Author: admin

After the tremendous upheavals of the First Five Year Plan and the cultural revolution, the early thirties marked a distinct shift in the tone of Soviet culture. While dictatorship and coercion became more entrenched in these years, the “new normal” also celebrated new brands of heroes, scientific and technological triumphs, and the country’s triumph over “backwardness.” This was particularly evident […]

This week we address the cultural upheaval that accompanied the economic transformation of the First Five Year Plan. Please choose a cultural artifact, artistic movement, or individual that shaped or characterized this period (1928-32) and write about it. Keep in mind the political and social implications of Stalin’s “Revolution From Above” as you tell your readers about what you’ve learned […]

Reading Sheila Fitzpatrick’s study has given us insight about the scope of political, economic, and social change the Russian Revolution inspired.  Of necessity, the Bolsheviks’ overarching concern was political — they needed to secure and maintain political authority. Yet they also believed that the revolution must be secured by profound changes in economic relationships, and assumed that those changes must […]

This week we take up the spectacular and diverse cultural transformation that preceded and accompanied the Revolution of 1917.  The connections between artistic and political radicalism were powerful and contradictory, and we will continue to explore them throughout the course. Please choose a cultural artifact that interests you — it could be an avant-garde painting, an example of commercial culture […]