The Metamorphosis of the Stalin Myth

1954 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
New Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Soviet Russia

THE death of Joseph Stalin marked the beginning of a new period in the history of the Soviet regime in Russia. It set in motion a train of events in the internal political life of the country which, for better or for worse, will alter the political personality of the Soviet regime as the world came to know it under the influence of Stalin's dominating figure. No one can yet predict with any confidence how this sequence of events will unfold in the years to come. The most that can be done at this early stage is to visualize the forces at work behind the scenes and strive to reach an informed preliminary guess about the direction or directions in which these forces are moving.That is the task of the present article. It seeks to investigate certain aspects of the post-Stalin train of events which are now themselves a part of history. Its purpose is to cast light upon some of the principal trends and issues in the internal political life of Soviet Russia since Stalin died. These trends and issues are for the most part hidden beneath the surface of Soviet public life; only occasionally, as in the Beria episode, have they erupted into full view of a perplexed and fascinated world. It is necessary, therefore, to study the submerged political realities through their indirect reflection in the public pronouncements of the controlled and official Soviet press. The central importance of the new regime‘s attitude toward Stalin and the Stalin heritage directs attention upon the changing manner in which the official propaganda has presented the image of Stalin to the Soviet people. We shall first tell the factual story of this process, tracing the steps by which Stalin‘s heirs successively dethroned him, partially restored him, and finally refashioned an entirely new Stalin image to fit their present needs. The latter part of the article attempts to interpret the political meaning of the new Stalin myth and of another new phenomenon closely associated with it, the “cult of the Party”

The Mensheviks and NEP Society in Russia

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
New Period ◽  
History Of

AbstractContemporary scholarship on the development of the Soviet political system in the 1920s has largely bypassed the history of the Menshevik opposition. Those historians who regard NEP as a mere transition to Stalinism have dismissed the Menshevik experience as irrelevant,1 and those who see a democratic potential in the NEP system have focused on the free debates in the Communist party (CP), the free peasantry, the market economy, and the free arts.2 This article aims to revise some aspects of both interpretations. The story of the Mensheviks was not over by 1921. On the contrary, NEP opened a new period in the struggles over independent trade unions and elections to the Soviets; over the plight of workers and the whims of the Red Directors; over the Cheka terror and the Menshevik strategies of coping with Bolshevism. The Menshevik experience sheds new light on the transformation of the political process and the institutional changes in the Soviet regime in the course of NEP. In considering the major facets of the Menshevik opposition under NEP, I shall focus on the election campaign to the Soviets during the transition to NEP, subsequent Bolshevik-Menshevik relations, and the writings in the Menshevik underground samizdat press.

A twelfth-century view of the historical church: Orderic Vitalis

1997 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Chibnall
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Written Sources

When Eusebius set out to write an Ecclesiastical History he claimed to be ‘the first to undertake this present project and to attempt, as it were, to travel along a lonely and untrodden path’. The claim was justified: there had been little room for religious history, even the history of pagan religions, in the works of classical historians and their imitators. Following the rules laid down by Thucydides, they concentrated on the political life of the present and its military consequences; they preferred oral to written sources, provided the historian had either been present at the scene of action or had heard reports from eyewitnesses. Both in method and in content Eusebius was an innovator. Since his starting point was ‘the beginning of the dispensation of Jesus’ he was entirely dependent on written sources for more than three hundred years; and, innovating still more, he introduced documents such as letters and imperial edicts into his narrative. Far from being political and military, his subject matter was primarily the history of the apostles, the succession of bishops, the persecutions of Christians, and the views of heretics. He was widening the scope of historical writing and using the techniques previously employed in the biographies of philosophers. It is not surprising that, once his work had been translated into Latin and extended by Rufinus and Jerome, it became the starting point for writers on ecclesiastical history for generations to come.

scholarly journals “My Generation is Quite a Sullen One…”: Trauma and Remembering in Life Stories after 1956

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-110
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Bögre
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hungarian Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Nervous Breakdown

