Prerequisites for the formation of a social security philosophy in pre-revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
S. Kononov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
External Threats ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Individual

The article is devoted to the analysis of the formation of the social security philosophy on the territory of the Russian state, where, as the authors show, the ideas about the need to ensure a decent level of existence for the individual and society have already been known since the beginning of the XIX century. The aim of the article is to trace how the understanding of security has changed in Russian science. The article uses the method of phenomenological and comparative analysis, with the help of which the study of domestic security concepts was carried out. The first task posed by the authors is to consider the discussion about safe development among pre-revolutionary authors, the result of which was the formation of an idea about the special role of the Russian state in ensuring the security of society. The second task is to consider the Soviet concept of security, centered round the concept of a state system for providing armed protection against external enemies. As the authors have shown, this concept was characterized by the refusal to take into account the influence of social, economic and spiritual factors of security. The third task was to analyze the post-Soviet concept of security, within which the relationship between society and the state was rethought, which ceased to interfere indefinitely in the social and personal spheres of life and rejected a simplified understanding of the problem of ensuring security, which for a long time was considered only as counteraction to external threats

Russia and the West: A Comparison and Contrast

Slavic Review ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Long Time

Comparisons of Russia with the “West” have been a staple of historians and of contemporary observers for a very long time, and no end is in sight. A recent appraisal of Soviet developments in the decade after the death of Stalin was devoted in part to a consideration of the prospects for “a gradual convergence of the social and/or political systems of the West and the Soviet Union.” The variety of the contributors’ responses—“ very likely,” “necessarily uncertain,” “unlikely any meaningful convergence,” “highly improbable,” “depends on what is meant by ‘gradual’ “—suggests an ample range of disagreement, both in expectations for the future and in the characterization of the contrasts underlying these expectations.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Harutyunyan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
East European ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Art ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Individual

This book addresses the discursive and representational field of contemporary art in Armenia in the context of the post-Soviet condition, from the late 1980s through the 1990s up until the early 2000s. Contemporary art, I argue, is what best captures the historical and social contradictions of the period of the so-called ‘transition’, especially if one considers ‘transition’ from the perspective of the former Soviet republics that have been consistently marginalized in Russian- and East European-dominated post-socialist studies. Occupying a sphere distinct from other social and cultural spheres of productive activity and yet inextricably connected to social institutions, contemporary art in Armenia has become a negative mirror for the social: art has been viewed as that which reflects those wishes and desires for emancipation that the social world has been incapable of accommodating in both late Soviet and post-Soviet contexts. Contemporary art’s status as a negative mirror is due to its particular historical emergence in transnational (Soviet) and national (post-Soviet) contexts, its peculiar institutionalization in relation to official cultural discourse, and to a prevailing belief in art’s autonomy. Throughout the two decades that encompass the chronological scope of this work, contemporary art has encapsulated the difficult dilemmas of autonomy and social participation, innovation and tradition, progressive political ethos and national identification, the problematic of communication with the world beyond Armenia’s borders, dreams of subjective freedom and the imperative to find an identity in the new circumstances after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These are questions that have occupied culture and society at large, in the post-Soviet context and beyond. Yet the contradictions embedded in these questions are best crystallized in contemporary art, because of its peculiar position within the social sphere. This historical study aims at outlining the politics (liberal democracy), aesthetics (autonomous art secured by the gesture of the individual artist) and ethics (ideals of absolute freedom and radical individualism) of contemporary art in Armenia in post-Soviet conditions from a critical perspective and in ways that point towards the limitations of the aesthetic ...

scholarly journals Introduction: A New History of Russian Science

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexei Kojevnikov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Upheaval

Like almost everything in the Soviet Union, the discipline of history of science and technology altered dramatically during the social upheaval of Gorbachev’s perestroika, in some ways that were predictable, and in other ways that were not. One new direction of research that has since grown into a bourgeoning field – the social history of Russian and Soviet science – is represented by the articles in this volume. This short introduction cannot substitute for a real historiographical study, which will probably appear in due course (see also Gerovitch 1996, Gerovitch 1998, Graham 1993). This is rather a personal memoir about the origin and motivations behind the approach; as incomplete as a participant’s memoir can be, but with some benefits of retrospective hindsight. Ten years ago, at a time of great fluidity in minds and intellectual agendas, many developments were driven primarily by intuition and the sheer momentum of Zeitgeist; now, as things have become somewhat settled, there is time for more reflection.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

2018 ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Yvonne Howell
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fiction Writers

This chapter theorizes that Soviet civilization was inherently “science fictional” in its ideological superimposition of scientific utopianism and radical social change. It imbeds a discussion of the work of the Russian science-fiction writers Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky in the social and cultural context of the Soviet Union. The chapter describes the development of the Strugatskys’ work over three decades, from rationalist optimism to humanistic despair.

scholarly journals The History of the Germans from Mérk and Vállaj, Deported to the Soviet Union for Forced Labour 1945–1949

