scholarly journals “AT HOME AMONG STRANGERS, A STRANGER AMONG HIS OWN”: IDENTIFICATION CODES IN THE MEMOIRS OF AINO KUUSINEN

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 136-144
Author(s):  
Irina L. Savkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Staff Member ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Gender Aspects ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Soviet Historiography

The article discusses the memoirs “The Lord Deposes his Angels” by Aino Kuusinen in the context of the study of genealogy and morphology of Soviet subjectivity. In the Soviet historiography Aino Kuusinen (1886–1970) is known as the wife of the prominent Finnish communist and Soviet politician Otto Ville Kuusinen and as the Comintern staff member. In the middle of 1930s she moved to Japan, where she was supposedly involved in espionage activities for the Soviet Union. From Japan, Kuusinen was summoned to Moscow where she was arrested in 1938 and was in prison until 1955. In 1965, Aino Kuusinen emigrated from the Soviet Union, and wrote her memoirs in German. The first Russian translation was published in 1989. The main addressee of Kuusinen’s memoirs was a Western, primarily Finnish, reader, and in that sense, both a Russian reader and a researcher act as an “unforeseen addressee”, what creates new opportunities for reading and interpretation. The article analyses the main principles of the construction of the author’s “I”, of her identity in ideological, ethnical and gender aspects; how the personal and the socially determined are combined in the identification codes, approved by the author, and in the models of self, constructed in the text as the most notable for the author. The main distinctive feature of Kuusinen’s memoirs as the egodocument is as follows: the narrative of the events of the Soviet epoch (1920–1950s) is presented by “a moral witness (A. Assman), who was inside the Soviet space, but at the same time was in the position of an other; who was in a situation of intercultural transformation or cultural hybridity. This position creates the optics of detachment in describing Soviet life, which is important for understanding the Soviet subject and the time when this subject was formed.

PARTICIPATION OF UZBEK SOLDIERS IN THE LIBERATION OF THE BALTIC STATES

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Ilkhomjon M. Saidov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Soviet Historiography

The article is devoted to the participation of natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in the Baltic operation of 1944. The author states that Soviet historiography did not sufficiently address the problem of participation of individual peoples of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, and therefore their feat remained undervalued for a long time. More specifically, according to the author, 40–42% of the working age population of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Such figure was typical only for a limited number of countries participating in the anti-fascist coalition. Analyzing the participation of Soviet Uzbekistan citizens in the battles for the Baltic States, the author shows that the 51st and 71st guards rifle divisions, which included many natives of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, were particularly distinguished. Their heroic deeds were noted by the soviet leadership – a number of Uzbek guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, Uzbekistanis fought as part of partisan detachments – both in the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Western regions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Moldova. Many Uzbek partisans were awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” of I and II degrees.

POST-SOVIET CITY AS A PALIMPSEST

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-68
Author(s):  
Elena A. Kosovan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Coordinator ◽  
Post Soviet Period

The author of the publication reviews the photobook “Palimpsests”, published in 2018 in the publishing house “Ad Marginem Press” with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The book presents photos of post-Soviet cities taken by M. Sher. Preface, the author of which is the coordinator of the “Democracy” program of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Russia N. Fatykhova, as well as articles by M. Trudolyubov and K. Bush, which accompany these photos, contain explanation of the peculiarities of urban space formation and patterns of its habitation in the Soviet Union times and in the post-Soviet period. The author of the publication highly appreciates the publication under review. Analyzing the photographic works of M. Sher and their interpretation undertaken in the articles, the author of the publication agrees with the main conclusions of N. Fatykhova, M. Trudolyubov and K. Bush with regards to the importance of the role of the state in the processes of urban development and urbanization in the Soviet and post-Soviet space, but points out that the second factor that has a key influence on these processes is ownership relations. The paper positively assesses the approach proposed by the authors of the photobook to the study of the post-Soviet city as an architectural and landscape palimpsest consisting mainly of two layers, “socialist” and “capitalist”. The author of the publication specifically emphasizes the importance of analyzing the archetypal component of this palimpsest, pointing out that the articles published in the reviewed book do not pay sufficient attention to this issue. Particular importance is attributed by the author to the issue of metageography of post-Soviet cities and meta-geographical approach to their exploration. Emphasizing that the urban palimpsest is a system of realities, each in turn including a multitude of ideas, meanings, symbols, and interpretations, the author points out that the photobook “Palimpsests” is actually an invitation to a scientific game with space, which should start a new direction in the study of post-Soviet urban space.

Mark von Hagen: Soviet Historiography and the Nationality Question

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-56
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Historiography

Last year I was accused of being a kazennyi optimist for having reflected the view of the administrations of various academic institutes in the Soviet Union. Today, I am happy to start with the words of my Viennese grandmother, “Ich sehe schwarz.” But as I am sitting next to the Institute's professional doomsayer, Professor Motyl, I will still look somewhat optimistic, I am sure.

