This course explores one of the twentieth century s defining political phenomena: the attempt to create a systemic alternative to global capitalism.

Transcription

1 YORK UNIVERSITY Department of Political Science AP/POLS A THE RISE AND FALL OF COMMUNISM IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE Fall Monday, 16:30 19:30 Instructor: Sergei Plekhanov Office: 701 Kaneff Tower Phone number: (416) , ext website: Office hours: Thursdays, 12:30-14:30, and by appointment This course explores one of the twentieth century s defining political phenomena: the attempt to create a systemic alternative to global capitalism. Emerging out of the Russian revolution of 1917, the communist (state socialist) regime was established in the former Russian Empire in what its leaders saw as just the first act of a worldwide revolution against capitalism. By the early 1950s, Russian Communists were in charge of the second most powerful state in the world, the Soviet Union, locked in a global political, ideological and military competition with the West in what came to be known as the Cold War. After World War II, communist regimes were established throughout Eastern Europe, as well as in China, North Korea, and, later on, in Cuba and Vietnam. Many Third World countries adopted elements of the Soviet model as part of their attempts to catch up with the West. By the 1970s, the Soviet model of state socialism increasingly revealed itself as ill-suited for the needs of modern social development. The suppression of political and economic freedoms, the inefficiency of the bureaucratically-run economy, and the crushing burden of militarism deprived the Soviet and East European communist regimes of the ability to adapt to global changes, while US-led Western capitalism projected the image of progress, prosperity and democracy. The communist regimes tried to reform themselves with partial and temporary successes, until in , the system collapsed in a series of democratic revolutions. However, the legacy of communism is still very much in presence in the 21 st century. In Asia and Cuba, communist regimes still exist and apparently have not exhausted their capacity for adaptation. Meanwhile, the failures of attempts to build viable liberal-capitalist systems in Russia and most other postcommunist countries have generated a nostalgia for elements of state socialism among many of their citizens. Thus, the communist phenomenon remains a topic of acute political and scholarly interest. Through a series of lectures, readings, classroom discussions, and written assignments, we will study the life-cycle of the communist system in Russia and Eastern Europe, seeking to understand why it came into existence, what kept it going for much of the twentieth century, why it collapsed, and what lessons can be drawn from that historical experience.

2 Three books are required readings, three other books are recommended. For the list of additional readings, useful for the preparation of written and oral assignments, see Select Bibliography in the Syllabus section on the course website (the number in brackets after the title of each additional reading in the syllabus indicates the section of the bibliography containing this title). Books marked in bold are on reserve for this course at Scott Library. For books with preview copies available from Google Books, please follow the links below the titles. Numerous online sources are also available. NOTE: A collection of books and periodicals on Russia and Eastern Europe (in Russian, English and other languages) is available for in-library reading at the Resource Centre, 6th floor, York Research Tower. Course Requirements Class report or short essay - 20% Research paper - 40% Take-home exam - 30% Participation 10% # The short essay should not be longer than 7 pages, double-spaced. # The length limit for the research paper is 15 pages, double-spaced. # Topics for written assignments should be chosen, with the instructor s approval, by October 6. See the list of suggested topics below. # The deadline for submitting the short essay is November 3, for the research paper, December 1. # Topics for class reports are listed in the description of each class, beginning with Sept. 22. # The take-home exam will be handed out during the last class, on December 1. The exam requirement is to write a short essay in response to the exam question. The due date for the exam is December 15. September 8 INTRODUCTION S C H E D U L E O F C L A S S E S Sept. 15 WHY RUSSIA? Development of capitalism and the emergence of the socialist project. Patterns of East European and Russian history. The Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20 th century. Suny, Chapters 1 and 2 2

3 Sept. 22 and 29 THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. The revolution. World War I and the fall of the Romanov Empire. Dual Power and the politics of revolution. Lenin and the Bolshevik Party. The October 1917 uprising and the proclamation of the Republic of Soviets. The Civil War and its impact on the Soviet state. Lenin s theory and practice of revolution: a critical assessment. The White Cause: who were the Russian counterrevolutionaries? Suny, Chapters 3 and 4 Eric Hobsbawm, Introduction to the 2012 edition of the Communist Manifesto - edition-of-marx-amp-engels-the-communist-manifesto Kowalski, Ronald. The Russian Revolution. Routledge, 1997, Introduction and Conclusion Red Flag: 1917 (video, Scott L) Read, Christopher. Lenin : A Revolutionary Life. Routledge, 2005 Murphy, Brian. Rostov in the Russian Civil War, : The Key to Victory. Frank Cass Publishers, 2005 Oct. 6 FROM WAR COMMUNISM TO NEP. The end of the Civil War and the transition to peacetime governance. The New Economic Policy: restoration of capitalism or evolution towards socialism? Soviet nationality policies and the formation of the Soviet Union. Political struggles in the Communist Party and the rise of Stalin. Growth of the private sector in Soviet Russia. Suny, Chapters 5-8 Brovkin, Vladimir N. Russia after Lenin : Politics, Culture and Society, Routledge, 1998, Introduction and Conclusion Suny, Ronald and Terry Martin. A State of Nations : Empire and Nation-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin. Oxford University Press Fitzpatrick, Rabinowitz, and Stites, Russia in the Era of NEP (3) - ay+life+in+early+soviet+russia&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=7ebvtqzmidsrsakuwzcud A&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q &f=false 3

