Notes from the round table / reading seminar on the recent debates and (re)interpretations of Soviet social history during the Stalinist era. The discussion was focused on the recent book by Mark Edele: Stalinist Society, 1928-1953 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Keynote speaker: Prof. Lynne Viola.
Moderator: Alexandr Voronovici. Participants: the PLURAL Doctoral Seminar and the World History Department members.
The round table took place at the Department of World History, Moldova Pedagogical State University (MPSU), Chisinau, on April 11th.
Notes by Prof. Lynne Viola
Introduction
I. Some background notes...
A.
totalitarian model dominated American historiography on the Soviet Union
1.
under the rubric of "know thy enemy," Russian research centers
created at
Harvard and Columbia; money poured in; government contracts abounded
2.
totalitarian model was useful to the US government in so far as it
a.
highlighted ideology/communism
b.
seperated state from people, suggesting people were at least passively resistant and awaiting the
universal gift of democracy
c.
became a powerful academic movement with strong ties to government and intelligence, not to mention funding
B.
revisionist scholars began to challenge the totalitarian model
1.
first generation--1960s and 1970s
a.
politicized in the opposite direction
b.
suggested that Stalinism was not inevitable
1.)
revolution was a social revolution
2.)
NEP was an alternative to Stalinism
3.)
Lenin had turned against Stalin in his last years
2.
second generation--1980s
a.
led by non American Sheila Fitzpatrick
b.
key arguments
1.)
social support for Stalin, esp. in FFYP (Fifth Five Year Plan)
2.)
center-periphery conflicts
3.)
undergovernment
4.)
push for professionalization--sources, etc.
C.
1990s
1.
Malia leads renewed attack on revisionists, without differentiation, comparing them
to Holocaust deniers; Richard Pipes also active with memoir, Vixi
a.
could write this off as hysterics of an angry old man
b.
but this angry old man had good contacts in the press
c.
discussion widens; people talk about "revisionists" in the abstract, often without naming names
while at the same time not discussing
the content of their work; witch hunt aspect
2.
two key schools developing in US at Columbia and Chicago
a.
Columbia: modernity, subjectivity (theory)
b.
Chicago: social history, archival prowess (empirical bent)
c.
competition between the two schools
d.
attacks continue on Sheila Fitzpatrick and revisionists, mainly led now
by young Columbia scholars, regroups at Kritika
e.
key politics here--neocon anti-government stance; in this case, the Enlightenment
and its supposed stress on the role of the state in "gardening"
society became the enemy
II. Edele's book comes in response
A.
in a sense, it is a revisionist manifesto, arguing against
1.
the dominance of ideology
2.
the idea of the Soviet Union as a kind of monolithic entity
B.
argues that "Soviet society was complex and not completely
'totalized'." focus on pluralism,
complexities of social identities, continuities with earlier period of Russian history; characterizes state
as "limping Behemoth", meaning weak government, esp. in countryside
C.
also argues about small 'p' politics in the field and the enforcement of conformity, largely via Kritika
III. My read
A.
I agree with much of what he says, but...
1.
question the form of this book--an essay? a textbook?
2.
also think almost of all of what he writes is decidedly not new
3.
but what is most important is an acknowledgement of the unfairness of the attacks on
revisionists and the dominance of one tendency
1.)
attacks have been veiled--no names attached; no discussion of work; not clear whether a
revisionist is a personal attribute (Sheila Fitzpatrick
and Arch Getty will always be revisionists) or has something to do with content
of work
2.)
my own opinion, is that it is time to go beyond the cold war; to cease polemics; to encourage multiple points of
view--otherwise, the
field stagnates
B.
I would recommend as best surveys of American thinking about Russia and Soviet Union--the works of David Engerman: Modernization from the Other Shore and Know Your Enemy
1.
to understand the historiographical debates in American sovietology, one must
contextualize within American history; Engerman is an Americanist
2. he is also able
to analyze historiographical developments within the larger context of the development of
history as a discipline, looking at influences
from other national areas as well as looking at the growing pains of a
field as it pulled away from its government minders.
