Department of History
Part 1 Option
History of Russia since 1881
HI 107
Tutor: Chris Read
Module Booklet 2013-14
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
2
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Module Specification for History of Russia since 1881
In the event of any conflict between the information contained below and the
departmental handbooks, the departmental handbooks take precedence.
Aims & Objectives
This module is an option available to second year History honours and joint-degree students
and to third and fourth year students outside the department and to visiting and part-time
students and 2+2 students in any year of their studies. Options are designed to complement
the first and second year core modules by providing the opportunity for study in greater depth
of particular regions, periods or themes.
Context: This module develops themes of political, social, cultural and economic history
raised in the core module in the context of Russian history since 1881.
Syllabus: The module is divided into four sets of historical questions - those relating to the
origins of the Russian revolution; to its course from c1900-1921; to its immediate
consequences in the rise of Stalinism; and to Russia's attempts to deal with the legacy of
Stalinism from 1953 to the early twenty-first century. Attention will be given to political,
social, economic and cultural aspects of these questions.
Teaching & Learning: The module will be taught through weekly lectures and one hour
seminars and individual tutorials to discuss feedback on essays.
Assessment: see appropriate History Departmental handbooks.
Note: Deadlines for non-assessed essays are weeks 7, 14 and 17.
ALL LONG ESSAY TOPICS FOR ALL CATEGORIES OF STUDENT WILL
NORMALLY BE NEGOTIATED WITH THE TUTOR.
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Intended Learning Outcomes
a) the further development of study, writing and communication skills
b) to provide the opportunity, through writing a 4500 word essay, to develop in greater depth
an analysis of aspects of the secondary literature and available primary sources relating to
topics covered in the module; to allow for greater study of topics the student wishes to learn
about which are only covered marginally in the module such as foreign policy; religion;
literature and the arts; and thereby to develop independent critical and analytical skills listed
below.
c) developing critical analytical skills based on
 introducing students to a wide variety of approaches to the study of Russian History from
the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries
 conveying basic historical knowledge of Russian History from the late nineteenth to early
twenty-first centuries
 utilising interdisciplinary perspectives to deepen historical understanding
 providing students with the opportunity to evaluate critically a range of primary sources
including official documents, statistics, writings of leading historical figures and
memoirs.
 examining a wide range of secondary sources and secondary interpretations of Russian
History from the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries
 To enable students to produce written and verbal analyses based on the above
Mark scale
All undergraduate modules are marked using one overall system, which runs from 0-100.
Marks fall into different classes of performance:
17-point marking scale
Where an assessment or exam is a single piece of work, or a small number of long exam
answers or assessed essays, work is marked using the following scale.
The descriptors in this table are interpreted as appropriate to the subject and the year/level
of study, and implicitly cover good academic practice and the avoidance of plagiarism.
With the exception of Excellent 1st, High Fail and Zero, the descriptors cover a range of
marks, with the location within each group dependent on the extent to which the elements in
the descriptor and departmental/faculty marking criteria are met.
Class
scale
Excellent
1st
First
High 1st
Mid 1st
Low 1st
Upper
Second
4
High 2.1
Mid 2.1
descriptor
Exceptional work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent
knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy,
relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. At final-year level:
work may achieve or be close to publishable standard.
Very high quality work demonstrating excellent knowledge and
understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance,
presentation and appropriate skills. Work which may extend
existing debates or interpretations.
High quality work demonstrating good knowledge and
understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance,
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
(2.1)
Lower
Second
Low 2.1
presentation and appropriate skills.
High 2.2
Competent work, demonstrating reasonable knowledge and
understanding, some analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance,
presentation and appropriate skills.
Mid 2.2
Low 2.2
High 3rd
Third
Mid 3rd
Work of limited quality, demonstrating some relevant knowledge
and understanding.
Low 3rd
Fail
High Fail
(sub
Honours)
Work does not meet standards required for the appropriate stage of
an Honours degree. There may be evidence of some basic
understanding of relevant concepts and techniques
Fail
Poor quality work well below the standards required for the
appropriate stage of an Honours degree.
