B R E A K * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3/29 LECTURE: Collectivization of Agriculture and the Famine of 1932-33

S 217-31
Stalin, January, 1930:  Concerning the Policy of Eliminating the Kulaks
Structure 209-22, 229-31
View photo of parade under banners "We will liquidate the kulaks as a class" and "All to the struggle against the wreckers of agriculture," a poster calling all "Off to collective work," and a photo of collective farmers at work. Also read "Letter to Stalin and Kalinin", "Letter to Pravda," "Letter on extra-hard assignments," "Letter to Pravda on collectivization," "Letter from Kovalchuk on flight," "Letter of complaint," and "Letter on starvation"

3/31 LECTURE: Stalinist Industrialization

S 233-51
Structure 222-28
View poster of shock brigade striking blows against "antedeluvian way of life of laziness" and photo of Stakhanovites with motorcycle awarded as prize
Read "Personal letter from Magnitogorsk"
View photos of young worker at Magnitogorsk and a worker eating at Magnitka
Begin reading Scott, Behind the Urals (ix-xxv, 1-92)

4/2 DISCUSSION: Magnitka - Model Industrialization?

Scott, Behind the Urals (all)

4/5 LECTURE: Politics and Purges

S 252-68
Chapters I, IX, X, and XI of the 1936 Constitution
View images of open-air meeting to discuss Constitution, a Moscow demonstration celebrating the adoption of Constitution
Read "Letter from Kolkhoznik on Constitution," "Rural correspondent on Constitution," Kolkhoz farmer on Constitution," "Letter from Kolkhoznik," and "Letter praising Constitution"
1936 Show Trial: Examinations of Kamenev and Zinoviev August 20 (morning session); Speech for Prosecution, August 22 (morning session); Last Pleas of Kamenev and Zinoviev, August 23 (morning session); and Verdict, August 23 (evening session).

4/7 LECTURE: The Stalinist Terror

Getty et al., "Victims of Soviet Penal System," American Historical Review: Vol. 98, No. 4, p.  1017-49
Letters to Editor, pt. 1: "Communications," American Historical Review: Vol. 99, No. 3, p.  1038-41; and pt. 2: "Communications," American Historical Review: Vol. 99, No. 5, p.  1821-1822.
Also read "Letter on NKVD," "Letter to Supreme Soviet," "Letter on arrests in Tula," and "Letter on Removal of Yezhov"

4/9 DISCUSSION: Experiencing the Terror: Arrest, Interrogation, Trial

Ginzburg, Journey Into the Whirlwind 3-187

4/12 LECTURE: Heroic Decade?

Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism 67-114

4/14 LECTURE: Stalin and the Terror

Structure 232-50
Read "Letter denouncing Narkomfin employees" and "Letter denouncing peasant promotee"
Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism 164-217

4/16 DISCUSSION: Experiencing the Terror:  Transport and Gulag

Ginzburg, Journey Into the Whirlwind 188-418

4/19 LECTURE: The Great Fatherland War

S 291-335
Stalin's July 3, 1941 radio address on outbreak of war with Germany
Structure 264-73, 294-313
View at least ONE of following three videos (each about 50 mins. long):

#World at War, vol. 5, "Barbarossa" Burling Listen Rm Video W8919 v. 5
#World at War, vol. 9, "Stalingrad" Burling Listen Rm Video W8919 v. 9
#World at War, vol. 11, "Red Star" Burling Listen Rm Video W8919 v. 11

4/21 LECTURE: Stalinist Culture and Post-War Stalinism

S 269-90, 363-75
A RealAudio file (1.5 mins.) of Stalin speaking (in Russian) after WWII
Structure 251-63, 273-85

4/21 7:30 PM Screening of "The Cranes Are Flying" (Kalatozov, 1957, 95 mins.) in ARH 224

4/23 DISCUSSION: Remembering the War

#"The Cranes Are Flying" (Kalatozov, 1957) (RUS-VHS-VT-119)

4/26 LECTURE: Khrushchev and Destalinization

S 375-420
Structure 330-58

4/28 LECTURE: USSR After Stalin, After Khrushchev

S 421-46
Structure 359-85, 397-99
Hear Leonid Brezhnev celebrate 30^th anniversary of the victory of Red Army over Nazi Germany

4/28 7:30 PM Screening of "Burnt By the Sun " (Mikhalkov, 1994, 134 mins.) in ARH 224

4/30 DISCUSSION: Remembering Stalin

Structure 150-209
#Burnt By the Sun (Mikhalkov, 1994) RUS-VHS-VT-257

5/3 LECTURE: The End of the Soviet Union

S 449-84
Structure 403-475, 505-516
Hear Gorbachev (in Russian) announcing his resignation as President of USSR (1 min., 5 secs)

5/5 DISCUSSION: Summing Up

Structure, 533-73

5/7 DISCUSSION: Nations in the Supranational State: Together or Apart?

Structure 313-15, 385-88, 492-505
#"Soviets," vol. 5: "Face-to-Face" (*Burling Listen Rm Video So86 v. 5)

PAPERS: Each student must complete two papers, each approximately 5-6 pages long. The papers will not require original research, but rather require the student to synthesize course reading on selected issues of modern Russian history. The instructor provides a general subject for the papers, but each student must develop an interpretive point of view around which to organize the essays which should reflect an awareness of the issues to which the papers direct attention.

1. "Gender, Economy, Ideology and the State in Soviet 1920s." Fedor Gladkov's page-turner (!) Cement served as a model for much fiction in the Soviet 1930s.  Decidedly ideological, Cement devotes careful attention to issues of gender, economy, and political maturity.  Read Gladkov's novel carefully, and then select one of these four issues--gender, economy, ideology or the state--to examine.  Determine what perspective Gladkov offers on the issue you select, and document your findings with specific references from the novel and from other relevant course materials.  Prepare your paper carefully--writing does matter!--and be sure to follow the conventions of citation.  DUE NO LATER THAN MARCH 10, 4 PM.

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