Following the Russian Revolution, the cultural and political landscape of Russia was strewn with contradictions. The dictatorship, censorship and repression of the Communist party existed alongside private enterprise, the black market and open debates on Socialism.
In Russian Society and politics 1921-1929 Vladimir Brovkin offers a comprehensive cultural, political, economic and social history of developments in Russia in the 1920's.
By examining the contrast between Bolshevik propaganda claims and social reality, the author explains how Communist representations were variously received and resisted by workers, peasants, students, women, teachers and party officials. He presents a picture of cultural diversity and rejection of Communist constraints through many means including unauthorised protest, religion, jazz music and poetry.
In Russian Society and Politics 1921-1929 Vladimir Brovkin argues that these trends, if left unchecked, endangered the Communist Party's monopoly on political power. The Stalinist revolution can thus be seen as a pre-emptive strike against this independent and vibrant society as well as a product of Stalin's personality and communist ideology.
Author(s): Vladimir Brovkin
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 280
Book Cover
Half-Title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction Revolutionary identity
RUSSIAN SOCIALISM
THE BOLSHEVIK VALUE SYSTEM
UTOPIAN VISION, 1917
SMASHING THE BOURGEOIS STATE
NEP SOCIETY
The intelligentsia
The masses
Political discourse
Chapter 1 Extracting socially alien elements
POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTELLIGENTSIA
OPERATION “THE LIVING CHURCH”
THE “FORMER” PEOPLE
Chapter 2 The Culture of the New Elite 1921–5 Ascetic knights and drinking pals
OLD HABITS AND NEW TASTES
EDUCATING THE NEW PARTY CADRES
DISSIDENT VOICES
Chapter 3 Bolshevik actions and peasants’ reactions, 1921–5 Face the village, face defeat
WHO KNEW WHAT
PEASANT CONCERNS
STRATEGIES OF COPING
Representations
The Peasant Union movement
ELECTIONS, 1925
Chapter 4 Propaganda and popular belief
AGITPROP: ERADICATING ALIEN INFLUENCE
POTEMKIN VILLAGES ON THE IDEOLOGICAL FRONT
ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS58
POPULAR RELIGIOSITY
Chapter 5 The Komsomol and youth A transmission belt that snapped
REPRESENTATIONS
RURAL CELLS: HOOLIGANISM AND DRUNKENNESS
WORKERS: VODKA, SEX, AND DEFIANCE
Vodka
Sex
Defiance
STUDENTS: POVERTY, “DECADENCE,” AND DISSENT
Poverty
“Decadence”97
Dissent
Chapter 6 Women: false promises, dashed hopes, and the pretense of emancipation
RURAL WOMEN: STAYING OUT OR GETTING INVOLVED?6
FACTORY WOMEN: FROM COMPLAINTS TO PROTEST
A NEW SOVIET WOMAN: DATING, FASHIONS, AND FOX-TROT
BOLSHEVIK WOMEN
Chapter 7 Towards showdown in the countryside, 1926–8
RURAL PARTY: ADAPTATION, DEFIANT REJECTION, AND INTERVENTION
Adaptation
Defiant rejection
Intervention
RADICALIZATION, 1926
ELECTIONS, 1927
BOLSHEVIK DILEMMAS, 1928
Chapter 8 The proletariat against the vanguard
NEW BOSSES, OLD PROBLEMS, 1921–5
WAS THERE AN NEP IN INDUSTRY?
NEW RADICALISM, NEW LABELS, 1926–9
Chapter 9 The Bolshevik old guard and the upstarts, 1924–9
THE NEW COMMUNISTS
POLITICAL OPINION
The leftist heresy
The right wing deviation
THE CRISIS OF BOLSHEVISM
Chapter 10 Conclusion
BOLSHEVIK CULTURE
RECASTING SOCIETY
REPRESENTATIONS
SOCIAL REALITY
CONFIDENTIAL DISCOURSE
SHOWDOWN
THE CULTURE OF SOVIETISM
Notes
Bibliography
Index