Low Fail
Zero
Zero
Work of no merit OR Absent, work not submitted, penalty in some
misconduct cases
For calculating module results, the points on this marking scale have the following numerical
equivalents:
Class
Point on scale numerical equivalent
First
Excellent 1st
96
High 1st
89
Mid 1st
81
Low 1st
74
High 2.1
68
Upper Second Mid 2.1
65
Low 2.1
62
High 2.2
58
Lower Second Mid 2.2
55
Low 2.2
52
High 3rd
48
Mid 3rd
45
Low 3rd
42
High Fail
38
Fail
25
Low Fail
12
Zero
0
Third
Fail
Zero
5
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
PART I OPTION
HISTORY OF RUSSIA SINCE 1881
AUTUMN TERM SEMINARS
Week 2 - 5
Economic and social change in late nineteenth
century Russia- workers, peasants and the middle class
Week 2
The peasantry, landowners and other rural
inhabitants
What was happening in the countryside?
C. Read
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 1)
I. Thatcher (ed)
Late Imperial Russia: Problems and
Prospects
H. Rogger
Russia in the Age of Modernisation
and Revolution 1881-1917
(Chapters 1-7)
E. Acton
Russia (Chapter 5)
L. Trotsky
1905 chs 1-4 esp ch 4 ‘The Driving
Forces of the Russian revolution’ at
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trots
ky/1907/1905/ch04.htm
Week 3
Cities and industry – workers and the middle class
What was the impact of industrialisation on Russian
society c. 1900? Did the Russian proletariat have
distinctive features? How strong was the middle-class?
Reading
C. Read
‘Labour and Socialism in Tsarist
Russia’ in D. Geary (ed) Labour and Socialist Movements
in Europe Before 1914
6
C. Read
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 1)
I. Thatcher (ed)
Late Imperial Russia: Problems and
Prospects
H. Rogger
Russia in the Age of Modernisation
and Revolution 1881-1917
(Chapters 1-7)
E. Acton
Russia (Chapter 5)
P. Waldron
The End of Imperial Russia (chapters
2 & 3)
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Week 4
The Revolution of 1905-1907 and autocratic politics
Why did revolution break out in Russia in 1905?
C. Read
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 2)
A. Heywood & J. Smele (eds) The Russian Revolution
of 1905: Centenary Perspectives
M. Perrie
'The Russian Peasant Movement of
1905-1907: Its Social Composition
and Revolutionary Significance', Past
and Present, no. 57, November 1972,
pp 123 155.
P. Waldron
The End of Imperial Russia
(chapters 1, 4 & 5)
E. Acton
Russia (chapter 6)
Week 5
After 1905
By what means was the autocracy able to restore its
authority? How viable was Tsarism after 1907?
Reading
C. Read
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 2)
A. Heywood & J. Smele (eds) The Russian Revolution
of 1905: Centenary Perspectives
M. Perrie
'The Russian Peasant Movement of
1905-1907: Its Social Composition
and Revolutionary Significance', Past
and Present, no. 57, November 1972,
pp 123 155.
P. Waldron
The End of Imperial Russia
(chapters 1, 4 & 5)
E. Acton
Russia (chapter 6)
Document
The October Manifesto
Week 7
1917:
Governemt.
The February Revolution and the Provisional
Why did Tsarism finally collapse? Why was the
Provisional Government unsuccessful?
C. Read
C. Read
E. Acton
E. Acton
N. Stone
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch. 1)
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 3-7)
Russia (chapter 7)
Re-thinking the Russian Revolution
chs.6-9
The Eastern Front (chapters 1, 9 &
13)
Warwick History Video
Week 8
The Decline of Tsarism
1917: The October Revolution
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
What were the roles of peasants, workers and soldiers?
Why did the Bolsheviks come to power?
Reading
C. Read
C.
C.
E.
E.
Read
Read
Acton
Acton
J. White
N. Stone
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch. 1)
From Tsar to Soviets (chapter 3-7)
Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (Ch 5)
Russia (chapter 7)
Re-thinking the Russian Revolution
chs.6-9
The Russian Revolution
The Eastern Front (chapters 1, 9 &
13)
Warwick History Video
Document
V.I. Lenin
The Decline of Tsarism
Tasks of the Proletariat in the
Present Revolution (April Theses)
Week 9
Bolshevism and Lenin's Russia 1 Civil and
Revolutionary War
Who were the Bolsheviks? How did they survive the Civil
War? Did the experience change them?