4 October 13 STALINISM. The abrogation of NEP: why? Stalin's plan for "construction of socialism". Collectivization and industrialization. The Great Terror. Enforcement of Stalinist orthodoxy in ideology and culture. The personality cult. Resistance to Stalinism in Soviet society. Suny, Chapters 9-12 Davies, Sarah. Popular Opinion in Stalin's Russia: Terror, Propaganda, and Dissent, Cambridge University Press, 1997 Rossman, Jeffrey. Worker Resistance under Stalin: Class and Revolution on the Shop Floor. Harvard University Press, 2005 Plamper, Jan. The Stalin Cult. A Study in the Alchemy of Power. Yale U. Press, 2011 October 20 THE SOVIET UNION IN WORLD WAR II. Hitler s invasion of the USSR and the course of the Great Patriotic War. The war s impact on the Soviet economy and society. The Soviet Union s political gains from World War II. The start of the Cold War and the consolidation of Stalinism. Stalin and the Red Army Suny, Chapters Thurston, Robert and Bernd Bonwetsch. The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union. University of Illinois Press, union+at+war&hl=en&ei=6rbttrwyfmjc0qhmz52ebq&sa=x&oi=book_result&ct=r esult&resnum=8&ved=0cecq6aewbzgk#v=onepage&q=the%20soviet%20union%20a t%20war&f=false Zubkova, Elena. Russia after the War: Hopes, Illusions, and Disappointments, M.E. Sharpe, summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false October 27 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNIST REGIMES IN EASTERN EUROPE. Political consequences of World War II for Eastern Europe. The partition of Europe. The communist takeovers: external and internal factors. The cases of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. 4

5 The communist takeover of Czechoslovakia Tito s challenge to Stalin Berend, Central and Eastern Europe, Chapters 1 and 2 Tismaneanu, Vladimir. Stalinism Revisited: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe, CEU Press, N #v=onepage&q&f=false November 3 STATE SOCIALISM AFTER STALIN. State socialism in comparative perspective. The command economy. The party-state bureaucracy. Reforms in the USSR and Eastern Europe after Stalin's death. The conservative restoration of the late 1960s. Brezhnev s Russia. Nomenklatura: the communist ruling class and its interests The shadow economy in the USSR Suny, Chapters Berend, Central and Eastern Europe, Chapters 3-6 Nove, Alec. Stalinism and After: The Road to Gorbachev. Routledge, 1988 November 10 and 17 GORBACHEV AND DEMOCRATIZATION. The aims and ideology of Gorbachev's reforms. New Political Thinking in Soviet foreign policy and bringing the Cold War to an end. Economic and political liberalization: why both had to happen. Societal responses to perestroika. The rise of independent politics. The events of in Eastern Europe from Poland to Romania. Gorbachev s foreign policy and its role in bringing the Cold War to an end. The civil war in Yugoslavia. Suny, Chapter 20 Berend, Central and Eastern Europe, Chapter 7 Brown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2003, Chapters 5-7 Gorbachev, Mikhail, and Zdenek Mlynar. Conversations with Gorbachev: on Perestroika, the Prague Spring, and the Crossroads of Socialism. Columbia University Press,

