DISCIPLINE ELECTIVE CORE COURSE– 1 (DSE): History of the USSR: From Revolution
to Disintegration (c. 1917 – 1991)
Credit distribution, Eligibility and Pre-requisites of the Course
Course title & Code Credits Credit distribution of the course Eligibility Pre-requisite of Lecture Tutorial Practical/ criteria the course Practice (if any) History of the USSR: 4 3 1 0 12 th Pass NIL From Revolution to Disintegration (c. 1917 –1991)
Learning Objectives The course introduces students to the history of the USSR from the two revolutions of 1917 to the disintegration of USSR. Students study the various challenges faced by the Bolsheviks and the steps taken to resolve these issues. Students will also trace the evolution of new institutions and ways of organizing production both in the factory and at the farm. They will also evaluate important foreign policy issues and the Soviet Union’s involvement and role in the World War II. The course studies the most dramatic years in the history of the USSR i.e., the period between 1945 to 1991. The extent of major economic and political changes between 1956 and 1991 will be examined and the period of reconstruction , stagnation and growth will be examined. The reforms of the Gorbachev era will provide some of the contexts for the study of the larger [global] processes that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Learning outcomes On completion of this course students shall be able to • Explain how USSR emerged out of Imperial Russia. • Explain the new organization of production in the fields and in the factory. • Outline and explain key developments in the history of the USSR between 1917 and 1991. • Examine Soviet policies for the period of the course in relation to nationalities and gender questions. • Outline Soviet foreign policy issues. • Analyse the factors leading to disintegration of the Soviet Union and the formation of • Confederation of Independent States.
SYLLABUS OF DSE
I. The Russian Revolutions of February and October 1917; Background, Causes and Outbreak.
II. Aspects of Socialist Industrialization -Ideas, Debates and Planning
a) War Communism, NEP, Great Debate b) Collectivization c) Industrialization and Planning
98 III. Soviet Foreign Policy from World War II to Cold War – (1930s-64)
IV. Soviet Union from Reconstruction to Stagnation to Recovery
a) Khrushchev b) Brezhnev c) Gorbachev
V. Question of Nationalism and Disintegration of USSR
VI. Aspects of Culture in Soviet Union
a) Gender 1917-45 b) Literature and Arts 1917-64 c) Cinema and Sports 1920s-91
Essential Readings and Unit Wise Teaching Outcomes:
Unit I: In this unit students will learn about the background to the Russian Revolutions of February and October 1917 its causes and outbreak. • Acton, Edward, Vladimir Cherniaev and William Rosenberg eds. (1997). Critical • Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914-1921. London: Arnold. Pp.3 -34 • Figes, Orlando. (1996). A People’s Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution. • London: Jonathan Cape. PART TWO THE CRISIS OF AUTHORITY (1891-1917) pp. • 157- 305 • Kenez, Peter. (1999). A History of the Soviet Union from the beginning to the end. • Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1and 2, pp. 1- 40 • Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. (2006). Cambridge History of Russia. Volume 3. Cambridge: • Cam- bridge University Press. Chapters 1 to 4, pp 5- 139 • करुणा कौ�शक: साम्राज्यवाद� एवं साम्यवाद� रूस 1861 ई - 1965 ई। खंड 1: साम्राज्यवाद� रूस; अध्याय • ती न- 1905 क� क्रां�त और उसके बाद क� िस्त�थ 1905 - 1914, अध्याय चार- प्रथम �वश्व युद्ध से लेकर • बोल्शे�वक क्रां�त तक।
Unit II: In this unit students will learn about economic policies of the Bolsheviks and associated debate in the 1920s. The students will students will also learn about the issues related to processes of Collectivisation and Industrialisation in Russia. • Fitzpatrick, Sheila. (2001). The Russian Revolution 1917-1932. New York, USA: • Oxford University Press. Chapter 3: The Civil War, Chapter 4: NEP and Future of the Revolution. Pp 68- 119 • Nove, Alec. (1993). An Economic History of the USSR, 1917-1991.London: Penguin Books, (revised edition), Chapters 3 to 6, pp 39- 158 • Kenez, Peter. (1999). A History of the Soviet Union from the beginning to the end. • Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 2 and 3, pp 14- 78, Chapters 7 to 9, pp 159- 272 • Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. (2006). Cambridge History of Russia. Volume 3. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Chapters 5 and 6, pp 140- 191 • करुणा कौ�शक: साम्राज्यवाद� एवं साम्यवाद� रूस 1861 ई - 1965 ई। खंड 2: साम्यवाद� रूस; अध्याय पांच- साम्यवाद� रूस के प्रारं �भक चरण, अध्याय सात- नवीन आ�थर्क नी�त एवं अन्य प्रयोग। खंड 2: साम्यवाद�
99 रूस; अध्याय नौ- औद्यो�गकरण एवं कृ�ष 1928 - 1941, अध्याय - समू�हककरण, स्ता�लनकाल�न उपोत्पादक तथा चौथी पर पांचवी योजनाएं। • Lewin, Moshe. (1985). The Making of the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Inter-war Russia. New York: Pantheon. • Allen, Robert. (2003). From Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Chapter 8, pp 153- 171 • Fitzpatrick, Sheila. (1999). Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press. Ch. 2, pp 40-66 • Davies, R.W., Mark Harrison and S.G. Wheatcroft (Eds.). (1994).The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . (Whole book relevant)
Unit III: In this unit students will learn about Soviet foreign policy issues with reference to Comintern and Nazi Soviet Pact. It also examines the role of the USSR during the second World War. This unit will also teach students about the history of the Cold War, its origins, majordevelopments, and transitions. • McDermott, Kevin and Jeremy Agnew. (1996). The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Whole book • Roberts, Geoffrey. (2006). Stalin’s Wars 1939-53: From World War to Cold War. New Haven: Yale University Press. • Suny, Ronald Grigor.(Ed.). (2006). Cambridge History of Russia. Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 8 and 23, pp 217- 242 and 636- 661 • Kenez, Peter. (1999). A History of the Soviet Union from the beginning to the end. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 6, pp 132- 159 • करुणा कौ�शक: साम्राज्यवाद� एवं साम्यवाद� रूस 1861 ई - 1965 ई। खंड 3: साम्यवाद� रूस क� �वदे शनी�त; अध्याय चौदह- बोल्शे�वक क्रां�त से लेकर �हटलर के उत्कषर् तक, अध्याय पंद्रह- अनाक्रमण समझौता, द्�वतीय �वश्वयुद्ध काल�न कूटनी�त�ता। • Gaddis, John Lewis. (1997), We Now Know, Oxford University Press, pp. 1- 53 and 281- 295 • McCauley, Martin, ed. (1987). Khrushchev and Khruschevism. Basingstoke and London: Palgrave pp 156- 193 • The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Volumes I and II, Reprint edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 9 from volume 1 and chapters 3, 4 and 7 from volume 2 • Zubok, Vladislav M, (2007), A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev, University of North Carolina Press, Chapell Hill, pp 29-162
Unit IV: This unit deals with the Khrushchev Era, history of De-Stalinisation and Khrushchev’s industrial and agricultural reforms. : This unit also deals with the era of Conservatism and reform in the Soviet political system. It begins with the period of Brezhnev. goes up to Gorbachev. • McCauley, Martin, ed. (1987). Khrushchev and Khruschevism. Basingstoke and London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp 1- 29, 61- 70 and 95- 137 • Hanson, Philip. (2014). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy: An Economic History of the USSR, 1945-1991. New York: Routledge. Pp 48- 97 • Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. (2006). Cambridge History of Russia Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 268- 291 • Nove, Alec (1993), An Economic History of the USSR, Penguin, pp 331- 377 • करुणा कौ�शक: साम्राज्यवाद� एवं साम्यवाद� रूस 1861 ई। - 1965 ई खंड 2: साम्यवाद� रूस; अध्याय
100 • बारह- खुश्च�व का उत्कषर् और कृ�ष सम्बन्धी सुधार, अध्याय तेरह - खुश्च�व क� बीसवीं कांग्रेस, उद्योगीकरण,दाल संगठन व ् अन्य महत्वपण ू र् सीमा �चन्ह। • Crump, Thomas (2013). Brezhnev and the Decline of the Soviet Union, Routledge. Pp 71- 117 • Brown, Archie. (1996). The Gorbachov Factor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Paperback. Pp 130- 211 • Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. (2006). Cambridge History of Russia Volume 3. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press. Pp 292- 351 • Fainberg, Dina and Artemy M. Kalinovsky, ed, (Volume 19, Number 4, Fall 2017) Reconsidering Stagnation in the Brezhnev Era: Ideology and Exchange, Journal of Cold War Studies, The MIT Press introduction and pp 3- 20, 43- 76