Following 1989, the public discussion and examination of the history of secret police agents happened in an inadequate, unsatisfactory manner: Hungarian society was unable to come to terms with its former informers. This proved to be a loss not only for the victims, “the targets”, but also for the “observers”. The catharsis of asking and receiving forgiveness did not occur, although it could have lead to deliver provided relief also for those who were involved.The purpose of this essay is to describe the life story of E. V., who suffered a nervous breakdown when her fiancé was executed in 1957 during the post-revolutionary persecutions. Meanwhile the political police recruited her as an agent. Based on the available sources, it is possible to claim that after the Hungarian political transformation in 1989, E. V. reshaped her memory and her personal identity because she was unable to face her past. She claimed in her life history interview: “I am no relative or friend to anyone”.

scholarly journals Ahmad bay Aghaoglu’s Activity in Literary and Cultural Criticism

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-57
Author(s):  
Madina Karahan
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Public Figure ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Literary Environment

Ahmad Bay Aghaoglu played a significant role as a public figure, publicist, politician, lawyer, scientist, and intellectual in the literary and public thoughts and the political life of the history of the 20th century of our country. His activity and works had a great impact on the public processes in Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as Europe. In the activity of A.Aghaoglu, his literary and scientific works have an important place; i.e. he has also historical and literary essays in addition to his works dedicated to socialpolitical issues, which characterizes him as a critic, literary critic and culturologist. His addressing to literary and scientific issues as the occasion arises in many of his works, articles, letters and memoirs and opening discussions enables us to assess him as a critic, literary critic, historian and sociologist in the literary environment of Turkey. The Thesis studies the issues that Ahmad Bay Aghaoglu researched as a researcher, literary critic and historian, and the printed works covering these issues, and expresses an opinion.

Modernization of Soviet Russia in 1920-1930-ies: transformation programme of the RCP(b) — VKP(b) as instruments of struggle for power

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Anfert'ev
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
University Professors ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Proletarian Revolution ◽  
Managerial Experience ◽  
Ruling Party ◽  
Party State

The monograph is devoted to studying the process of implementation of modernization projects of the RCP(b) - VKP(b) 1920-1930-ies in the context of intra-party struggle for power. A lack of managerial experience in the leadership of the country, declared utopian ideas, the bureaucratization of the party-state apparatus and the commitment to radical ways of solving problems gave rise to political and socio-economic crises affect the results. Revealed the limits of the political life of leaders of the ruling party in the implementation of the political-administrative projects considered as a series of unjustified social and economic experiments, criticized the concept of the Soviet state as an apparatus of violence in the interests of the world proletarian revolution. Intended for specialists in the history of Soviet Russia of the twentieth century, University professors, and for anyone interested in Russian history.

scholarly journals First experience of participation in post-Soviet parliamentary elections in Nizhny Novgorod region: pages of political history

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-41
Author(s):  
Ya. S. Zanozina ◽  
◽  
V. M. Plitkina ◽  
A. A. Fomenkov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Nizhny Novgorod Region

The article is devoted to an important event in the political history of post-Soviet Russia, namely the first parliamentary elections in its history. The aim of the work was to determine the specifics of the results of the first elections of deputies of the Russian Parliament after the collapse of the USSR in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The tasks of the work are related to the study of the elections of deputies of the State Duma (both by single-mandate districts and by party lists), and the Federation Council. A number of conclusions are drawn regarding the political sympathies of residents of different administrative-territorial units of the Nizhny Novgorod region in the first half of the last decade. A kind of Nizhny Novgorod «red belt» is defined geographically, consisting of the southern districts of the region, as well as several districts of the north and east of the region, where voters mostly supported the left. It is revealed that the level of political activity in the elections is quite high, which is not surprising in view of the intense political life during the perestroika period in Gorky, and then in Nizhny Novgorod

Bulgarian Turkish Emigration and Return

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darina Vasileva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Lasting Effect ◽  
History Of

The history of the emigration of Bulgarian Muslim Turks to Turkey is more than a century old. The violation of the human rights of ethnic Turks by the totalitarian regime during the 1980s resulted in the most massive and unpredictable migration wave ever seen in that history. This article examines the complexity of factors and motivations of the 1989 emigration which included almost half of the ethnic Turks living in Bulgaria and constituting until that time 9 percent of the total population. The author considers the strong and long-lasting effect of this emigration—followed by the subsequent return of half of the emigrants after the fall of the regime—both on Bulgaria's economy and on the political life of the society. The article aims also at providing a better understanding of the character of ethnic conflicts in posttotalitarian Eastern Europe.