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Richárd Tircsi
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Recipient Country ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
German Nationality ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The deportation - in German: Verschleppung - was a ‘taboo' for a long time. However, the works born since the change of regime provide an excellent and overall picture about this painful historical act. At the same time, it is desirable to get a more precise picture by examining the detailed history of the deportation in the case of the individual settlements. Merk and Valla), the Swabian settlements in the Szatmar region, in the eastern part of the country, lie on the periphery in several aspects. Still, considering the numerical proportion of their population, the most displaced persons were deported by the Soviets, as war criminals, from here in 1945 - a quarter of whom never saw their beloved ones and home country again. It is the particular tragedy of this fact that those deported were at least as much bound to their recipient country, the Hungarian nation, as to their German nationality. They are not criminals of war but victims of the war of racial discrimination. ‘Who will be responsible for these people suffering innocently?’ - puts the question Ferenc Juhasz, parish priest in Merk at that time. Giving an answer is the task of all of us. The paper seeks to explore a segment of the micro-texture of the country-wide, and even wider, regional trauma of this community, based on diary excerpts from the period as well as on individual, specialized literature research.

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.

RESTORATION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF YALTA IN 1944

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (72) (4) ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
N. D. Borshchik
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Southern Coast ◽  
Recreational Facilities ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Resorts ◽  
Post War ◽  
Short Time

The article considers little-studied stories in Russian historiography about the post-war state of Yalta — one of the most famous health resorts of the Soviet Union, the «pearl» of the southern coast of Crimea. Based on the analysis of mainly archival sources, the most important measures of the party and Soviet leadership bodies, the heads of garrisons immediately after the withdrawal of the fascist occupation regime were analyzed. It was established that the authorities paid priority attention not only to the destroyed economy and infrastructure, but also to the speedy introduction of all-Union and departmental sanatoriums and recreation houses, other recreational facilities. As a result of their coordinated actions in the region, food industry enterprises, collective farms and cooperative artels, objects of cultural heritage and the social and everyday sphere were put into operation in a short time.

scholarly journals The All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation: Siberian politics in the final year of the USSR

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-71
Author(s):  
Melissa Chakars
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
General Goals

This article examines the All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation that was held in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in February 1991. The congress met to discuss the future of the Buryats, a Mongolian people who live in southeastern Siberia, and to decide on what actions should be taken for the revival, development, and maintenance of their culture. Widespread elections were carried out in the Buryat lands in advance of the congress and voters selected 592 delegates. Delegates also came from other parts of the Soviet Union, as well as from Mongolia and China. Government administrators, Communist Party officials, members of new political parties like the Buryat-Mongolian People’s Party, and non-affiliated individuals shared their ideas and political agendas. Although the congress came to some agreement on the general goals of promoting Buryat traditions, language, religions, and culture, there were disagreements about several of the political and territorial questions. For example, although some delegates hoped for the creation of a larger Buryat territory that would encompass all of Siberia’s Buryats within a future Russian state, others disagreed revealing the tension between the desire to promote ethnic identity and the practical need to consider economic and political issues.

Georgian Historians and the Ideological Confrontation Between East and West

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
George Gotsiridze
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
East And West

The work, on the one hand, highlights the mission of Europe, as an importer of knowledge, which has for centuries been the center of gravity for the whole world, and, on the other hand, the role of the Black Sea Region, as an important part of the Great Silk Road, which had also for a long time been promoting the process of rap-prochement and exchange of cultural values between East and West peoples, until it became the ‘inner lake’ of the Ottoman Empire, and today it reverts the function of rapproching and connecting civilizations. The article shows the importance of the Black Sea countries in maintaining overall European stability and in this context the role of historical science. On the backdrop of the ideological confrontation between Georgian historians being inside and outside the Iron Curtain, which began with the foundation of the Soviet Union, the research sheds light on the merit of the Georgian scholars-in-exile for both popularization of the Georgian culture and science in Eu-rope and for importing advanced (European) scientific knowledge to Georgia. Ex-change of knowledge in science and culture between the Black Sea region and Europe will enrich and complete each other through impact and each of them will have unique, inimitative features.

The Challenges to Social Control in Brezhnev’s Soviet Union, 1964-1982

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-173
Author(s):  
Fedor L. Sinitsyn
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Government ◽  
General Secretary

This article examines the development of social control in the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, who was General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1964 to 1982. Historians have largely neglected this question, especially with regard to its evolution and efficiency. Research is based on sources in the Russian State Archive of Modern History (RGANI), the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) and the Moscow Central State Archive (TSGAM). During Brezhnevs rule, Soviet propaganda reached the peak of its development. However, despite the fact that authorities tried to improve it, the system was ritualistic, unconvincing, unwieldy, and favored quantity over quality. The same was true for political education, which did little more than inspire sullen passivity in its students. Although officials recognized these failings, their response was ineffective, and over time Soviet propaganda increasingly lost its potency. At the same time, there were new trends in the system of social control. Authorities tried to have a foot in both camps - to strengthen censorship, and at the same time to get feedback from the public. However, many were afraid to express any criticism openly. In turn, the government used data on peoples sentiments only to try to control their thoughts. As a result, it did not respond to matters that concerned the public. These problems only increased during the era of stagnation and contributed to the decline and subsequent collapse of the Soviet system.

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