Overcoming Barriers to Cooperation: Territorial and Issue Neutralization as Tools of Conflict Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Michael O. Slobodchikoff
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cooperative Relationships ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Post Soviet Space

This article investigates how states can begin to cooperate and form bilateral relationships given severe barriers to cooperation. Certain issues can prevent cooperation from occurring despite strategic interests in doing so by both states. However, if states agree to use the institutional design feature of territorial or issue neutralization, then conflict can be averted even if some of the major hindrances to cooperation remains unresolved. I examine in greater detail how both territorial and issue neutralization are used as institutional designs feature in building a cooperative bilateral relationship. Through two major case studies, the self-imposed territorial neutralization of Finland in its relations with the Soviet Union as well as issue neutralization in the relationship between Russia and Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union, I am able to show that territorial and issue neutralization may be effective tools for resolving conflict in the post-Soviet space and could create cooperative relationships instead of conflictual ones.

scholarly journals Uriel Weinreich’s “Languages in Contact” in the Soviet Union: Treading a Dangerous Ground

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (45) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Litvinyak
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
Editorial Policy ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Financial Feasibility ◽  
The Soviet Union

 In a democratic society with a market economy, editorial policy is often a matter of financial feasibility rather than anything else. Meanwhile, totalitarian societies approach it from a different angle, frequently putting political considerations in the centre. Living behind the Iron Curtain, Soviet scholars had very limited access to Western publications – very few of them were translated into the languages of Soviet republics. What is more, research shows that they were subject to censorship, just like literary works. Besides, the work of a translator, being invisible to the majority of readers, could be quite dangerous and ruin one’s scholarly career. Thus, a scholar embarking on a translation journey to acquaint their colleagues with the best samples of world research had to be very considerate. Such was the case of the Russian translation of Uriel Weinreich’s seminal book Languages in Contact done by the Ukrainian linguist, translator, lexicographer, and educator Yuriy Zhluktenko. The present paper explores the matter of censorship and self-censorship in this translation and its paratexts.

scholarly journals One for all, each on its own: Analysing the post-Soviet system of collective security

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-110
Author(s):  
David Erkomaishvili
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Collective Security ◽  
Subsequent Transformation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Security Relations ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Post Soviet Space

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed independent states, which emerged in its place, to construct their own alignments. The choice of the case for empirical analysis had been made based on several unique characteristics. Orthodox Alliance Theory had almost never properly addressed alignments in the post-Soviet space due to the lack of access to information during the Soviet period - along with the structure of the state: only Soviet alignment policies were taken into consideration, instead of those of its constituent republics as well - and modest interest of alliance theorists in the region. Continued disintegration of the post-Soviet space, which has not stopped with the collapse of the Soviet Union but keeps fragmenting further, creates a unique setting for researching the adequacy of Alliance Theory's classic assumptions as well as developing new approaches. This work traces the development of the post-Soviet system of collective security and its subsequent transformation into a series of bilateral security relations, along with the shortfall of multilateralism.

The Stalinist Revision of History: The Case of Brest-Litovsk

1952 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-85
Author(s):  
Raymond L. Garthoff
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Historiography

The events leading to the rise of Stalin to sole prominence in the Soviet Union and the general political picture of the totalitarian Stalinist regime are now familiar, but specific forms of the evolution of “Stalinism” are often not adequately understood. Evolving Soviet historiography is an unusually informative mirror of these developments, since it not only attempts to describe them, but implicitly embodies them as well. The present article is an analysis of one theme from early Soviet history, treatment of which in Soviet historiography exemplifies both the trend of Soviet historiography as a whole, and the trend of Stalinism as an emergent totalitarian ideology based on Bolshevism.

Society in Flux

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wickhamsmith
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Literary Response ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Motorized Transport ◽  
Livestock Husbandry

Using S. Buyannemeh’s 1936 novella ‘Tovuudai the Herder’ (Malchin Tovuudai) as a basis, this chapter examines the social policies that the Party implemented so as to bring Mongolia into line with the Soviet Union. Through an analysis of the literary response to the unsuccessful policy of collectivization and to the more successful policies surrounding education and livestock husbandry, it shows how changes to the traditional nomadic herding culture – not only in the management of livestock, but in education and gender equality – affected society as a whole. In journeys such as Tovuudai’s, from the far west of Mongolia to the rapidly developing capital Ulaanbaatar, the kind of technological innovations that the Party wished to encourage – motorized transport and electrification – were seen as evidence of Mongolia’s modernization, and writers used the imagery and sensation of spee

The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933

Slavic Review ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark B. Tauger
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Mass Starvation ◽  
Soviet Historiography ◽  
Soviet Study

Western and even Soviet publications have described the 1933 famine in the Soviet Union as “man-made” or “artificial.” The Stalinist leadership is presented as having imposed harsh procurement quotas on Ukraine and regions inhabited by other groups, such as Kuban’ Cossacks and Volga Germans, in order to suppress nationalism and to overcome opposition to collectivization. Proponents of this interpretation argue, using official Soviet statistics, that the 1932 grain harvest, especially in Ukraine, was not abnormally low and would have fed the population. Robert Conquest, for example, has referred to a Soviet study of drought to show that conditions were far better in 1932 than they were in 1936, a “non-famine year.” James Mace, the main author of a U.S. Congress investigation of the Ukraine famine, cites “post-Stalinist” statistics to show that this harvest was larger than those of 1931 or 1934 and refers to later Soviet historiography describing 1931 as a worse year than 1932 because of drought. On this basis he argues that the 1932 harvest would not have produced mass starvation.

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