Unit V: This unit deals with the history of dissolution of the Soviet Union around 1991 and the emergence of Confederation of Independent States. (Teaching time: 3 weeks Approx.) • Kotz, David and Fred Weir. (2007). Russia’s Path from Gorbachev to Putin, Routledge, chapters 4- 8 • Suny, Ronald Grigor. (1993). The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pp 127- 162 • Suny, Ronald Grigor. (1997). The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States. New York: Oxford University Press. • Keeran, Roger and Kenny, Thomas (2010), Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Bloomington, New York, Epilogue
Unit VI: In this unit students will learn about women and aspects of culture such as literature, arts cinema and sports during the period of the Soviet system. • Suny, Ronald Grigor, ed. (2006). Cambridge History of Russia. Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 17 and 18, pp 468- 522 • Suny, Ronald Grigor and Martin, Terry. (2001). A State of Nation: Empire and Nation Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin, OUP, pp 67- 90 • Fitzpatrick, Sheila. (1999). Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 6, pp 164- 189 • Parks, Jenifer (2017), The Olympic Games, the Soviet Sports Bureaucracy and the Cold War: Red Sport, Red Tape, Lexington Books, Introduction, chapters 3- 5 • Sarantakes, Nicholas Evan (2010), Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott and the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, Introduction, chapters 2, 5, 8 13, 14 and 15
Suggested Readings: • Carley, M.J. (1999). 1939: The Alliance that Never Was and the Coming of World War II. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. • Carr, E.H. (1950-1964). A History of Soviet Russia, 7 volumes. New York: Macmillan. • Cohen, Stephen. (1973). Bukharin and the Russian Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888- • 1938. New York: Alfred Knopf. • Conquest, Robert (1986) Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine, • Oxford University Press, • Davies, R.W. (1980-1996).The Industrialization of Soviet Russia. Vol. 1: The Socialist Offensive: The Collectivization of Soviet Agriculture, 1929-1930. Basingstoke: Macmillan,Vols. 2,3, and 5. • Dobrenko, Evgeny and Marina Balina ed. (2011). The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth Century Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
101 • Dobrenko, Evgeny. (2007). Political Economy of Socialist Realism, New Haven: Yale University Press. • Filtzer, Donald. (1986). Soviet Workers and Stalinist Industrialization, 1928-1941. Pluto Press. • Gatrell, Peter. (2014). Russia’s First World War: a social and economic history. New York: Routledge. • Goldman, Wendy. (2002). Women at the Gates: gender and industry in Stalin’s Russia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Gregory, Paul. (2004). The Political Economy of Stalinism: Evidence from the Soviet Secret Archives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Kotkin, Stephen. (1995). Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization. Berkeley: University of California Press. • Lieven, Dominic.(Ed.). (2006). Cambridge History of Russia, Vol. 2: Imperial Russia, 1689-1917. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Overy, Richard. (1998). Russia’s War, 1941-1945. New York: Penguin. • Viola, Lynne.(Ed.). (2002). Contending with Stalinism: Soviet Power and Popular Resistance • in the1930s. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. • करुणा कौ�शक (1990): साम्राज्यवाद� एवं साम्यवाद� रूस 1861 ई - 1965 ई, �हंद� माध्यम कायार्न्वयन • �नदे शालय • Brown, Archie. (2009). Seven Years That Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective. • Oxford: Oxford University Press. • Ellman, Michael and Vladimir Kontorovich. (1998). The Destruction of the Soviet Economic System: An Insider’s History. London and New York: Routledge. • Figes, Orlando. (2014). Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991.United Kingdom: Pelican paperback. • Hosking, Geoffrey. (1992). History of the Soviet Union: 1917-1991. Third edition: Fontana Press. • Brown, Archie. (2010). The Rise and Fall of Communism. London: Vintage.Leffler, Melvyn P., ed. (2010). • Kotkin, Stephen. (2008). Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000. Second edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. • Nove, Alec. (1977). The Soviet Economic System. London: Allen & Unwin. from Stalin to Khrushchev. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Service, Robert. (2015). The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991. London: Pan MacMillan
Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination
