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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Bibliography: l. [350]-359.

Teilw. zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2002

Bochum, Universiẗat, Diss., 2002.

The Western historiography of Stalin and Stalinism produced in the period 1925 to the present day is a strikingly varied body of work in which the nature of Stalin, his regime and his role within his regime have been and continue to be the subject of debate. This characteristic is all the more striking when we consider that from the earliest years of the period under study there has been a general understanding of the nature of the Stalinist regime, and of the policies and leader which have come to define it. This thesis analyses the principal influences on research which have led to this body of work acquiring such a varied nature, and which have led to an at times profoundly divided Western, and more specifically Anglo-American, scholarship. It argues that the combined impact of three key formative influences on research in the West over the period of study, and their interaction with each other, reveal recurring themes across the whole historiography, while also accounting for the variety of interpretations in evidence. The first impact identified is the lack of accessibility to sources during the Soviet period, which posed a constant and real obstacle to those in the West writing on Stalin and Stalinism, and the impact of the removal of this obstacle in the post-Soviet era. The second is the influence of wider historiographical trends on this body of work, such as the emergence of social history. Finally the thesis argues that evolving Western attitudes to Stalin and Stalinism over this period have played a key role in constructions of Stalin and his regime, demonstrating an on-going historical process of the othering of Russia by the West. The extent and nature of this othering in turn provide a central line of enquiry of the thesis. Tightly intertwined with all three impacts has been the changing global political context over the period in question which provides the evolving and influential contextual backdrop to this study, and which has given this body of work a deeply political and personal character.

Three years after Stalin's death, Khrushchev shocked the world by revealing much of the truth about the crimes of Stalin. Most affected by the revelations were the Communist Parties, who had held Stalin in god-like reverence. This thesis examines the effects, both of these revelations on the British Communist Party, and of the second cataclysmic event of that year - the Hungarian Uprising and its suppression by Soviet tanks. It appears that to many members, an opportunity was presented by Khrushchev's frankness, to renew the Communist movement and set aside the old dogmatic ways; this desire for real change did not, unfortunately, permeate the ranks of the British Party leadership. At all points, whilst allowing open debate to proceed, the leadership took positions and expressed views designed to consolidate and continue in the old mould. Demands for a rigorous analysis of the Stalinist period, including the role of the system of democratic centralism, were never fully taken up; the British Party leadership persisted in taking the Khrushchev line - that Stalin, and the cult of the personality, were responsible for the abuses. The questioning of basic Communist principles, such as democratic centralism was not permitted. Considerable debate did take place, however, within the Party press and in the unofficial journal 'The Reasoner', on many topics including Inner-Party Democracy, the rewriting of 'The British Road to Socialism', anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and unrest in Eastern Europe. The leadership eventually responded to demands for a Special Congress in recognition of the cataclysmic nature of the events. The British Party leadership sought primarily to defend what it knew best - the structures of the Party, and its unthinking loyalty to the Soviet Union. This latter feature proved a heavy strain on the Party when the leadership unconditionally supported the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Uprising. The combined effect of the events of 1956 led to a membership loss in the region of 7,000. 1956 appears to have been a tragically wasted opportunity for the international Communist movement. Having exposed and rejected the distortions of the Stalin period, the possibilities were not taken up. The man had gone, but the system remained unaltered. This thesis attempts to show, however, that whilst the British Party had been nominally independent since the dissolution of the Comintern in 1943, it was, because of its historical development, psychologically subordinate to Moscow. For the leaders of the British Communist Party to have gone against the Soviet line, no matter how appalling their decisions, no matter now reasonable the arguments of the British Party dissidents, would have been inconceivable. For many British Communists, Marxism-Leninism had become an article of faith, rather than a political philosophy and practical tool; for many others however, the events of 1956 demonstrated that faith and reason could no longer be reconciled. Despite the departure of many, this dichotomy was to remain within the British Communist Party, along with the structures of democratic centralism, until its dissolution in November 1991.

The revisionist view of the Soviet Union’s most eminent composer, Shostakovich has been dominant in the American and British press ever since the publication of ex-Soviet journalist Solomon Volkov’s Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich as related and edited by Solomon Volkov in 1979. This pre-glasnost book proved to be the opportunity for music journalists to polish up their image of Shostakovich as a closet dissident who had been secretly laughing up his sleeve at the Soviet regime since 1932. This thesis suggests that Solomon Volkov faked the writing of Testimony and claiming that the book was the ‘memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich’ was dubious at best. A favourite theme of revisionist writers is the perceived relationship between Shostakovich and Stalin. This thesis reveals that there was little interaction between the two despite the wild fantasies of revisionist writers and film makers. The infamous anonymous 1936 Pravda editorial ‘Muddle Instead of Music’ has been the subject of speculation ever since it was written. In the appendix of this thesis is a translation of ‘Mysteries of Lady Macbeth’ a chapter of Leonid Maksimenkov’s Muddle Instead of Music: Stalin’s Cultural Revolution 1936-1938. Archival evidence in this chapter reveals that the Pravda editorial was a product of internal Communist Party rivalry between the Cultural Education Board and the newly-formed Arts Committee. Stalin played no part in the writing of the editorial at all. This explodes many myths that have circulated since 1936 about ‘Muddle Instead of Music’. It seems that Shostakovich was a convenient target selected at random by the ambitious head of the Arts Committee – Platon Kerzhentsev.

The purpose of this essay is to examine whether the descriptions of Stalin's terror in history textbooks for high school changed from the 1950s until the 2010s. Since previous research shows that textbook content is influenced from different directions and that it dominates in teaching, therefore I want to find out what similarities and differences that exist in the textbooks. The survey is based on a qualitative approach because I want to have a profound picture of the descriptions of Stalin's terror. The results of the survey show that the number of casualties and the descriptions on the famine has changed over time. Furthermore, textbooks also found it difficult to distinguish between terror, politics and ideology. The analysis of the results linked to the theoretical bases, historical consciousness model and history didactic model. The analysis shows that the result always ends up in historical consciousness as the basis for reproducing change and continuity, but in some cases the result has also been connected with historical consciousness of identity formation. In the history didactic model, the result has fallen into the material history teaching subcategories, objective, purpose and classically purpose.

Thesis (M.L.S.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of The Masters of Liberal Studies." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 80-84.

Veränd. Magisterarbeit Universität Hamburg, 2007. / Originaltitel: Der "Völkische Beobachter" über die UdSSR im Jahre 1939, (Titel der Magisterarbeit). Originaltitel: Der "Völkische Beobachter" über die UdSSR im Jahre 1939.