Introductory description

This 30 CATS final-year undergraduate Advanced Option module aims to examine the phenomenon of Stalinism between 1928 (the beginning of the “Revolution from above”) and 1953 (Stalin’s death). After a discussion of the transformation of the economy, society and culture the focus is on the social and cultural history of Stalinism as a ‘civilisation’. The Soviet leadership attempted to implement a socialist way of life and to construct a socialist identity. The consequences of this attempt for everyday life are considered as are central mythologies of Stalinist propaganda and the ‘culture of violence’. We will also discuss how far Stalinism was a purely Russian/Soviet phenomenon. We will therefore look at the consequences of Stalinism for the international communist movement and for the sovietisation of Eastern Europe after 1945.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. What is Stalinism?
2. ‘Socialism in one country’: The Soviet Union in the 1920’s
3. Transforming Russia: the ‘Revolution from above’
4. Industrialisation and Economic Planning
5. Looking East: Perceptions of the Soviet Union in Europe
6. Stalinist Culture
7. Society and Everyday Life
8. The ‘Stalinist Self’ I
9. The 'Stalinist Self'' II
10. Communism vs. Fascism
11. The 'Great Terror'
12. The Imperial Dimension
13. Anti-Soviet Campaigns and Fellow-Travelling
14. Russian Nationalism and Soviet Patriotism
15. The Great Patriotic War
16. Late Stalinism
17. The Sovietisation of Eastern Europe
18. Stalinism after Stalin

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of the key social, political and cultural developments occurring within the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1953
• Critically analyse and evaluate a broad range of primary sources (including political speeches, propaganda material, diaries, art, and film) relating to the history of Stalinism.
• Effectively communicate ideas, and make informed, coherent and persuasive arguments, relating to the history of Stalinism
• Critically review and consolidate theoretical, methodological, and historiographical ideas relating to the history of Stalinism

Indicative reading list

• Stalin, J.V., ‘The Tasks of Economic Executives. Speech Delivered at the First All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry, February 4, 1931’, in J.V. Stalin, Works, Vol. 13 (Moscow, 1955), pp. 31-44. Link 1 Link 2 (Faksimile)
• Trotsky, L.D., ‘The Soviet Thermidor,’ in C. Ward (ed.), The Stalinist Dictatorship (London, 1998), pp. 13-24 (= Chapter 5 of 'The Revolution Betrayed', 1935) Link 1
• Siegelbaum, Lewis, ‘Building Stalinism, 1929-1941’, in Gregory L. Freeze (ed.), Russia. A History (Oxford, 2002), pp. 291-318. (or any other overview on this period in a 'History of Russia' or 'History of the Soviet Union', for example by Christopher Read, Geoffrey Hosking or Robert Service)
• Fitzpatrick, Sheila, 'Introduction', in Sheila Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism. Ordinary life in extraordinary times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s (New York, 1999), pp. 1-13 (electronic copy in library)
• Read, Christopher, Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin (London: Routledge, 2017), Chapter 1, pp. 1-38 (electronic copy in library)
• Kotkin, Steven, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (Berkeley, 1995), pp. 1-25 [= ‘Introduction: Understanding the Russian Revolution’]
• Gill, Graeme, The Origins of the Stalinist Political System (Cambridge, 1990)
• Davies, Sarah and James Harris, ‘Joseph Stalin: power and ideas’, in Davies/Harris (ed.), Stalin. A New History (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 17 ff
• Laue, Theodore von, ‘Stalin in Focus’, in Ward (ed.), The Stalinist Dictatorship, pp. 24-43

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.