Russia's Sputnik Generation: Soviet Baby Boomers Talk about Their Lives

Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies

by Donald J. Raleigh (Editor)

Russia's Sputnik Generation presents the life stories of eight 1967 graduates of School No. 42 in the Russian city of Saratov. Born in 1949/50, these four men and four women belong to the first generation conceived during the Soviet Union's return to "normality" following World War II. Well educated, articulate, and loosely networked even today, they were first-graders the year the USSR launched Sputnik, and grew up in a country that increasingly distanced itself from the excesses of Stalinism. Reaching middle age during the Gorbachev Revolution, they negotiated the transition to a Russian-style market economy and remain active, productive members of society in Russia and the diaspora.

In candid interviews with Donald J. Raleigh, these Soviet "baby boomers" talk about the historical times in which they grew up, but also about their everyday experiences―their family backgrounds; childhood pastimes; favorite books, movies, and music; and influential people in their lives. These personal testimonies shed valuable light on Soviet childhood and adolescence, on the reasons and course of perestroika, and on the wrenching transition that has taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Genres: Soviet History, Nonfiction, School

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating collection of oral history interviews collected by a leading historian of Soviet Russia. The eight people he spoke to were all classmates at School 42 in the city of Saratov, and this represent an urban elite that had little or no direct contact with the West or for that matter, the center of Soviet power in Moscow. These were the children of people who had made something of themselves in the system, and aspired to make something of their children as well. The school, although not restricted to Party members, was seen as a launch pad for a child’s future career in the USSR, and several of the interviewees had successful careers of one kind or another. They entered school as small children in 1957, the year that Sputnik was launched and the world was awed by the advancement of Soviet science. They did not live through purges, famines, World Wars, or the Revolution; rather they grew up in a “normalized” post-Stalin Soviet society. The Cold War certainly impacted their lives, and there were periodic shortages and restrictions on daily life of various kinds, but for the most part, theirs was a stable and secure world.

Raleigh is thus able to use these interviews to show to American students how people on “the other side” grew up, not so differently from their own parents and grandparents. The book contains numerous details of student pranks, of conflicts with “boring” teachers, of admiration for inspiring ones, of becoming aware as one got older of a wider and more complex world, of music and fashion and falling in love. Beyond this, we also get their reflections on the failure of the “Soviet Dream” and the growth of Perestroika and a new paradigm. Here, the results are more varied: while as children they had shared experiences, they had different paths and perceptions as adults. Some speak of Gobachev as a hero, who ended the grinding limitations of State-run economy and State-controlled ideology. Some see a kind of peaceful revolution from below in which Russians as well as other peoples reclaimed their freedom despite the Party. Others show more nostalgia for the happy and predictable days of their youth, and concern for an uncertain future. At least one regards the end of Communism as a terrible mistake.

It would be interesting, ten years later, to return to these same people and interview the survivors (that generation is aging, and I don’t doubt that a few have died since the publication of the book). It seems to me that Russia has stabilized considerably in the interim under the apparently unshakable authority of the Putin regime. I suspect that the most enthusiastic supporters of Glasnost would find this disappointing, while others may find the renewal of Russian international power and internal security to be a relief. In any event, this book informs us not only about the period of its subjects’ youths, but also of the moment in which their thoughts were recorded, which makes it doubly valuable as a source and a teaching tool.

[Craig Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea of an oral history of the "Sputnik Generation," more or less Russia's baby boomers, and the eight interviews here open the door. Definitely interested in reading about the changes in Soviet living conditions, the access to pop culture, and the subjects' reflections on politics, education, and ideology. The problem is the narrow focus--probably the result of no other options available--with all of the subjects from the same class at the same school. Beyond that, it reads like an unstructured transcription locked into a fairly tight format that makes things tough read. Don't know whether it's realistic to expect an English language expansion, but if there is one, I'll read it.

[Janet Holt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3
Read for WSGS 201

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting collection of interviews, largely unedited, conducted with a schoolclass of Russians who graduated from the same school in the centre of Russia - reflecting back on their lives and how they 'lived' the last years of the Soviet Union, and the period of transition which followed. A bit repetitive in places, as he always asks the same questions, but was of interest in the parts where people described their extent of belief in the Soviet system, and how they perceived world events during the Brezhnev years.

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to find books on the Soviet Union that don't feel like propaganda.... I don't think this is propaganda. But the interviews might just be good enough to disguise that they are, in fact, propaganda. Ugh, either way, I liked this book and its approach to Russia's history through personal stories.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting perspectives on life in the Soviet Union during the heat of the Cold War. If you have an interest in that era, I definitely recommend this book.