Rulers and Victims : The Russians in the Soviet Union / Geoffrey Hosking.
2009
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Title
Rulers and Victims : The Russians in the Soviet Union / Geoffrey Hosking.
Author
Hosking, Geoffrey, author.
ISBN
9780674273917
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2009]
Copyright
©2009
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (496 p.)
Item Number
10.4159/9780674273917 doi
Dewey Decimal Classification
305.800947
Summary
Many westerners used to call the Soviet Union "Russia." Russians too regarded it as their country, but that did not mean they were entirely happy with it. In the end, in fact, Russia actually destroyed the Soviet Union. How did this happen, and what kind of Russia emerged? In this illuminating book, Geoffrey Hosking explores what the Soviet experience meant for Russians. One of the keys lies in messianism--the idea rooted in Russian Orthodoxy that the Russians were a "chosen people." The communists reshaped this notion into messianic socialism, in which the Soviet order would lead the world in a new direction. Neither vision, however, fit the "community spirit" of the Russian people, and the resulting clash defined the Soviet world. Hosking analyzes how the Soviet state molded Russian identity, beginning with the impact of the Bolshevik Revolution and civil war. He discusses the severe dislocations resulting from collectivization and industrialization; the relationship between ethnic Russians and other Soviet peoples; the dramatic effects of World War II on ideas of homeland and patriotism; the separation of "Russian" and "Soviet" culture; leadership and the cult of personality; and the importance of technology in the Soviet world view. At the heart of this penetrating work is the fundamental question of what happens to a people who place their nationhood at the service of empire. There is no surer guide than Geoffrey Hosking to reveal the historical forces forging Russian identity in the post-communist world.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 Marxism and the Crisis of Russian Messianism
2 The Effects of Revolution and Civil War
3 Soviet Nationality Policy and the Russians
4 Two Russias Collide
5 Projecting a New Russia
6 The Great Fatherland War
7 The Sweet and Bitter Fruits of Victory
8 The Relaunch of Utopia
9 The Rediscovery of Russia
10 The Return of Politics
11 An Unanticipated Creation: The Russian Federation
Conclusion
Appendix: Tables
Notes
Index
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 Marxism and the Crisis of Russian Messianism
2 The Effects of Revolution and Civil War
3 Soviet Nationality Policy and the Russians
4 Two Russias Collide
5 Projecting a New Russia
6 The Great Fatherland War
7 The Sweet and Bitter Fruits of Victory
8 The Relaunch of Utopia
9 The Rediscovery of Russia
10 The Return of Politics
11 An Unanticipated Creation: The Russian Federation
Conclusion
Appendix: Tables
Notes
Index