Reading
C. Read
C.
C.
E.
S.
V.
Read
Read
Acton
Fitzpatrick
Serge
R. Suny
P. Kenez
R. Service
The Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (chs.2, 3)
From Tsar to Soviets (chs 8-13)
Lenin: A Revolutionary Life
Russia chap 8
The Russian Revolution (chs 2-6)
Memoirs of a Revolutionary (chs 2,3 &
4)
The Soviet Experiment (chs 3-5)
A History of the Soviet Union from
the Beginning to the End (ch 2 & 3)
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(chs 4-8)
Week 10
Bolshevism and Lenin’s Russia 2 Lenin’s Last Years
1920-24
How did Lenin evaluate the achievements of the revolution
up to 1922/3? Was the New Economic Policy viable?
C.
E.
S.
V.
Read
Acton
Fitzpatrick
Serge
B. Williams
J. White
Document
8
Lenin: A Revolutionary Life
Russia chap 8
The Russian Revolution (chs 2-6)
Memoirs of a Revolutionary (chs 2,3 &
4)
Lenin
Lenin: The Practice and Theory of
Revolution
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
V.I. Lenin
On Co-operation
Our Revolution
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Week 11
The "Stalin Revolution" I – The Rise of Stalin and
the Beginning of the Stalin Revolution - Collectivisation
Why did Stalin come to power? What did he stand for?
What were the main features of collectivisation?
A. Nove &
C. Read
Reading
C. Read
M.
C.
C.
R.
P.
R.
Fainsod
Ward
Ward (ed.)
Suny
Kenez
Service
C. Read
Stalin: Terror and Transformation
(Warwick History Video)
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch.4)
Smolensk under Soviet Rule (ch 12)
Stalin's Russia chaps 1-3
The Stalin Dictatorship (chs. 1-5)
The Soviet Experiment (chs 6-10)
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 4)
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(chs 9-10)
The Stalin Years: A Reader (articles
by Shulz; Davies et al; Waters)
Week 12
The “Stalin Revolution” 2 - Industrialisation and
the emergence of Stalinist Society
What were the main features of industrialisation?
Reading
M. Fainsod
E. Acton
A. Nove
C.
C.
R.
P.
R.
Ward
Ward (ed.)
Suny
Kenez
Service
C. Read
Smolensk under Soviet Rule (ch 13)
Russia (ch 9)
An Economic History of the USSR
(chs 4-8)
Stalin's Russia chaps 1-3
The Stalin Dictatorship (chs. 1-5)
The Soviet Experiment (chs 6-10)
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 4)
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(chs 9-10)
The Stalin Years: A Reader (articles
by Shulz; Davies et al; Waters)
Documents
Selected documents on collectivisation
Week 13
The emergence of Stalinist Society
What was "Stalinism" as it existed in the 1930s?
Reading
Hellbeck, J. ‘Working, Struggling, Becoming: Stalin-Era
Autobiographical Texts’ in Language and Revolution.
Making Modern Political identities Halfin I. ed. (London:
Frank Class, 2002), pp. 135-159.
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Hellbeck, J.Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary Under
Stalin (Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press, 2006).
Hoffman D. and Kotsonis, Y. eds. Russian Modernity:
Politics, Knowledge, Practices (Basingstoke: Macmillan,
2000).
Hoffman, D. Stalinist Values: The Cultural Norms of
Soviet Modernity, 1917-1941 (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 2001).
M. Edele,
Stalinist Society, 1928-1953
R. Tucker (ed)
Stalinism (pp 3-154)
C. Ward
Stalin's Russia chap 4
C. Ward (ed)
The Stalin Dictatorship (ch 6)
R. Suny
The Soviet Experiment (chs 11-12)
P. Kenez
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 5)
S. Fitzpatrick
Everyday Stalinism
C. Read
The Stalin Years: A reader
Week 14
The Great Purge
Why did the Great Purge of 1936-8 take place?
life like in the USSR in the 1930s.
