Террор и демократия в эпоху Сталина. Социальная динамика репрессий

by Wendy Z. Goldman

Венди Голдман исследует социальную механику террора, показывает, каким образом репрессии превратились в массовое явление не только по количеству жертв, но также по числу преступников, которых они породили. Она широко использует уникальные архивные данные, которые до сих пор были засекреченными и недоступными для исследователей. Новые документы позволили отойти от прежних представлений, что единственным фактором развязывания террора стало стремление Сталина сосредоточить всю полноту власти в своих руках.

Автору книги удалось проследить, как террор, развязанный сверху, «сползал» вниз через бюрократический аппарат профсоюзов, поразив на своем пути ВЦСПС, фабричные комитеты профсоюзов и его рядовых членов. Террор, утверждает она, был расчетливо направленным сверху ударом против оппозиционеров и «врагов народа», который повлек за собой массовую панику, коренным образом изменившую взаимоотношения в каждом советском учреждении, на каждом предприятии. «Саморазоблачения» захлестнули страну. Никто не мог понять критериев, на основе которых выбирались жертвы, как и почему недавние друзья, родственники, знакомые, мужья и жены, в один день объявлялись «вредителями», «врагами народа» и прямо на партийных и профсоюзных собраниях арестовывались НКВД.

Genres: History, Soviet Union, Nonfiction, Politics, Russia, Soviet History

335 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2007

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wendy Goldman's Terror and Democracy in the Age of Stalin basically combines Arch Getty's research into the centre-locality control dynamics of the early Soviet union with Robert Thurston's more cultural inquest into the lived reality of the Soviet citizens. What you end up with is a rock-solid book that is supported in equal measure by original primary sources (denouncements, union meetings, workshop floor talk,...) and the best of the revisionist school (the duo just mentioned plus Sheila Fitzpatrick, Oleg Khlevniuk, and so forth). Goldman's thesis is that the repression of wreckers - a uniquely ambiguous position that blurs the lines between political infiltration and economic mismanagement - was simultaneously a democratic affair, that was not just "forced" onto the workers from above, but rather actively (and, to some degree, rationally) harnessed by them. In the first instance, they pulled a The Wire season 5 on NKVD authorities to force recalcitrant union forces to improve work safety and union democracy (159); in the second instance, it became a tool to lash out at any colleague or superior who had wronged someone. As old officials were demoted and hauled off and worker social mobility soared, the distinction between "top" and "bottom" (at a local level) faded and the denunciations wrought havoc in factories and unions and the fervent "unmaskings" slowed down until Ezhov's demise under Beria signalled the end of the campaign altogether - although factory personnel, which was slow to adopt denunciations in the first place, trundled on in this manner for a while longer. To this reader, many parallels with the Chinese GPCR seem apparent.

As opposed to Thurston, who focusses on the defences those of low (and hence noble) background could mount in the face of "unmasking", Goldman only details the leverage those institutionally high-up can bring to bear, painting a wholly different picture - but not negating Thurston's work. In this context, I would have liked to see more statistical data on the material impacts of the terror, its preferrential victim classes or the concrete implementation of work safety and other boons. Nonetheless, Terror and Democracy adds to the demystifying of a complex period, and is a very useful resource in anyone's historical arsenal. Recommended.

[Jakub Ferencik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredible work of scholarly research. The main reason I am giving it a 3/5 is that I am not a labor historian, so some of the discussions around unions were lost on me. I am sure it will serve others very well, however!

[Matheus e Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leitura essencial para entender os expurgos da década de 1930 na URSS. O problema é a edição com vários erros de digitação e diagramação.

[João P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma leitura dura e bastante densa, repleta de materiais de arquivo e depoimentos de época, onde Goldman examina os fatores econômicos e sociais que levaram à consolidação do período chamado O Grande Terror.