(www.uncg.edu/~jwjones/russia)
Instructor: Jeff Jones jwjones@uncg.edu
Office: 2139 MHRA Phone: 334-4068
Office Hours: M 10:00-11;
T 10-10:50; W 2:00-3:15 and by appointment
This introductory history course, which carries an
International and Global Studies (IGS) marker, examines Russian and Soviet
history in the 20th century in two parts. Part I: “From Traditional Russia to the
Civil War,” looks at traditional Russian society and culture; developments in
the late 19th century; and the upheavals in Russian society from the
late tsarist period through World War I, the revolutions of 1917, and the civil
war. Part II: “From the Rise of
Joseph Stalin to post-Soviet Russia,” emphasizes the impact of the Stalin
Revolution, the purges, and WWII; the reformist course of de-Stalinization
pursued by Nikita Khrushchev; neo-Stalinism under Leonid Brezhnev; the
Soviet-Afghan War and Mikhail Gorbachev’s dramatic reforms in the 1980s; and the
collapse of the USSR and post-Soviet Russia with an emphasis on the conflict in
Chechnya. The course explores several
themes: Russia’s relationship with the West; revolution and the role of the
individual in history; the role of gender and class in Russian and Soviet
society; and the role of ideology and socialism in theory and practice.
Student Learning
Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course students will be
able to …
Ø
Use a historical approach to analyze and
contextualize primary and secondary sources representing divergent
perspectives.
Ø Use
evidence to interpret the past coherently, orally and/or in writing.
Ø Comprehend
that history is not the memorization of dates and facts, but rather the interpretation of the past.
Ø Analyze historical duration, succession, and
change in terms of human agency and larger systems or structures in a wide
variety of places and periods.
Ø Analyze
the key terms, facts, and events in modern Russian/Soviet history and thereby
exhibit an informed historical perspective.
Ø Critically
appraise varying historical arguments and clearly express their own
interpretations.
Ø Learn
how to critically read and distinguish between different types of historical
sources and to “read between the lines” of differing points of view.
Ø Analyze
primary sources and gain insight on how to interpret history through such
sources.
Required Books:
·
And Quiet
Flows the Don, Mikhail Sholokhov (New York: Vintage Publishers, 1989; ISBN:
9780679725213).
·
Journey
Into the Whirlwind, Gennady Andreev-Khomiakov (New York: Mariner Books, 2002;
ISBN: 9780156027519).
·
Ivan’s
War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, Catherine Merridale (New
York: Picador, 2006; ISBN: 9780312426521).
·
Zinky
Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War, Svetlana Alexievich (New York:
W. W. Norton & Co., 1992; ISBN: 9780393336863).
·
Reserve and online material identified below
Required Film:
·
“Prisoner of the Mountains” (1996) directed by
Sergei Bodrov
Course Activities:
Participation 40% Midterm Exam 20%
(10% in-class; 10% Take Home Essay)
Review Essay 20% Final Exam 20%
(10% in-class; 10% Take Home Essay)
Participation:
The 40% class participation grade consists of Worksheets, Online
Discussions, Internet Assignments, and Reaction Pieces (1-2
pages, double-spaced) to the readings designated below. The Reaction Pieces are not a summary of the assigned reading
but are intended to be your reaction to
or opinion of the readings illustrated and supported by direct evidence
from the readings. When a RP is
due for more than one reading you can either weave them together in a single
response or deal with them in separate entries.
You can keep up with your participation grade on Canvas.
Review Essay: The Review Essay (worth 20%) requires
you to define the issues and arguments involved in a topic of historiographical
debate related to the course (see the list of possible topics below). For the essay you should summarize the
opposing sides of a historical debate for a topic chosen ahead of time and
approved by the instructor, identifying 3-5 major books or articles on that
topic in a bibliography. The essay is due April 18, but
can be turned in at any point after March 28.
Essays should be double-spaced, 12-pt. font, 8-10 pages in
length.
Written assignments for the course will be graded on the
basis of these criteria:
1) Level of analysis/argumentation. Present a thoughtful argument and
interpretation, not a mere summary of
facts. (Note: it does not matter
which side of an issue one argues, only how well or how poorly one makes the
argument).
2) Use of evidence. The source material you select to support
your argument must be relevant and must clearly back up your argument; where
necessary defend your argument by effectively refuting “the other side” of the
issue.
3) Clarity of communication. You must present the evidence and express
your argument in a clear, comprehensible manner.
A = excellent performance on all three criteria.