"In my opinion, Mark Edele's book is an
interesting attempt to frame, what he calls, the “neo-totalitarian political
economy of Stalinism”. At the same time Edele has also other,
additional goals in the book. Thus, he tries to challenge the “modernity
school” in the Soviet studies, which in last decade became one of the dominant
schools in the historiography. At the same time he aims to resurrect the
economic history of the Soviet Union, written in a simple and comprehensible
manner. Following these goals, Edele is also trying to create a new
interpretation for the analysis of the Stalinist society, which should go
beyond the existing historiographical clashes and struggles in the Soviet
studies. Nevertheless, as the last chapter of the book suggests his views,
positions, and attitudes are still deeply embedded in and influenced by the
existing historiography of the Soviet Union and its politics.
Edele's arguments are also weakened by his inconsequent and
ambiguous use of many key terms and concepts. For instance, his use and
understanding of the concepts “totalitarianism” or “neo-totalitarian” is not
always clear. Mostly, it looks like for Edele the “(neo-)totalitarian”
character of the Soviet Union under Stalin boils down to the use of terror and
violence. Yet, this is a rather simplistic and one-sided use of the concept.
Similarly, Edele's understanding of “Stalinist” and “Stalinism” remains
ambiguous. It remains unclear whether Mark Edele uses the terms only
in chronological sense, just as the shortcut for the Soviet society under
Stalin, or he attributes some qualitative characteristics to them.
Despite certain shortcomings Edele's book is an engaging
and useful reading for anybody interested in Soviet history. It is written in a
relatively easy and comprehensible language. Very possibly, while writing the
book, Edele viewed as one of his main target groups undergraduate and
graduate students, whom he aimed to “convert” to his interpretation of the
Stalinist society. At the same time Edele's book would be also an interesting
and provocative reading for the specialists, who may find the author's
arguments and readings of the historiography of use for their research and
teaching."
(note by Alex Voronovici)
“In the Stalinist Society, 1928-1953, M. Edele
purposely simplifies the history of USSR in the Stalinist era. Edele’s book proposes
a synthesis of the current historical debate on Stalinism. The author is
ambitious in his scope, but modest in the form of his writing: as Edele points
out in the introduction, the book is rather a historical essay, than a classical
scholarly monograph.
While reading this book, I hoped that it will succeed to overcome the antagonistic
paradigms (‘totalitarianism’ vs. ‘revisionism’) of the Soviet history, as well
as the usual biases and binary concepts (e.g.
state vs. society, victims vs. perpetrators, etc.) related to the
study of the USSR. Indeed, Edele tries to do so, at least until the last
chapter, where he overtly expresses his sympathies, antipathies and scholarly
allegiances.
As Lynne Viola said earlier (in this discussion), Stephen Kotkin could not make
his scholarly work without Sheila Fitzpatrick’s contribution. We can add that
Fitzpatrick herself could not write her books without the contribution of the first
historians of the USSR, the so-called ‘totalitarians’. The debate and the
polemics are intrinsic features of the academic life, all the more in
historical milieus. However, sometimes, when exacerbated by ideological and
political adhesions, the polemics biases the academic / historical communication,
instead of stimulating the discussion and exchange of ideas. Thus, it is also needed
to go beyond the polemical dimension of the academic / historical writing, by reconciling
the traditionally opposite paradigms.
In the first chapter (“Stalinist life”), Edele uses the
socio-biographical approach, in order to go deeper into the ‘Soviet society’, through
the life story of a specific individual. By shedding light over the
contradictions and the shadows of a particular life experience, in the context of
an epoch of tremendous changes (the “Revolutions from above”), the author attempts
to de-reify the ‘Stalinist society’ itself.
Edele also makes an attempt to analyze ‘sociologically’ the state building process
– i.e. the bureaucratization and setting up of a state totalitarian authority
– in Stalin’s Russia / USSR, trying to explain the relationship between the
Soviet people / citizens and the Soviet / Communist State-party and the sources
of the Soviet power’s legitimacy in terms of M. Weber’s theory of authority.”
(notes
by Petru Negura)
Prezentarea şi discuţia au avut loc vineri 11 octombrie la 17.00 la InfoHis, sala 406, Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat (str. I. Creanga, 1).