6 Cherniaev, A.S., Robert English, Elizabeth Tucker. My Six Years with Gorbachev. Pennsylvania State University Press, JMd6gC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=fa lse November 24 and December 1 THE FALL OF THE SOVIET SYSTEM. The Soviet economic crisis. The social and political forces pushing for democratization and market reforms. The rise of nationalism and centrifugal pressures on the Soviet state. The split in the Soviet bureaucracy. The Yeltsin movement. The August 1991 coup and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ethnopolitical conflicts in the Caucasus: Suny, Chapter 21 Brown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2003, Chapters 8-9 A. The Short Essay SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS 1. February and October: comparing the two 1917 revolutions in Russia. 2. Relations between the Soviets and the Bolshevik Party in The gains of the Soviet peasantry under NEP. 4. Stalin s concept of socialism. 5. The Soviet industrialization drive: accomplishments and costs. 6. Sources of ethnic tensions in Eastern Europe between the two world wars. 7. The rise of right-wing authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe between the wars. 8. Stalin s policies towards the Russian Orthodox Church: 1930s-1940s. 9. Manifestations of Stalin s personality cult. 10. Opposition to Stalinism in Soviet society. 11. The Communist takeover in Eastern Europe in the late 1940s (select a country). 12. Yugoslavia s conflict with the USSR. 13. Restoration of Communist Party control over the Soviet secret police after Stalin s death. 14. Why did Khrushchev expose Stalin s crimes? 15. The cultural thaw in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. 16. The meaning of communism in Soviet ideology in the 1960s. 17. The Hungarian revolution of 1956: liberalism, nationalism, or reform communism? 18. Why did the Soviet leaders decide to occupy Czechoslovakia in 1968? 19. Andrei Sakharov s challenge to Soviet power. 6

7 20. The KGB and Soviet dissidents in the 1970s. 21. The issue of Jewish emigration in Soviet politics in the 1970s. 22. The impact of the Afghan war on Soviet society. 23. The social base of the Solidarity movement in Poland. 24. The role of nationalism and economics in the breakup of Yugoslavia. 25. Gorbachev s struggle with hardliners. 26. Gorbachev and Reagan: the unexpected partnership. 27. Gorbachev s views on the role of the market under socialism. 28. The fall of communist rule in Eastern Europe (select a country). B. The Research Paper 1. Russian communism in the light of Russian political traditions. 2. Lenin's theory of the proletarian revolution and its implementation. 3. The impact of the Civil War on the Bolshevik ideology and practice. 4. The NEP controversy: was there a chance for a different Soviet model? 5. The costs and achievements of the Stalinist model of state socialism. 6. Transformation of communist ideology under Stalin. 7. Stalin's personality cult as a political-cultural phenomenon. 8. Causes of the collapse of democracy in Eastern Europe between the world wars. 9. East European nationalism as the maker and breaker of states. 10. East European Communists as a force for national independence. 11. Social changes in Eastern Europe after World War II. 12. Soviet bureaucracy without Stalin: interests, ideology, instruments of power. 13. Soviet economic reforms from Khrushchev to Gorbachev. 14. The culture of dissent: sources of political opposition in the USSR, 1960s- 1980s. 15. The ends and means of Gorbachev's perestroika. 16. The impact of the Cold War on the Soviet political system. 17. Nationalism as a force for the demise of the Soviet system. 18. The causes of the collapse of the Soviet system. 19. Comparisons between state socialist reforms in Russia and China. 20. Russia's radical democrats: social base, views, political strategies. 21. The role of Soviet nomenklatura in the overthrow of the Soviet system. 22. Could the Soviet system have been saved? 23. The political role of the Catholic Church in Communist Poland. 24. Socialism with a human face : the ideology of the 1968 reforms in Czechoslovakia. 25. Comparative study in state collapse: USSR and Yugoslavia. 26. The 1989, 1990 and 1991 elections in USSR: progress of democratization. 27. The role and status of women under state socialism. 28. The concept of market socialism: is it viable? 29. The role of intellectuals in the demise of state socialism. 7

8 30. The Soviet military-industrial complex: the core of state power, the source of state decay. A. Required R E A D I N G S Berend, Ivan T. Central and Eastern Europe, Detour from the Periphery to the Periphery. Cambridge University Press, 1996 Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment. Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. 2 nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2010 B. Some useful online sources Brown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2003, Chapters 5-7 ebook York University Daniels, Robert (ed). A Documentary History of Communism. Communism and the World. Tauris, &f=false Daniels, Robert Vincent. The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007 ebook York University Daniels, Robert (ed.) A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev. University Press of New England, e_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Documents in Russian History: Lebowitz, Michael. The Contradictions of Real Socialism. Monthly Review Press, 2012 e-book, York U. Lewin, Moshe. The Soviet Century. Verso, DysC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false New Books in Russia and Eurasia - 8

9 Russian History Blog - Sean s Russia Blog. Russia Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow - Suny, Ronald Grigor (ed.). The Cambridge History of Russia. Vo. 3: The Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press, 2010 e-book, York U. Wade, Rex (ed.). Revolutionary Russia: New Approaches. Routledge, 2004: nary+russia&hl=en&ei=bpfotqwqncygsalg4f2- Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q &f=false White, Stephen. Communism and Its Collapse. Routledge, 2001 e-book York University Top Documentary Films. C. For your research, consult Select Bibliography on the course website. 9