MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENTS OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE SOVIET POLITICS AND SOCIETY, 1917-1991
17.57J/21H.467J 

Spring 2004
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-2:30pm
Room 56-167
 

Prof. David Woodruff	Prof. Elizabeth Wood
E53-425	E51-282
253-6643	253-3255
woodruff@mit.edu	elizwood@mit.edu

At its greatest extent the former Soviet Union encompassed a geographical area that covered one-sixth of the Earth's landmass. It spanned 11 time zones and contained over 100 distinct nationalities, 22 of which numbered over one million in population. In the 74 years from the October Revolution in 1917 to the fall of Communism in 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, its leaders and its people, had to face a number of difficult challenges: the overthrow the Tsarist autocracy, the establishment of a new state, four years of civil war, a famine, transition to a mixed economy, political strife after Lenin's death, industrialization, collectivization, a second famine, political Show Trials, World War II, post-war reconstruction and repression, the "Thaw" after Stalin's death, Khrushchev's experimentation, and Brezhnev's decline. Each of these challenges engendered new solutions and modifications in what can be loosely called the evolving "Soviet system."

Assignments and Grading

Students will be asked to write three papers over the course of the semester, totaling twenty pages in length. Grading in the course will be determined as follows: 15% for attendance and participation; 60% for the three papers (20% each); and 25% for the final examination.

Grades are assigned as letters and then combined using the above weights and following numerical equivalents: A+=4.3, A=4, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3, etc.

Participation grading will not be highly differentiated.  Regular attendance guarantees a B, infrequent participation – a B+.  Any student who participates regularly will receive an A-; thought-provoking participation will earn an A or A+.

Texts Recommended for Purchase (at the Coop)

Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1994)

Richard Sakwa, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 (Routledge, 1999)

Gennady Andreev-Khomiakov, Bitter Waters: Life and Work in Stalin's Russia (Westview Press, 1998)

Alexander Blakely, Siberia Bound: Chasing the American Dream on Russia's Wild Frontier (Sourcebooks, 2002)

Sourcepack:

Remaining materials for the course come from a sourcepack, on reserve in three copies in the Humanities library. You may want to make a copy for your own purposes. Materials from the sourcepack are indicated below with a *.

Feb. 3- Introduction to the Course
 
 

Feb. 5- The Setting: Tsarism (66 pages) 

Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, pp. 15-23, 31-39

Workers and War

*"Father Gapon's Petition," Imperial Russia, Document 56, pp. 409-413
*"Memorandum to Nicholas II," Imperial Russia, Document  64, pp. 491, 505-509
*Leon Trotsky, "Peculiarities of Russia Development," The Russian Revolution, pp. 1-10 (as marked)

The Peasantry
*Peter Stolypin, "We Need a Great Russia," pp. 457-464 (as marked)

The National Question
*Richard Pipes, "The National Problem in Russia," The Formation of the Soviet Union, pp. 1-8

Feb. 10- The Revolutionary Tradition (45 pages)

Fitzpatrick, pp. 23-31

Revolutionary Theory I: General
*Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 13-33
*Daniels: pp. 23-25 (Trotsky on "Permanent Revolution")

Revolutionary Theory II: Bolsheviks vs. Mensheviks
*Daniels: pp. 6-17 (Lenin’s Theory of the Party, Lenin on the Party Split, Marxist Reactions to Lenin)
*Pavel Axelrod, "The Unification of Russian Social Democracy and Its Tasks," pp. 48-52

The National Question
Sakwa: 1.17, pp. 23-24 ("The Right of Nations to Self-Determination")

Feb. 12- The Revolutions of 1917 (64 pages)

Fitzpatrick, pp. 40-67

Revolution and War
Sakwa: 2.1-2.3, pp. 32-37 (Order No. 1, April Theses, Lenin on the Imperialist War)
*Voices of Revolution, Documents Nos. 23-25, 31, 33, 35

The Grain Crisis
*Documents from The Provisional Government: 1917

Dual Power
*Suny: pp. 35-38 (A.F. Kerenskii's Statement...., Iraklii Tsersteli's Speech...)
*Daniels: pp. 44-47 (Lenin on the Dual Power)
*Suny: pp. 41-43 (Tsereteli and Lenin's Exchange of Words....)
*Daniels: pp. 57-59 (The Military-Revolutionary Committee)

On Seizing Power
Sakwa: 2.9-2.11, 2.13, pp. 45-51 (Lenin: For, Kamenev and Zinoviev: Against) pp.
*Suny: pp. 45-47 (Letter to Central Committee....)

