Welcome back — We had a terrific crop of posts this week! With submissions touching on key aspects of Stalin’s leadership cult, the purges, the re-building of Moscow, and many components of the “Great Retreat” (Soviet Champagne, anyone?), this weekly edition provides a fascinating overview of Soviet life in the thirties. Your editorial team hopes you will catch up on posts in the slider (now bursting with five posts) and in Comrades’ Corner.
The trauma of World War II awaits us next week.
This week we turn our attention to The Great Patriotic War (aka World War II) and the immediate post-war period. Please use one of the modules from 1943 or 1947 in Seventeen Moments in Soviet History on-line archive. You may also use the module on Soviet Territorial Annexations from 1939. You should consult Ch. 12 in the Freeze text. If you are writing about something specific to the war, it would be worth considering William C. Fuller’s discussion on pp. 383-392 of Freeze about the reasons for Soviet victory.
The thirties await our attention and as good Shockworkers we will bring our best, most enthusiastic and most astute energies to the task at hand. You have a great opportunity over spring break to level-up your posting prowess.
Link to Brian’s post here.
Link to Sophia’s post here.
The end of the twenties marked a dramatic shift in the tenor and substance of political, social and economic life in the Soviet Union. Indeed the “Great Turn” brought changes so profound and wide-reaching that this period is often seen as a “second” revolution. For this week’s post, please choose a topic in the “1929”…
Victorious in the Civil War, the Bolsheviks faced a series of challenges as they moved to secure the peace, consolidate their gains on the home front, and advance their agenda for transforming society. This week’s posts engaged many of these issues, from the ideologically compromised but politically necessary New Economic Policy, to the campaign against the church, and grand plans to bring electrification to the entire country. The cultural front was similarly fraught, which made the twenties a vibrant decade for literature and for the Cinema, which Lenin considered the “most important” of the arts. Our student’s choice award goes to the wonderfully titled, “All of Russia Do the Electric Slide.”
Enjoy this weekly edition while we get through mid-terms. We’ll back in a couple of weeks!
One of Lenin’s favorite sayings was “better fewer, but better,” and that certainly applies to this week’s posts.
From Bagmen to “hangry” women standing on line for bread — this weekly edition hits many of the key developments in the turbulent months around the Revolution of February, 1917. We will be filling out this portrait more completely next week, but offer this limited edition of fine posts on for your consideration now. Вперед!
“Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge.” By El Lissitzky – Public Domain
For your fourth blog post, use the resources in Seventeen Moments of Soviet History (1921 and 1924) to examine a significant aspect of the Russian Revolution. Make sure to check out and use the primary materials. You should also consult the Freeze text (the rest of Chapter 9 and Chapter 10).