D = below average overall performance.
Exams: There is a
midterm exam and a final exam (each worth 20%) for the class. The in-class exams are comprised of Slide/Visual
IDs from course lectures, Identifications and Short Answer
Questions based on course material and readings. In addition, each exam includes a Take Home
Essay to be turned in on exam day; each essay, the topics for which are listed
below, is worth 10% of the overall exam/course grade. The exams cover only the part of the course for which they are designated (Midterm:
Late Imperial Period-Civil War; Final: Rise of Stalin-Contemporary
Russia), so they are not cumulative. A Study Guide will be provided to students
online for each of the exams no less than two weeks prior to the exam period.
Grading: Grades
are compiled on a point system. For
example, if you make an 80 on the Midterm Exam (12/15) + 88 on the Midterm Take Home Essay (8.8/10) + an 85 on the Final Exam (12.8/15) + 93 on the Final Take Home Essay (9.3/10) + 85 on your Written Assignment (17/20) + 90 on
Participation (27/30), your final
grade = 86.9 or 87 B+
Tuesday, January 17.
Introduction
BEGIN READING: And
Quiet Flows the Don, Parts I & II (“Peace” & “War”); Worksheet
1 due in class February 7
Thursday, January 19.
Traditional Russian Society
·
Reading for January 24: “Prisoner
of the Caucasus” by Lev Tolstoy; Online
Discussion 1: reply to the prompt on Canvas by 8:00AM Tuesday, January 24
Tuesday, January 24.
Russia in the Caucasus: Discussion of the Reading
·
Reading for January 26: excerpts from “What
is to be Done?” by V. I. Lenin; Online
Discussion 2: reply to the prompt on Canvas by 8:00AM Thursday, January
26
Thursday, January 26.
The Origins of Russian Marxism & Lenin’s “What is to be done?”
·
Reading for January 31: “October
Manifesto”
Tuesday, January 31.
The Russian Revolution of 1905: Battleship Potemkin
·
Optional Reading: “‘Potemkin’
Restored to Uncensored Glory”
Thursday, February 2.
The 1905 Revolution (cont’d): “Battleship Potemkin”
·
Optional Reading: “The
Story of an Assassination” by Marie Sukloff
Tuesday, February 7: Calm Before the Storm: Discussion of And Quiet
Flows the Don
READING: And
Quiet Flows the Don, Parts
Thursday, February 9.
WWI & 1917: Revolutionary Turmoil in Russia
Tuesday, February 14.
Revolutionary Turmoil in Russia (cont’d)
Thursday, February 16.
Revolutionary Turmoil in Russia (cont’d)
·
Reading for February 21: “Declaration
of the Rights of the Toiling and Exploited Peoples”; excerpts from “The
Proletarian Revolution and The Renegade Kautsky” by V. I. Lenin; and “Theses
on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations” by Alexandra
Kollontai; **RP-1 due in
class
Tuesday, February 21.
The Bolsheviks Come to Power
·
Internet Assignment for February 23: “Commissar”
Thursday, February 23.
The Cossacks & the Civil War: Discussion of And Quiet Flows the Don
Tuesday, February 28.
MIDTERM EXAM: TAKE HOME ESSAY DUE
IN CLASS
MIDTERM EXAM Take Home
Essay Question (worth 10% of the overall course grade) (12-point font, 3-5
pages double-spaced): Drawing on at least two sources from the course,
respond to this
question: In your opinion, was the collapse of the Russian autocracy and the
Bolshevik rise to power inevitable or, without the strains of World War I,
could Russia have gradually evolved into a Constitutional Monarchy or
parliamentary democracy?
