HISTORY 379
THE SOVIET UNION, 1917-1991
Semester: Fall 2009
Time:    MWF 1:00 – 1:50 
Place: Main 104
Web Page: http://webs.wofford.edu/whisnantcj/
Professor: Dr. Clayton Whisnant
Office: Daniel 210
email: whisnantcj@wofford.edu
phone: x4550
office hours: MWF 10:00-10:50
TTR 9:30-10:50

 

 CONTENTS         

Course Description Texts Grading Attendance Policy
Other Remarks Web Resources Class Schedule

                                                                

COURSE DESCRIPTION     

In this course, students will examine the history of the Soviet Union, beginning with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and ending with the country's collapse in the early 1990s.  After briefly discussing the origins of the Russian Revolution, we will examine the euphoric period of the 1920s in which the New Economic Policy reigned as well as the collapse of NEP after Stalin comes to power at the end of the decade.  The rest of the class will be spent examining both the monumental political, social, and economic changes brought on by Stalin in the 1930s, as well as the attempt to extend this system throughout Eastern Europe after World War II.  Then, we will focus on the attempt to deal with the problems of Stalin's system after he dies in 1953.  In particular, we will examine two eras of reform: Nikita Khrushchev's De-Stalinization campaign of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and then the reforms brought on by Gorbachev in the 1980s, which follow an era of stagnation under Leonid Brezhnev during the late 1960s and 1970s.  The over goal will be to isolate the weaknesses of the Soviet system and to think about lost chances to reform that system.

 TEXTS

 

The readings listed under each day should be done before the assigned day.  You need to bring a copy of the on-line readings to class.  I will give you a point for every day you do so, with all the points added up at the end of the semester to constitute a quiz grade.

 

GRADING

Attendance/In-Class Participation

10%

1 Midterm

10%

2 5-page Papers

20% each
1 10-page Final Paper 30%
1 Final Exam (non-cumulative)  10%

 

Students are expected to attend the class regularly, to complete the reading on time, and to participate in class discussions.  Failure to do each of these things will result in a lower participation grade.

Test dates are not negotiable!  I promise not to change the date of an exam to fit my schedule, so don't ask me to do the same for you.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Students should be aware that regular attendance is part of the participation grade.  Students are allowed one unexcused absences, but after that absences will seriously hurt the attendance portion of their grade.  If a student misses too many classes, I may exercise my right to withdraw him or her from the class after a warning.

 

Excused absences are those due to approved college-related activities (e.g. sporting events), documented illness, and family emergencies.  Students have the responsibility to make up missed work.

OTHER REMARKS

All cell phones must be turned off at the beginning of class.  Do not, of course, take phone calls during class.  Please be on time.  If you must arrive late or leave early, do so as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.  Finally, all work must be yours.  Plagiarism and cheating will be punished with an F for the assignment.

Of course, all work must be yours.  Plagiarism and cheating will be punished with an F for the assignment.  Plagiarism, we should note, is defined in the following way according to Wofford College's Honor Code:

(1) the verbatim repetition, without acknowledgement, of the writings of another author.

(2) Borrowing without acknowledging the source.

(3) Paraphrasing the thoughts of another writer without acknowledgement.

(4) Allowing any other person or organization to prepare work which one then submits as his or her own.

You should pay close attention to the third definition, especially when referring to ideas borrowing from a website.  For more information, please reference my handout "Living by Wofford's Honor Code".

WEB RESOURCES

There are some very good resources on the web, and then there are some very, very bad resources.  Don’t believe everything you read!  All information you come across here needs to be verified, if possible.  I will include some web references about specific topics in the syllabus.  

SCHEDULE

 Part I: The Russian Revolution

 

Day Class Assignment

Week 1
9/7 Introduction Start Reading Stites, Revolutionary Dreams
9/9 Marxism and Leninism Three readings on e-reserve:

1) Martin Malia, "Why Socialism," from The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991 (New York and London: The Free Press, 1994), pp. 21-50;  

2) Lenin, "The Urgent Tasks of our Movement,"; and

3) Selection from Lenin, What is to be Done?
9/11 Marxism and Leninism, cont. Service, Chs. 6-9.

Keep reading Stites

Week 2
9/14 Background to the Revolution of 1917 Pipes, pp. 3-30
9/16 The February Revolution

Handout: Timeline of the 1917 Revolution

 Service, Chs. 10-12
9/18 The October Revolution

Handout: Key Bolshevik Figures in 1917

Map Quiz

 Pipes, pp. 31-62

Service, Chs. 13.

