Dissent in the years of Khrushchev : nine stories about disobedient Russians

This book is an analysis of the dilemmas confronting the communist party after Stalin’s death in 1953. It focuses on how ordinary citizens received and reacted to the policy of the party and the state. It is also the history of people who, driven by disillusion, despair, and anger, either withdrew from the public sphere and thus demonstrated passive resistance to the regime or, on the contrary, chose to demonstrate actively in prisoners’ rebellions and workers’ unrest. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 The historical context......Page 13 Modernization theory and the Russian under-society......Page 21 Note on the sources......Page 24 Tightening the reins of power......Page 27 The letter......Page 30 Society's reactions to the letter......Page 33 2 The Church and the State......Page 46 Popular reactions......Page 47 Open confrontation......Page 49 3 'Give us Decent Homes!'......Page 52 Citizens' complaints......Page 53 Treatment of complaints......Page 60 Interpretations......Page 63 Analysis......Page 69 5 The 1961 Party Programme......Page 85 Khrushchev on the draft programme......Page 86 The debate......Page 88 The statistics......Page 95 Some individual cases......Page 103 7 A Scientist Speaks Out......Page 110 The Landau case......Page 112 8 Uprisings in the Camps......Page 117 The uprising in Kargapolskii Labour and Reform Camp, 1953......Page 120 The uprising in Steplag, May–June 1954......Page 129 Kemerovo, 1955......Page 134 Karaganda, 1959......Page 136 Novocherkassk, 1962......Page 139 Conclusion......Page 166 Notes......Page 171 Bibliography......Page 180 C......Page 184 G......Page 185 M......Page 186 P......Page 187 S......Page 188 Z......Page 189 "This book is an analysis of the dilemmas confronting the communist party after Stalin's death in 1953. It focuses on the way ordinary citizens received and reacted to the policy of the party and the state. It is the history of people who, driven by disillusion, despair and anger, either withdrew from the public sphere and thus demonstrated passive resistance to the regime or, conversely, chose to demonstrate actively in prisoners' rebellions and worker's unrest. The prisoners' rebellions in Korgapoliskii and Steplag in 1954 and 1956, and the major workers' unrest in Novocherkassk in 1962, can be interpreted as a continuation of the fight for freedom and human dignity which led to the popular risings against the Czar in 1905 and February 1917. Using the stories of ordinary Russians, this book questions the myth of the authoritarian mentality of the Soviet Russian."--Jacket The book is an analysis of the dilemmas confronting the communist party after Stalin's death in 1953. It focuses on how ordinary citizens received and reacted to the policy of the party and the state. It is also the history of people who, driven by disillusion, despair and anger, either withdrew from the public sphere and thus demonstrated passive resistance to the regime or, on the contrary, chose to demonstrate actively in prisoners' rebellions and workers' unrest.