About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-10019506982X

ISBN-139780195069822

eBay Product ID (ePID)24038273851

Product Key Features

Number of Pages416 Pages

Publication NameStalin's Peasants : Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization

LanguageEnglish

SubjectPublic Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy (See Also Social Science / Agriculture & Food), Linguistics / General, Sociology / Rural

Publication Year1994

TypeTextbook

AuthorSheila Fitzpatrick

Subject AreaPolitical Science, Language Arts & Disciplines, Social Science

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.3 in

Item Weight26.1 Oz

Item Length9.6 in

Item Width6.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN93-004786

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal306.3640947

SynopsisDrawing on newly-opened Soviet archives, especially the letters of complaint and petition with which peasants deluged the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, Stalin's Peasants analyzes peasants' strategies of resistance and survival in the new world of the collectivized village. Stalin's Peasants is a story of struggle between transformationally-minded Communists and traditionally-minded peasants over the terms of collectivization--a struggle of opposing practices, not a struggle in which either side clearly articulated its position. But it is also a story about the impact of collectivization on the internal social relations and culture of the village, exploring questions of authority and leadership, feuds, denunciations, rumors, and changes in religious observance. For the first time, it is possible to see the real people behind the facade of the "Potemkin village" created by Soviet propagandists. In the Potemkin village, happy peasants clustered around a kolkhoz (collective farm) tractor, praising Stalin and promising to produce more grain as a patriotic duty. In the real Russian village of the 1930s, as we learn from Soviet political police reports, sullen and hungry peasants described collectivization as a "second serfdom," cursed all Communists, and blamed Stalin personally for their plight. Sheila Fitzpatrick's work is truly a landmark in studies of the Stalinist period--a richly-documented social history told from the traumatic experiences of the long-suffering underclass of peasants. Anyone interested in Soviet and Russian history, peasant studies, or social history will appreciate this major contribution to our understanding of life in Stalin's Russia.

LC Classification NumberHD1492.S65F58 1994