Week 3
9/21 The Consolidation of Power Service, Chs. 14

Keep reading Stites
9/23 The Civil War Service, Chs. 15-16.
9/25 Soviet Crackdown on the Popular Movement Service, Chs. 17-18

Week 4
9/28 The New Economic Policy Reading on e-reserve:

Stephen F. Cohen, "Bukharinism and the Road to Socialism," from Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938, pp. 160-212.
9/30 Discuss Stites Get First Paper Topic
10/2 Discuss Stites  

Week 5
10/5 The Struggle for Succession

Recommended Websites: 

Politburo Membership

Lenin's Testament

 Service, Chs. 19-23
10/7 The Stalinist Revolution Service, Chs. 24-25, 28-29
10/9 The Stalinist Purges

Recommended Websites:

Outline History of the Soviet Secret Police

 Service, Chs. 30-33

 

Part II: Post-Stalin Reform

Week 6
10/12 Catch-Up  
10/14 Stalin in World War II

Reading on e-reserve:

 Walter Laqueur, "Stalin as Warlord," from Stalin: The Glasnost Revelations (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990), pp. 203-225.
10/16 The Soviet Union in World War II Reading on e-reserve:

Nora Levin, "The Einsatzgruppen" from the Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933-1945 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968), pp. 234-267 (on e-reserve).

Week 7
10/19 The Sovietization of Eastern Europe Service, Chs. 46-47 

Also: Jakub Berman, "The Case for Stalinism" from From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe Since 1945, ed. Gale Stokes (New York and Oxford: Oxford University, 1996), pp. 44-50 (on e-reserve)

Paper #1 Due

10/21 Midterm Test

Study Guide & Dates to Know

  
10/23 Fall Holiday  

Week 8
10/26 Soviet Union, 1945-1953: Stalin's Last Years

Reading Guide: Ulam Chapter 14

Recommended Website: Socialist Realism; What is Socialist Realism

 Service, Chs. 48-49, 51-52
10/28 The Struggle for Succession McCauley, Ch. 1 
10/30

Destalinization

McCauley, Ch. 2

Week 9
11/2 Destalinization, Cont. McCauley, Ch. 3
11/4 Khrushchev's Reforms McCauley, Ch. 4-6

Get Second Paper Topic
11/6 Troubles in Eastern Europe   Start Reading Kotkin's Armaggeden Averted

 

Part III: The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Week 10
11/9 Troubles in Eastern Europe, cont.  
11/11 Economic Stagnation Two readings from e-reserve:

1) Marshall I. Goldman, "The Economy" from The U.S.S.R. in Crisis: The Failure of an Economic System (New York: Norton, 1983).

2) Jerry Hough, "The Costs of the Stalin System" from Russia and the West: Gorbachev and the Politics of Reform (New York and London: Simon and Schuster, 1988), pp. 67-84.
11/13 Brezhnev's Soviet Union Reading on e-reserve:

Geoffrey Hosking, "Soviet Society under 'Developed Socialism,'" from The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Enlarged Edition (Cambridge, Massachussetts: Harvard University, 1993), pp. 363-401.

Week 11
11/16 Détente in the 1970s Continue Reading in Kotkin
11/18 The Dissident Movement Reading on e-reserve:

Selection from From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe Since 1945, ed. Gale Stokes (New York and Oxford: Oxford University, 1996), pp. 150-180

 
11/20 The Dissident Movement Reading on e-reserve:

Vaclav Havel, "The Failure of Communism," from Sources of the Western Traditon, Fourth Edition, eds. Marvin Perry, Joseph Peden, and Theodore H. Von Laue (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), pp. 435-437.

Paper #2 Due

Week 12
11/23 Watch Film

Continue Reading in Kotkin

Get Final Paper Topic

11/25 Thanksgiving
11/27 Thanksgiving

Week 13
11/30 Years of Indecision, 1982-1985

  Continue reading in Kotkin
12/2 Gorbachev's Reforms: The Early Reform Two readings on e-reserve:

1) Mikhail Gorbachev, "Perestroika," from Sources of the Western Traditon, Fourth Edition, eds. Marvin Perry, Joseph Peden, and Theodore H. Von Laue (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), pp. 432-435

2) Kochan and Keep, 520-548

12/4 Gorbachev's Reforms: Radicalization and Collapse Reading on e-reserve:

Jerry Hough and Merle Fainsod, "The Future of the Soviet System" from How the Soviet Union is Governed (Cambridge, Massachussetts: Harvard University, 1979), pp. 556-576.

Week 14
12/7 Revolution in the Empire Finish Kotkin
12/9 The New Russia Reading on e-reserve:

Fen Montaigne, "Russia Rising" National Geographic 200 (November 2001), pp. 2-31.
12/11 Catch-Up Final Paper Due

Final Exam: Monday, Dec 14, 2-5 PM

 

Study Guide