Victory
Sakwa: 2.16-2.18, 2.23, pp. 54-58, 62-63 (Victory Address, Izvestiya's Condemnation, Decrees on Peace and Land, and Bogdanov's Criticism)

Revolution from Below
*Voices of Revolution, Documents  Nos. 39, 40
*Steve A. Smith, "Petrograd in 1917: the view from below," pp. 63-64

 

Feb. 17 - No Class-President's Day

 

Feb. 19-- The Civil War (71 pages)

Fitzpatrick, pp. 68-92

Eliminating Political Opposition
*Suny: pp. 67-73 (Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly)

Withdrawing from War
Sakwa: 3.6-3.7, pp. 79-80

Running a State, Fighting a War
*Orlando Figes, pp. 1-6, 246-249, 271-273
*Robert C. Tucker, Stalin as Revolutionary, pp. 181-182
*W. Bruce Lincoln, Red Victory, pp. 476-478
*Leon Trotsky, "The Train," My Life, pp. 411-422
Sakwa: 2.11 (review), 3.1, 3.8, 3.10, 3.18, pp. 47-48, 74-75, 81, 83-85, 100-102 (Secret Police, Red Army, State Capitalism, Terror)

Red Opposition
*Suny: pp. 77-82 (Iulii Martov's Letter...)
Sakwa: 3.9, 3.11-3.12, 3.19, pp. 82-83, 85-89, 102-103 (Workers' Control, Left Communists, Democratic Centralists)

Feb. 24- The Crisis of War Communism & the Shift to NEP (60 pages)

Fitzpatrick, pp. 93-106
*Paul Avrich, "The Crisis of War Communism," Kronstadt 1921, pp. 7-34

The Opposition Suppressed
Sakwa: 3.22-3.25, 3.27-3.28, pp. 107-115, 119-122 (Party Reform, Workers' Opposition, Kronstadt, Bureaucratism, Ban on Factions, Trade Union Debate)

The Shift to NEP
*Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Lenin Anthology, pp. 511-517 (Importance of Gold Now and After...)

Feb. 26- Defining Bolshevism (60 pages)

*Sheila Fitzpatrick, "The Bolsheviks' Dilemma: The Class Issue in Party Politics and Culture," The Cultural Front, pp. 16-36
*A. A. Solts, "Communist Ethics," pp. 42-54
*Elizabeth Wood, The Baba and the Comrade, pp. 123-26, 147-53, 194-208

Renewed Opposition and its Demise
Sakwa: 4.7-4.8, 4.18-4.20, 4.22, pp. 137-140, 158-162, 164-166 (Declaration of the Twenty-Two, Workers' Truth, Declaration of the Forty-Six, the New Course, Stalin on Dictatorship)
*Suny: pp. 124-126 (Bukharin and Dzerzhinskii Disagree...., Letter from Nikolai Bukharin...., Letter from Dzerezhinskii)

The Lenin Cult
*Suny: pp. 126-128 (Joseph Stalin, " The October Revolution...")

March 2- First paper due in class

Film: "Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks"

March 4- The Politics and Economics of NEP (68 pages) 

Fitzpatrick, pp. 106-119, 124-129
*Alec Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, pp. 101-114 (also review Wood, pp. 123-126)

Monetary Reform
*Vladimir Maiakovskii, "Burzhui, say goodbye to your pleasant money"

Lenin's Last Thoughts
Sakwa: 4.13, 4.15-4.16, pp. 147-149, 152-156 (Lenin's Last Testament, Socialism in Russia, Better Fewer, But Better)

The Party Opposition: The Left, United, and the Right
*Daniels: pp. 144-147 (The Zinoviev-Kamenev Opposition)
*Daniels: pp. 151-153 (Bukharin on the United Opposition)
Sakwa: 4.27, pp. 171-172 (Bukharin Warns against Stalin)

The Industrialization Debate: Stalin vs. Bukharin
Sakwa: 4.24-4.25, pp. 167-169 (Socialism in One Country, Primary Socialist Accumulation)
*Stalin, "On the Grain Crisis" and "Siberian Speech," pp. 159-162, 41-48 (as marked)
*Daniels: pp. 162-163, 166-169 (Bukharin on Peasant Policy, Equilibrium)

The National Question
*Suny: pp. 122-124 (The Question of Nationalism....)

March 9- The Great Break: Collectivization & Industrialization (66 pages)

Fitzpatrick, pp. 120-124, 129-141 

Collectivization
*Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants, 62-79.
Sakwa: 5.3-5.6, pp. 179-186 (Liquidation of Kulaks, Dizzy with Success, Bolshevik-Leninist Opposition)

Industrialization
*Stephen Kotkin, "Peopling a Shock Construction Site," Magnetic Mountain, pp. 72-82, 86-103 (as marked)
*Stalin's Letters to Molotov, pp. 168-169, 175, 200-201, 209, 218-221
Sakwa: 5.7-5.8, 5.16, pp. 186-190, 198 (Stalin on Industrialization, Against Wage Equality, Forward, Oh Time!)

March 11- The New Economy (65 pages)

Gennady Andreev-Khomiakov, Bitter Waters, pp. 185-188, 4-13, 22-25, 39-55, 69-85, 105-122

March 16- Purge and Terror (65 pages) 

Fitzpatrick, pp. 163-170
*Robert C. Tucker, Stalin in Power, pp. 441-478
*Documents from McCauley, Stalin and Stalinism, pp. 112-120
*"Last Plea of the Accused Bukharin," The Great Purge Trial, pp. 327-328, 656-668 (as marked)
Sakwa: 5.17-5.19, 5.23-5.24, 5.30, 5.32, pp. 199-202, 211-212, 227-228, 231-233 (Ryutin Group, Congress of Victors, Kirov Murder, Purge Plenum, Show Trials, Criticisms)

March 18- World War II (79 pages) 

*John Barber, The Soviet Home Front, pp. 19-44, 59-67
Sakwa: 6.1-6.5, 6.7-6.9, 6.11-6.26, 6.28, 6.30-6.32, 6.39, pp. 235-240, 245-248, 249-267, 269, 274-277, 287-288 (Soviet-Nazi Pact, War, Appeals to Patriotism, Mass Deportations, Victory Toast)
Andreev-Khomiakov, pp. 146-151, 163-171

 

March 23& 25--Spring Break--No Classes

March 30- The Khrushchev Years: Thaw and Social Change

*Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War, pp. 175-182

Agrarian and Political Reform
*Roy Medvedev and Zhores Medvedev, Khrushchev, pp. 30-45, 56-65, 94-101, 117-122
Sakwa: 8.1-8.3, 8.4, 8.6, 8.10, 8.12, pp. 314-316, 316-322, 324, 329, 330-333 (The New Course, Virgin Lands, Secret Speech, Annulling Deportations, 1961 Party Program)

Opposition, Dissent, and Khrushchev's Fall
Sakwa: 8.7, 8.15, 8.19-8.21, pp. 324-326, 341-343, 348-350 (Anti-Party Group, Solzhenitsyn, Khrushchev's Ouster) 

 

April 1-- The Origins of the Cold War (74 pages) 

 

April 6- Second paper due in class

Film: "The Thief"

April 8 - Soviet Science

April 13- The Brezhnev Era: Politics and Economics

*Timothy Colton, "Brezhnev's Ambiguous Legacy," The Dilemma of Reform in the Soviet Union, pp. 6-31
*Boris Yeltsin, Against the Grain, pp. 43-56, 61-82

The Brezhnevite System and Foreign Policy
Sakwa: 9.1-9.4, pp. 352-358 (1965 Reforms, Stagnation, Detente, Developed Socialism)

End of the Thaw and the Rise of Dissent
Sakwa: 9.17, 9.19, pp. 374-379, 380-381 (Call for Reform, KGB Surveillance).

April 15- The Brezhnev Era: Social Change

*Timothy Colton, "What Ails the Soviet System?" The Dilemma of Reform in the Soviet Union, pp. 32-67

Society and Dissent
*Suny: pp. 360-379 (The "New Soviet Man" turns Pessimist, The Little Deal....)
*Chornovil, "My Trial," 57-69
*Tompson, Soviet Union Under Brezhnev, Doc. 22, 145-146

The Andropov Years
Sakwa: 9.32-9.35, pp. 416-422 (Continuity, Flexibility, Ideology, Novosibirsk Report)

 

April 20-No Class- Patriot's Day

April 22-- Gorbachev's Political Revolution

*Michael McFaul, "Gorbachev's Design for Reforming..., The End of the Soviet Union", Russia's Unfinished Revolution; Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin, pp. 33-86

Economic Reform
Sakwa: 10.1-10.6, pp. 423-428 (Anti-Alcohol Campaign, Perestroika)

Political Reform
Sakwa: 10.8-10.18, pp. 432-464 (Seventieth Anniversary Speech, Nina Andreeva, Nineteenth Party Conference, Congress of People's Deputies, Abolition of the Party's Leading Role, New Political Thinking)

 

April 27-- Nationalism

*Geoffrey Hosking, "The flawed melting pot," The Awakening of the Soviet Union, pp. 82-88

The Baltics and Central Asia
*Victor Zaslavsky, "The evolution of separatism in Soviet society under Gorbachev," pp. 71-79

Georgia
*Stephen Brook, "Civil War or Ice-Cream," Claws of the Crab, pp. 6, 8, 17, 21-33

Russia
*Roman Szporluk, "Dilemmas of Russian Nationalism," pp. 441-462 

April 29- Collapse of the Soviet Union

*McFaul: pp.86-117 (The End of the Soviet Union)
*Hoffman,The Oligarchs, 100-126
*Caroline Humphrey, "'Icebergs,' barter, and the mafia in provincial Russia," pp. 8-13
Sakwa: 10.20-10.22, 10.24-10.32, 10.37, pp. 466-469, 470-487, 494-496 (Sovereign Russia, Union Treaty, Referendum, August Coup, Suspension of Communist Party, Gorbachev's Resignation)

 

May 4- New Russia Emerges, 1991-1993 

Siberia Bound - readings to be announced

*David Remnick, "The October Revolution," Resurrection, pp. 37-83

May 6- Third paper due in class

 

May 11- From Yeltsin to Putin, 1993-2001 

Siberia Bound - readings to be announced
*Freeland, Sale of the Century, 134-189
*Suny: pp. 564-573 (What Russia Teaches Us Now: How Weak States Threaten Freedom)

May 13- Contemporary Russia  

Readings will be announced in May.