Kultūrvēstures aspekti Jāņa Čakstes vācu valodā sarakstītajā apcerējumā „Die Letten und Ihre Latwija” (1917), tā tulkošanas un izdevumu vēsture latviski („Latvieši un viņu Latvija”, 1989/1990–2019)

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
Ivars Orehovs
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Aspects ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Public ◽  
30Th Anniversary ◽  
History Of Writing ◽  
History Of

On May 4, 2020, the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Latvia’s national independence was celebrated, and the 160th anniversary since the birth of the first President of Latvia, Jānis Čakste (1859–1927), was remembered on September 14, 2019. In 1917, even before the establishment of the Latvian state, Čakste published a longer essay in German, entitled „The Latvians and Their Latvia” (Die Letten und ihre Latwija), in which both the ethnic and geopolitical history of the Baltics was presented to communicate the public opinion and strivings of that time internationally. The essay also reflected economic relations in the predominantly Latvian-inhabited territory, demonstrating the political convictions and the culture-historical background of the era. The article aims to characterise the history of writing and publishing the essay in German, and its translation into Latvian (1989/90), and the translation’s editions (1999, 2009, 2014, 2019). Part of the article is devoted to analysing the culture-historical aspects, which in the authorial narrative have been expressed in the interethnic environment of the territory and the era.

scholarly journals Fatma Aliye Hanım: Gender Debates in Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-716
Author(s):  
Zeynep Direk
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Early Republic ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Ottoman Empire ◽  
Republic Of Turkey ◽  
Late Ottoman

Abstract This essay explores the late nineteenth and early twentieth Century gender debates in the late Ottoman Empire, and the early Republic of Turkey with a focus on Fatma Aliye’s presence in the public space, as the first Ottoman woman philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. I choose to concentrate on her because of the important stakes of the gender debates of that period, and the ways in which they are echoed in the present can be effectively discussed by reflecting on the ways in which Fatma Aliye is read, presented, and received. In the first part of this paper, I talk about Fatma Aliye’s life and experience of her gender as a woman, and point to her key interests as a writer and philosopher. In the second part, I situate her in the political history of feminism during the Rearrangement Period (Tanzimat), the Second Constitutional Era (II. Meşrutiyet), and the institution of the modern Republic of Turkey. Lastly, in the third part, I discuss the diverse ways in which she is interpreted in contemporary Turkey. I explore the political impact of the reception of Fatma Aliye as an intellectual figure on the current gender debates in Turkey.

scholarly journals FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF THE PARTY SYSTEM OF MODERN UKRAINE

2018 ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
Іvan Pobochiy
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
National Interests ◽  
New Parties ◽  
The Public

The level of social harmony in society and the development of democracy depends to a large extent on the level of development of parties, their ideological and political orientation, methods and means of action. The purpose of the article is to study the party system of Ukraine and directions of its development, which is extremely complex and controversial. The methods. The research has led to the use of such scientific search methods as a system that allowed the party system of Ukraine to be considered as a holistic organism, and the historical and political method proved to be very effective in analyzing the historical preconditions and peculiarities of the formation of the party system. The results. The incompetent, colonial past and the associated cruel national oppression, terror, famine, and violent Russification caused the contradictory and dramatic nature of modernization, the actual absence of social groups and their leaders interested in it, and the relatively passive reaction of society to the challenges of history. Officials have been nominated by mafia clans, who were supposed to protect their interests and pursue their policies. Political struggle in the state took place not between influential political parties, but between territorial-regional clans. The party system of Ukraine after the Maidan and the beginning of the war on the Donbass were undergoing significant changes. On the political scene, new parties emerged in the course of the protests and after their completion — «Petro Poroshenko Bloc», «People’s Front», «Self-help»), which to some extent became spokespeople for not regional, but national interests. Pro-European direction is the main feature of the leading political parties that have formed a coalition in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Conclusion. The party system of Ukraine as a result of social processes is at the beginning of a new stage in its development, an important feature of which is the increase in the influence of society (direct and indirect) on the political life of the state. Obviously, there is a demand from the public for the emergence of new politicians, new leaders and new political forces that citizens would like to see first and foremost speakers and defenders of their interests.

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