RUSSIA
& THE C.I.S.
By
Harold J. Goldberg
Siegelbaum, Lewis,
and Andrei Sokolov, eds.
Stalinism as a Way of Life: A Narrative in Documents
New Haven: Yale University Press 460 pp., $35.00, ISBN
0-300-08480-3 Publication Date: November 2000
In cooperation with
the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, Yale
University Press is publishing the Annals of Communism series.
Stalinism as a Way of Life, edited by Lewis Siegelbaum and Andrei
Sokolov, is an excellent addition to this continuing collection of
previously unpublished documents from the Soviet party and state
archives. In this case, Siegelbaum, who is a professor of history at
Michigan State University, and Sokolov, who is the main researcher and
department head of the Institute of Russian History at the Russian
Academy of Sciences, have compiled documentary evidence that includes
letters, summary reports, minutes of meetings, and memoranda from
individuals throughout Soviet society. The documents provide insight
into the impact of state ideology and practice on citizens and the
response of average people to those government and party actions. The
large volume of letters and correspondence reveals that a lively
discussion of many aspects of Stalinist policy took place during the
1930s.
The Socialist
Offensive that started in 1929 included collectivization, the
anti-kulak campaign, antireligious propaganda, and a purge of class
enemies. In the documents, Soviet citizens complain about the excesses
that occurred in all of those areas and the disparity between state
promises and reality. Peasants wrote to leading state office holders
and reported on the corrupt behavior of local officials, and in 1936
peasants participated in the discussion of the draft of the Stalin
constitution. Again many letters pointed out the inconsistencies
between the promise of the regime and the realities of life on the
collective farms. Additional documents illuminate the situation of the
new generation of Communist officials who joined the party during or
after the revolution, as well as the impact of the purges on
educational and scientific institutions. Ironically, the
intensification of the purges came at the moment when socialism
theoretically had been achieved, and therefore problems could only be
attributed to traitors, spies, and wreckers. The final documents
reveal the contradictory pressures faced by children. Letters discuss
the necessity of obtaining a good education, life in the Young
Pioneers, the situation in the children's homes, the growth of
hooliganism and juvenile delinquency, and the prevalence of suicide.
Siegelbaum provides
an excellent introduction as well as informative commentary throughout
the book. He also explicates the origins of the documents, their
handwriting, spelling, and grammar, all in an unobtrusive yet useful
presentation. Stalinism as a Way of Life, perhaps read in conjunction
with Sheila Fitzpatrick's Everyday Stalinism, would be useful for
college students who want to analyze primary documents. Siegelbaum and
Sokolov's book effectively illuminates how Soviet citizens sought to
survive in the 1930s by creating a way of life under Stalinism. |