Kotkin- Stalinism as a civilization

Question 1

What is the historical context behind Stalinism?

Answer 1

• Stalinism is not an anomalous product of factors unique to the Soviet Union but rather as a particular incarnation of more general intellectual and political developments in modern Europe
• Developments like new forms of social science and medical knowledge which prompted European reformers to reconceptualize the population as a social entity to be rationally studied and managed.
• this created the belief that populations and newly identified social problems could be understood and acted upon scientifically gave rise to a new ethos of social intervention.
• the very idea of reshaping society originated with eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers, who believed they could apply science to create a rational social order
• The French Revolution, in turn, gave this idea force by demonstrating that revolutionary politics could bring about social transformation.
• Revolutionaries in Russia drew inspiration from the French Revolution, and after they themselves came to power in 1917, they pursued their own version of a rational and just social order – one which sought to eliminate capitalist exploitation and social classes

Question 2

“When it comes to Stalinism, what needs to be explained and subjected to detailed scrutiny are the mechanism by which the dreams of ordinary people and those of the individuals directing the state found common ground in this soviet version of the welfare state”

What does Kotkin mean by this?
What was the SOviet version of the welfare state?

Answer 2

• communism gave people a safety blanket
  -people may not believe in it but only realise too late

Question 3

Stalinism as a social welfare state

Answer 3

state provides social services and benefits in a highly interventionist form
- old and sick benefits
-childcare provision
-free medical care
-house
-guaranteed employment
-education
-accessible culture and entertainment

about providing this but also controlling its population

you couldn’t not interact with the state which binds you to it as you cant step out of it regardless if you disagree or don’t want to partake in some of it

if you encourage national culture from above, you control the message so you can control school curriculum and it links to the support of the regime.

Question 4

“(Stalin) in re-revolutionising the revolution, skillfully invoked scattered remarks by Lenin on the importance of national strength and explicitly tied the building of socialism to imperial Russian history.”

Answer 4

if you encourage national culture from above, you control the message so you can control school curriculum and it links to the support of the regime. strong socialist narrative

stalins measure his success with the strength of state institutions

Question 5

Why is Magnitogorsk the nodal point of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 5

Humans have ways to change social structures using science and reasoning. This idea belongs to the Enlightenment, and the Stalinist regime took this to an extreme.

Through politics, you can change society this is first seen in the French Revolution

Stalinism is not an expectation to western development it just takes some parts to an extreme

Question 6

arandt

Answer 6

does not consider welfare in her definition

Question 7

Foucault

Answer 7

invested in sports parades ect for the youth
early 1920s new economic policy introduced