Everything about Soviet Historiography totally explained
Soviet historiography is the history of
the academic study of history as written by scholars of the
Soviet Union.
Soviet Histories mostly served to promote the
Communist ideology. It was declared that the
October Revolution had opened a new
epoche of the human
civilization . The "
class struggle" and the
history of Communist Party led by
Lenin became the overarching themes of Soviet historiography
Marxist theory occupied history of the 20th century, history of revolutions and social movements, general multivolume works and textbooks. Scientists who didn't want to develop Marxist theory switched to ancient and medieval history and special historical disciplines.
Until the death of
Stalin in 1953 no real
political history was written, and a majority of the
Russian Revolution leaders had become
non-persons, meaning unmentionable in print.
At the
20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956
Khrushchev denouncing Stalin opened the door for some level of scholarship although constraints and dogmas on the Communist party as vanguard of the working class still had to be observed. It became possible to mention in a pejorative context the
non-persons like
Leon Trotsky and
Grigory Zinoviev. Khrushchev decoupled Lenin and Stalin that allowed Soviet historians to produce books and articles of more diversity than during the Stalin era. The reform in history writing was referred to as the return to
Leninist norms.
The era of
Brezhnev was the time of
samizdat (circulating unofficial manuscripts within the USSR) and
tamizdat (illegal publication of work abroad). The most prominent Soviet
tamizdat historian was
Roy Medvedev, the author of Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism. published in 1971 in the West. The most famous dissident author of the era was historical polemicist and novelist
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. His
Gulag Archipelago was published in the West in 1973. Both authors were unable to publish in the USSR until the era of
Perestroika and
Glasnost.
Party line
reliability) of data published in the Soviet Union and used in historical research is another issue raised by various
Sovietologists.
Law of large numbers or the idea of
random deviation were decreed as "false theories". The first revolutionary decade and the period of Stalin's dictatorship both appear highly problematic with regards to statistical reliability; very little statistical data were published from 1936 to 1956 and Data was however falsified both during collection - by local authorities who would be judged by the central authorities based on whether their figures reflected the
central economy prescriptions - and by internal propaganda, with its goal to portray the Soviet state in most positive light to its very citizens.
Vyacheslav Molotov, when asked who of two leaders was more "severe", replied: "Lenin, of course... I remember how he scolded Stalin for softness and liberalism". For example, Soviet works on
Byzantium, created and published in Soviet Union, are held in high regard.
Soviet historians
Mikhail Pokrovsky (1862-1932) was held in highest repute as a historian in the Soviet Union and was elected to the
Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1929. He emphasized
Marxist theory, downplaying the role of personality in favour of
economics as the driving force of history. However, posthumously, Pokrovsky was accused of "vulgar sociologism", and his books were banned. After Stalin's death, and the subsequent renouncement of his policies during the
Khrushchev Thaw, Pokrovsky's work regained some influence.
Revival of Soviet historiography
A new history textbook for high school students has recently been approved by the
Putin's administration The textbook justifies
Stalin's dictatorship "as a necessary evil in response to a cold war started by
America against the Soviet Union". It promotes rabid anti-Westernism and claims that Russia has been isolated by Western powers.
In popular culture
These trends have been most famously portrayed by
George Orwell in his classic
dystopia,
Nineteen Eighty-Four (see also
Ministry of Truth).
Another notable criticism was delivered by
Victor Suvorov in his book
"The Liberator" . He said that "
Vladimir Lenin was an enemy", because all his friends were proven to be
enemy of the people by the Soviet courts, which are the most democratic and just in the world. The enemies were
Lev Trotsky,
Nikolai Bukharin,
Alexei Rykov, and
Karl Radek. It was Lenin who brought these
"wrecklers" to power, so that brave
chekists had to kill them all with bullets or
ice axes. "
Stalin was also an enemy", "as has been proven to the entire world at the
historical 20th Congress of the Communist Party". Of course, "Stalin himself destroyed thousands of enemies and spies from his closest surrounding, but he couldn't exterminate them all", so that his "closest friend
Lavrenty Beria and his notorious gang have been executed only after Stalin". Sadly enough,
Khrushev, who got rid of Beria,
turned out to be a traitor, just like his successor
Leonid Brezhnev, who was guilty of terrible corruption.
Further Information
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