What was
Reading
C. Read
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch.5)
J. Arch Getty (ed.) Stalin’s Terror: New Perspectives
Robert W Thurston
Fear & Belief in the U.S.S.R.
"Great Terror" Response to Arrest
1935-39 Slavic Review vol 45, no. 2,
pp 213-244 (includes discussion with
Robert Conquest)
R Service
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(ch 11-12)
R. Tucker (ed)
Stalinism (pp 3-154)
C. Ward
Stalin's Russia chap 4
C. Ward (ed)
The Stalin Dictatorship (ch 6)
R. Suny
The Soviet Experiment (chs 11-12)
P. Kenez
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 5)
S. Fitzpatrick
Everyday Stalinism
C. Read
The Stalin Years: A reader (article
by Khlevniuk)
Documents
Riutin Platform Law of 1 December 1934
Bukharin’s Last Letter
Order 00447 of 30 July 1937
Week 15
The Second World War 1
Why did the Soviet Union become involved in the War?
Reading
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Jonathan Haslam
The Soviet Union and the
Struggle for Collective security in Europe
Geoffrey Roberts
Unholy Alliance: Stalin’s pact with
Hitler: the Soviet Union and the Origins
of the Second World War
Week 17
The Second World War 2
The Second World War was the great test of Stalin's system.
How did it survive?
Reading
Geoffrey Roberts Stalin’s Wars
C. Read
Making and Breaking of the Soviet System (ch.6)
H. Carrere d'Encausse Stalin: Order through Terror (ch 5-9)
M. Djilas
Conversations with Stalin
E. Acton
Russia ch 10
A. Nove
An Economic History of the USSR (ch10 &11)
C. Ward
Stalin's Russia chap 5
J Barber &
The Soviet Home Front
M Harrison
R. Suny
The Soviet Experiment (chs 13& 14)
P. Kenez
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 6)
R. Service
A History of Twentieth Century Russia(ch13 &14)
C. Read
The Stalin Years(article by Erickson)
G. Roberts
Stalin’s General: Georgii Zhukov
Documents
Order no 270 and other documents
Week 18
The Soviet Union and the Cold War
Who was responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War? What
impact did it have within the Soviet Union? Had Stalinism
changed by 1953?
Reading
C. Read
G. Roberts
V. Zubok &
C. Pleshakov
C. KennedyPipe
S. Ambrose
T. Hasegawa
M. McAuley
M. Walker
R. Service
G. Hosking
J. Keep
R. Suny
P. Kenez
R. Service
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Making and Breaking of the Soviet System (ch.6)
Stalin’s Wars
Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War:
From Stalin to Khruschchev
Stalin’s Cold War
Rise to Globalism
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the
Surrender of Japan
The Origins of the Cold War
A History of the Cold War
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(ch 15 & 16)
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 11)
The Last of the Empires:
A History of the Soviet Union 1945-51
(ch 1)
The Soviet Experiment (chs 15 & 16)
A History of the Soviet Union (ch 7)
A History of Twentieth Century Russia (chs 1516)
History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
C. Read
The Stalin Years (article by Roberts)
Documents
Churchill’s Fulton speech and Stalin’s reply (extracts)
Selected documents of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Week 19
De-Stalinisation under Khruschchev
What legacy did Stalin leave? How did his successors
deal with it? How effective were Khruschchev’s reforms?
Reading
C. Read
E. Acton
A. Nove
M.E. McCauley
A. Nove
S. Cohen
R. Service
R. Suny
P. Kenez
M. Sandle
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch.7, 8)
Russia (ch. 11)
An Economic History in the USSR (ch12)
Khrushchev and Khrushchevism
Stalinism and After (chs 5)
'Friends and Foes of Change' in
The Soviet Union since Stalin (ed
by Cohen, Rabinowitch & Sharlet)
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(ch 17-22)
The Soviet Experiment (chs 17-19)
A History of the Soviet Union
(ch 8)
A Short History of Soviet Socialism
(ch 7)
Week 20
Brezhnev in Power 1964-82
Was the period 1964-1982 simply 'years of stagnation'?
Was 1968 a turning point for communism? What can we
learn from the dissidents of the period?
