Rent 9780195081046 | Soviet Experiment : Russia, the U. S. S. R. , and the Successor States

Summary Table of Contents Author Biography

The West has always had difficulty understanding the Soviet Union. For decades, analyses of America's Cold War foe were clouded by ideological passions and a shear dearth of information. Then came the flood of dramatic revelations under glasnost, followed by the sudden, shocking collapse of the Communist empire. Today, with the stunning secrets of newly opened archives and the excitement of political revolution still fresh in our minds, and we can look back at this remarkable nation and see it whole, see Soviet history as a story with a beginni... MOREng, a middle, and an end. In The Soviet Experiment, Ronald Grigor Suny does just that, in a landmark work that gives us the fullest account yet of the most remarkable story of our century. With a clear-eyed mastery of the historical issues and literature, Suny combines gripping detail with insightful analysis in a narrative that propels the reader from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. He focuses in particular on four revolutions, each identified with a single individual: the tumultuous year of 1917, when Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik takeover of the tsarist empire; the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin refashioned the economy, the society, and the state; Mikhail Gorbachev's ambitious, and catastrophic, attempt at sweeping reform and revitalization; and the breakup of the Soviet Union led by Boris Yeltsin. Never have we had a more complete, nuanced, and crystal-clear examination of the complex themes running through Soviet history. Suny confidently moves from party debates and personal rivalries, to centuries-old ethnic tensions, to vast economic and social developments. He unravels tangled issues with ease, explaining "deeply contradictory" policies toward the various Soviet nationalities; Moscow's ambivalence over its own New Economic Policy of the 1920s; and the attempts at reform that followed Stalin's death. Suny's treatment of the Soviet break-up warrants particular attention, as he details precisely how Gorbachev's program unleashed forces that had built up during the previous decades--particularly the nationalism that had been shaped, ironically, by the Soviet structure of ethnically defined republics. Along the way, he offers a fresh telling of familiar as well as little-known events--capturing, for example, the movement of the crowds on the streets of St. Petersburg in the February revolution; Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's much-predicted invasion; or Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding as he pushed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and then faced down his rivals. The Soviet Experiment provides a rich, multilayered, seamlessly woven account of one of the great forces of modern history. With dispassionate insight and human detail, Suny has constructed a masterful work.

Introduction: Utopia and Its Discontents

Part I. Crisis and Revolution

1. The Imperial Legacy

Land and People.

Autocracy, Nobility, Bureaucracy, and the Church.

The Coming of Capitalism.

Introduction: Utopia and Its Discontents

xiii

PART I: CRISIS AND REVOLUTION

(120)

1. The Imperial Legacy

(32)

... MORE

Land and People

(8)

Autocracy, Nobility, Bureaucracy, and the Church

(4)

The Coming of Capitalism

(2)

The Russian Intelligentsia

(2)

Marx, Lenin, and the Case of Russia

(4)

The Final Crisis of Tsarism

(6)

The Tsar's Last War

(4)

Suggestions for Further Reading

(2)

2. The Double Revolution

(21)

The February Revolution and the End of Romanov Rule

(4)

Overlapping Revolutions, Dual Power

(5)

The Revolution Deepens

(5)

On the Road to October

(3)

The October Insurrection

(2)

Suggestions for Further Reading

(2)

3. Socialism and Civil War

(40)

On the Road from Democracy to Dictatorship

(1)

After October

(3)

Socialism: What's in a Name?

(2)

Building State Capitalism

(2)

Founding the New State: War, Peace, and Terror

(8)

Intervention and the Civil War in the South

(4)

Civil War in Siberia and the Volga

(2)

Russia on Its Own

(4)

Waiting for the International Revolution

(2)

Where Have All the Workers Gone?

(4)

The Peasant Revolution

(5)

Why the Bolsheviks Won the Civil War

(1)

Suggestions for Further Reading

(2)

4. Nationalism and Revolution

(25)

Transcaucasia

(5)

Ukrainians and Belorussians

102

(3)

Poland and the Russo-Polish War

105

(2)

The Baltic Peoples

107

(3)

The Finns

110

(2)

The Jews

112

(3)

Islam and the Peoples of the East

115

(4)

Nationalist and Class Struggles

119

(1)

Suggestions for Further Reading

120

(1)

PART II: RETREAT AND REBUILDING

121

(94)

5. The Evolution of the Dictatorship

123

(17)

Five Easy Steps

123

(1)

One Party Government

123

(1)

The Weakening of the Soviets

124

(3)

The Party State

127

(3)

Opposition within the Party

130

(5)

Resistance, Rebellion, and Mutiny

135

(1)

A Retreat to State Capitalism

136

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

139

(1)

6. Socialism in One Country

140

(30)

The Nationality Question

140

(5)

The General Secretary

145

(2)

Lenin's Mantle

147

(2)

Early Crises of the NEP Economy

149

(2)

Socialism in One Country

151

(5)

The Final Crisis of NEP

156

(3)

Retreat and Retrenchment

159

(3)

The Soviet Union Isolated

162

(1)

Continuing Revolution in Asia

163

(1)

The War Scare of 1927

164

(1)

Stalin and the Comintern

165

(1)

Balance and Power

166

(1)

Stalin's Path to Power

167

(1)

Suggestions for Further Reading

168

(2)

7. NEP Society

170

(25)

Cultures and Classes

170

(2)

Workers under State Capitalism

172

(4)

Peasant Russia

176

(5)

The Nepmen

181

(2)

The Red Army

183

(1)

The New Soviet Man and Woman

184

(4)

Religious Wars

188

(2)

Building Legitimate Authority

190

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

193

(2)

8. Culture Wars

195

(20)