Part II: From the
Rise of Joseph Stalin to post-Soviet Russia
·
Reading for March 7: “Should
This Pulitzer be Pulled?” by Douglas McCollam; Online Discussion 3: reply to the prompt on Canvas by 8:00AM
Tuesday, March 7
Tuesday, March 7. The Stalin Revolution
BEGIN READING: Ivan’s
War; **RP-3 due March 28
Tuesday, March 21. The
Stalinist Repression(s) (cont’d)
Thursday, March 23. The
Beginning of World War II
·
Optional Reading: Stalin
as Time’s “Man of the Year” 1939
& 1942
Tuesday, March 28. WWII in the USSR: Discussion of Ivan’s War
·
Optional Reading: excerpt from Through
the Burning Steppe
·
Internet Assignment for March 30: Life
in a Kommunalka (communal apartment)
Thursday, March 30. WWII in the USSR (cont’d) & Russia After
the War
·
Optional Reading: Stephen Bittner, “A
Negentropic Society? Wartime and Postwar
Soviet History,” Kritika:
Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 14, 3 (Summer 2013): 599-619
·
Reading for April 4: excerpts
from the 1947 speeches of Andrei Zhdanov and President Harry Truman; Worksheet
3 due in class
Tuesday, April 4. Origins of the Cold War: Discussion of the
Reading
Thursday, April 6. Khrushchev
& de-Stalinization: the “Thaw”
·
Reading for April 11: “Fiasco in
Riazan Oblast” by Roy and Zhores Medvedev; and “Bloody
Saturday: Novocherkassk, 1962”; **RP-4
due in class
Thursday, April 13. The
Brezhnev Era: Stability, Neo-Stalinism, & Stagnation
Tuesday, April 18. The
Passing of a Generation: Gorbachev’s Rise to Power; **REVIEW ESSAY DUE IN CLASS
·
Optional Readings: “A
Cold War Crusader: Andrew Eiva, the KGB, and the Soviet-Afghan War” by Jeff
Jones; “Gorbachev:
From High Hopes to the Bitter End” by Theodore von Laue; and Gorbachev
as Time’s “Man of the Year” 1987 and 1989
v
FILM: view “Prisoner
of the Mountains” for an in-class discussion on April 25; **RP-6 due in class
Thursday, April 20. The
Collapse of the USSR: Discussion of Zinky
Boys
·
Optional Reading: “Mothers
and Prostitutes: The Representation of Women in Svetlana Alexievich’s Zinky Boys” by Jeff Jones
Tuesday, April 25. Post-Soviet
Russia: Discussion of “Prisoner of the Mountains”
Thursday, April 27. Putin’s
Russia
|
·
Optional
Reading: “Assessing
Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections” |
FINAL EXAM: Thursday,
May 4 at 3:30. TAKE HOME ESSAY DUE IN
CLASS
FINAL EXAM Take Home
Essay Question (worth 10% of the overall course grade) (12-point font, 3-5
pages double-spaced): Choose one of the following questions:
1. Drawing on at least three sources from
the course, respond to this question: In your opinion, what were the main
factors in the collapse of the Soviet Union? (Note: begin with the early
Stalin era to address this question).
OR
2. Drawing on at least three sources from
the course agree with one of these two statements:
a. The Soviet Union under Stalin and his
successors was clearly a totalitarian society.
or
b. The term “totalitarian” does not
adequately describe the Soviet Union under Stalin or his successors because it conceals more than it
reveals.
List of Possible Topics* for
the Review Essay:
Ø Traditional
Russian culture and society
Ø Sport
and entertainment in late imperial Russia and/or the Soviet period
Ø The
1905 Revolution and/or the “Transition Period” Between the Revolutions
Ø World
War I in Russia/Russia’s Role in World War I
Ø The
1917 Revolution(s)/Revolutionary Period/The Soviet Civil War
Ø The
NEP period
Ø A
Comparison of Different Biographies of (choose 1): Lenin/Stalin/Trotsky/Bukharin/Gorbachev,
etc.
Ø The
Collectivization of Agriculture/The “Stalin Revolution”
Ø The
“Lysenko Affair” (involving the politicization of Soviet science/genetics)
Ø The
Debate over the Ukrainian Famine (1932-33)
Ø The
Debate over the Assassination of Sergei Kirov (December 1934)
Ø The
Origins and Causes of the purges of the late 1930s
Ø Religion
in Russia/the Soviet Union
Ø Art/Literature/Film
in the Soviet period
Ø Propaganda/Iconography/the
Stalin Cult
Ø National
Policy during the Stalinist/Soviet Period
Ø Soviet
Foreign Policy
Ø The
Role or Position of Women in Russia/the Soviet Union
Ø Anti-Semitism
in Russia/the USSR
Ø The
Soviet Educational System
Ø Nazi
Occupation/the Holocaust in the USSR
Ø The
Leningrad Blockade/World War II in the Soviet Union/Postwar Reconstruction
Ø The
Origins of the Cold War
Ø The
“Thaw”/Khrushchev Period
Ø The
Brezhnev Period in Soviet History
Ø The
Soviet-Afghan War
Ø The
Gorbachev Reforms
Ø The
Collapse of the USSR
*These are just suggestions of topics for the Review Essay and
this list is not intended to be
exhaustive; students are welcome to come up with their own possible topics (or
variations of those listed above).