This module will examine the most ambitious and sustained revolutionary project in modern European history: the attempt of the Bolshevik party to introduce socialism in Russia, and to transform fundamentally the nature of social relations not just in Russia, but also throughout the world. The main themes will include: processes of socio-economic modernisation; the impact of war on society; processes of state building; ideological and cultural revolution; the role of violence in political life; the development of civil society and ‘everyday life’ under political dictatorship; and Russia, the Soviet Union and the outside world

On successful completion of the module a student will be able to:

• Define and outline the key concepts informing historical discussion of the main themes and controversies of modern Russian and Soviet history.
• Present a warranted interpretation of selected Soviet source material.
• Demonstrate detailed empirical knowledge of some of the major topics of modern Russian/Soviet history.
• Understand and explain the key historiographical interpretations relevant to these topics.
• Assess the methods and arguments of historians in relation to their chosen topics.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the language and meaning of Marxism-Leninism, the ruling ideology of the Soviet Union.
• Construct and communicate effectively a relevant argument that demonstrates adequate use of evidence and of a selection of historical interpretations.

Demonstrate ability to work independently and with others under the constraints imposed by the components of assessment, for example: word limit, time limit, and deadlines.

How the module will be delivered

A range of teaching methods will be used in each of the sessions of the course, comprising a combination of lectures and seminar discussion of major issues. The syllabus is divided into a series of major course themes, then sub-divided into principal topics for the study of each theme.

Lectures:

The aim of the lectures is to provide a brief introduction to a particular topic, establishing the salient features of major course themes, identifying key issues and providing historiographical guidance. The lectures aim to provide a basic framework for understanding and should be thought of as useful starting points for further discussion and individual study. Where appropriate, handouts and other materials may be distributed to reinforce the material discussed.

Seminars:

The primary aim of seminars will be to generate debate and discussion amongst course participants. Seminars for each of the course topics will provide an opportunity for students to analyse and further discuss key issues and topics relating to lectures

Skills that will be practised and developed

While studying this module, students will communicate ideas and arguments in a variety of forms, including oral presentations, group work, and in written form. They will develop critical reading and writing skills as they engage with historical literature, placing this in a historiographical and methodological framework and coming to their own conclusion as to the validity of evidence and material on topics studied. They will, as a consequence, engage with theoretical arguments and apply this in their own work. During seminars students will analyse primary materials, collaborate with their peers to present ideas and arguments, offer presentations, and engage in plenary class discussions.

Assessed coursework - to be agreed with module tutor

Syllabus content

Lecture plan:

• Background to 1917: Late imperial Russian politics and society; the ‘revolution’ of 1905-7; the First World War; the Provisional Government; the rise of the Bolsheviks.
• The first year of Soviet power in Russia.
• The establishment of Soviet power, 1918-21.
• New Economic Policy – alternative to Stalinism?
• Stalinism: politics, economics, and society.
• De-Stalinization: the Thaw.
• Brezhnev and ‘developed socialism.’
• The Gorbachëv revolution.

Seminar themes:

Seminars will consist each week of assigned short readings or visual materials, whether primary documents, chapter/article-length readings, posters, or film extracts, with two students assigned to present brief reports on the materials that then lead to group discussion around the theme of each seminar. Some themes will be covered over two seminar sessions.

• The crisis of autocracy, 1905–1917: Why did the Bolsheviks come to power?
• The nature of the Leninist system: theory of state power and dictatorship.
• Soviet state violence: theory, practice, justifications.
• Cultural Revolution.
• The nature and demise of NEP.
• Soviet society under Stalinism.
• The Soviet Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis and détente.
• The ideological revolution during perestroika.
• The last Soviet generation: growing up before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The intellectual relationship between Russia and the West

Essential Reading and Resource List

Gill, Graeme, Symbols and Legitimacy in Soviet Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011 (Note: this is too expensive to purchase).

Read, Christopher, War and Revolution in Russia, 1914-1922: The Collapse of Tsarism and the Establishment of Soviet Power, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012.

Suny, Ronald Grigor, The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Background Reading and Resource List

Ascher, Abraham, The Revolution of 1905: A Short History, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.

Brown, Archie, The Gorbachev Factor, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Fitzpatrick, Sheila, Everyday Stalinism. Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Furst, Juliane. Stalin's last generation: Soviet post-war youth and the emergence of mature socialism, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Harding, Neil, Lenin’s Political Thought: Theory and Practice in the Democratic and Socialist Revolutions, 2 vols, London: Macmillan, 1984.

Hickey, Michael C., Competing Voices from the Russian Revolution, Santa Barbara, CA: 2011.

Hoffmann, David L., Cultivating the Masses: Modern State Practices and Soviet Socialism, 1914-1939, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2011.

• Stalinist Values: The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity, 1917-1941, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003.

Ilic, Melanie and Jeremy Smith (eds.), Soviet State and Society Under Nikita Khrushchev, London and New York: Routledge, 2011.

Naiman, Eric, Sex in Public: The Incarnation of Early Soviet Ideology, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Priestland, David, Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization: Ideas, Power, and Terror in Inter-War Russia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Rabinowitch, Alexander, The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd, New York: W.W. Norton, 1976