Intelligentsia and Revolution

195

(4)

Fellow Travelers and Proletarian Writers

199

(6)

Film and Popular Culture

205

(1)

Soviet School Days

206

(3)

Cultural Revolution

209

(4)

Suggestions for Further Reading

213

(2)

PART III: STALINISM

215

(170)

9. The Stalin Revolution

217

(16)

Revolution from Above

217

(1)

War on the Peasants and the Final Opposition

218

(3)

Collectivization and Dekulakization

221

(6)

Famine in Ukraine

227

(1)

The Countryside after the Storm

228

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

231

(2)

10. Stalin's Industrial Revolution

233

(19)

Industrialization Stalin Style

233

(2)

Class War on the Specialists

235

(2)

Extension and Centralization

237

(3)

Stalin's Working Class

240

(6)

The New Class of Bosses

246

(1)

The Second Five Year Plan and Stakhanovism

247

(2)

Making the Socialist City

249

(2)

Suggestions for Further Reading

251

(1)

11. Building Stalinism

252

(17)

Politics and the Party

253

(4)

Retreat

257

(4)

The Great Purges

261

(7)

Suggestions for Further Reading

268

(1)

12. Culture and Society in the Socialist Motherland

269

(22)

Socialist Realism

269

(5)

Going to the Movies with Stalin

274

(2)

Disciplining the Intelligentsia

276

(2)

Women and the Family

278

(2)

Mind, Body, and Soul

280

(4)

Indestructible Union

284

(6)

Suggestions for Further Reading

290

(1)

13. Collective Security and the Coming of World War II

291

(18)

The Fascist Menace

291

(3)

The Popular Front and Collective Security

294

(3)

Communism versus Fascism

297

(5)

War in Europe

302

(5)

Suggestions for Further Reading

307

(2)

14. The Great Fatherland War

309

(28)

Invasion

309

(5)

From Blitzkrieg to War of Attrition

314

(9)

The Supreme Commander and the Road to Stalingrad

323

(3)

War and Diplomacy at Home and Abroad

326

(3)

Endgame

329

(6)

Suggestions for Further Reading

335

(2)

15. The Big Chill: The Cold War Begins

337

(26)

Historians Look at the Cold War

338

(1)

Diplomacy and the War Effort

339

(4)

Yalta and Its Aftermath

343

(2)

Atomic Diplomacy

345

(1)

A New World Order

346

(1)

The Left in Europe

347

(2)

The Soviets in Eastern Europe

349

(2)

Perceptions and Misperceptions

351

(2)

The Division of Europe

353

(2)

Poland

355

(1)

Czechoslovakia

356

(1)

Yugoslavia

357

(1)

The Finnish Exception

358

(1)

The German Question

359

(2)

Suggestions for Further Reading

361

(2)

16. Late Stalinism at Home and Abroad

363

(22)

From under the Rubble

363

(6)

Reconstructing Hearts and Minds

369

(6)

Stalinizing Eastern Europe

375

(2)

Cold War and Hot War

377

(3)

High Politics in the Kremlin Court

380

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

383

(2)

PART IV: REFORM AND STAGNATION

385

(62)

17. From Autocracy to Oligarchy

387

(17)

The Several Deaths of Stalin

387

(7)

The Man

394

(1)

The Soviets Enter the Nuclear Age

395

(2)

Peaceful Coexistence and Its Setbacks

397

(2)

Khrushchev in Crisis

399

(4)

Suggestions for Further Reading

403

(1)

18. Khrushchev and the Politics of Reform

404

(17)

The Thaw and Destalinization

404

(3)

Farm, Factory, and School

407

(4)

The Arms Race

411

(1)

Rift with China

411

(2)

Crises in the West

413

(2)

Kennedy and Khrushchev

415

(1)

Khrushchev's Gamble: The Cuban Missile Crisis

416

(2)

The Fall of Khrushchev

418

(2)

Suggestions for Further Reading

420

(1)

19. The Paradoxes of Brezhnev's Long Reign

421

(26)

The Leadership

421

(2)

Meeting the American Challenge: Vietnam

423

(2)

The Defeat of Reforms

425

(2)

Crushing the Prague Spring

427

(2)

Public Opinion and Dissent

429

(5)

Agriculture

434

(1)

Brezhnev Ascendant

435

(1)

Social Changes in the Era of Stagnation

436

(6)

Detente and the Arms Race

442

(3)

Two Crises: Afghanistan and Poland

445

(1)

Suggestions for Further Reading

446

(1)

PART V: REFORM AND REVOLUTION

447

(60)

20. Interregnum and the Road to Revolution

449

(20)

The Brief Reign of Iurii Andropov

449

(1)

The Briefer Reign of Konstantin Chernenko

450

(1)

The Road to Radical Reform

451

(3)

Glasnost and the Erosion of Authority

454

(4)

The New Thinking and the End of the Cold War

458

(1)

Politics in a New Idiom

459

(3)

The Awakening of Nations

462

(3)

From Reform to Revolution

465

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

468

(1)

21. The End of the Soviet Union

469

(17)

The Unraveling of the Empire at Home

470

(1)

Surrendering Stalin's Empire

471

(2)

Power to the People

473

(4)

The Final Crisis

477

(4)

Coup and Collapse

481

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

484

(2)

22. The Second Russian Republic and the Near Abroad

486

(21)

The Shock of Therapy

489

(4)

Constitutional Crisis

493

(3)

Russia, the Near Abroad, and Beyond

496

(4)

The War in Chechnya

500

(2)

Treading Water

502

(3)

Suggestions for Further Reading

505

(2)

Chronology

507

(14)

Index

521

About the Author:
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.

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