Reading
C. Read
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch.8, 9)
E. Acton
Russia (ch. 11)
A. Nove
An Economic History in the USSR (ch12)
M.E. McCauley
Khrushchev and Khrushchevism
A. Nove
Stalinism and After (ch 6)
Zh. Medvedev
'Russia under Brezhnev' New Left
Review no. 117 Sept/Oct 1978
S. Cohen
'Friends and Foes of Change' in
The Soviet Union since Stalin (ed
by Cohen, Rabinowitch & Sharlet)
R. Service
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(ch 17-22)
R. Suny
The Soviet Experiment (chs 17-19)
P. Kenez
A History of the Soviet Union
(ch 9)
M. Sandle
A Short History of Soviet Socialism
(ch 8)
E. Bacon and M. Sandle (eds) Brezhnev Reconsidered
Documents Khrushchev’s Secret Speech (extracts)
The Novosibirsk report (extracts) and other docs
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Week 22 [2014 No class in Week 21 – term begins on Wednesday
of Week21]
Gorbachev and Perestroika
What were the main features of Perestroika? Why did
Gorbachev initiate the policy? Why did the Soviet Union
collapse?
Reading
C. Read
A. Brown
A. Brown
R.V. Daniels
S. White
M. McCauley
M. Walker
A. Nove
R. Service
R. Sakwa
C. Ward (ed)
C. Ward (ed)
R. Suny
P. Kenez
M Sandle
M.Sandle
Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System (ch.10, 11)
The Gorbachev Factor
Seven Years That Changed the World
The End of the Communist Revolution
Gorbachev and After
The Soviet Union under Gorbachev
The Waking Giant
Glasnost in Action
A History of Twentieth Century Russia
(ch 23-27)
Gorbachev and his Reforms
Perestroika
'Perestroika and the Russian
Revolution of 1991 Slavonic & East
European Review, vol. 71, no. 2,
April 1993, pp. 234-256
The Soviet Experiment (chs 20-22)
A History of the Soviet Union
(ch 10 & 11)
A Short History of Soviet Socialism
(ch 9 & conclusion)
‘The Final Word: the Draft Party
Programme of July/August 1991’
Europe-Asia Studies Nov 1996
Documents
Selected extracts from Gorbachev’s speeches
Week 23
From Yeltsin to Putin. Perestroika continued?
Has Russia become a democracy? Does Putin have a strategy
for continued ‘re-structuring’ of Russia? What has become
of the Russian Economy? Why is there little popular
participation in politics? Is Russia becoming
militaristic again? Why has the Chechen war dragged on?
What is Putin’s relationship to the ‘oligarchs’? Is a
‘new Cold War’ developing?
Reading
Brown, Archie
Contemporary Russian Politics: A
Reader
Cohen, Stephen
Failed Crusade: America and the
Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia
Reddaway, Peter and The Tragedy of Russia’s Reforms:
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History of Russia Module Booklet 2012-13
Glinskii, Dmitrii
Service, Robert
Sakwa, Richard
Shevtsova, Lilia
Hobson, Charlotte
Market Bolshevism against Democracy
Russia: Experiment with a People
Putin: Russia’s Choice
Putin’s Russia
Black Earth City: A Year in the Heart
of Russia
Seely, Robert
Russo-Chechen Conflict: A Deadly
Embrace
Politkovskaia, Anna A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in
Chechnya
Tolz, Vera
Russia: Inventing the Nation
Kagarlitsky, Boris Farewell, Perestroika
There are also many articles in the reading list pp.3438. See in particular those by Sakwa; Tolz; ‘Ten Years
After’ edition of Slavic Review (1999); Ferguson; Frisby;
Volkov; Schroder; Shlapentokh; Anne White; Munro and
White on various aspects.
Documents – The Break-up of the Soviet Union
Week 25 Revision and Overview Seminar
How viable was the Soviet system? Was its collapse
inevitable from the outset? If not, when did it begin to
‘fail’? There is a large genre of overviews of the Soviet
system devoted to these topics. We will take a look at
them.
Reading
Read, Christopher
Malia, Martin
Lewin, Moshe
Daniels, Robert
Kotkin, Stephen
Deutscher, Isaac
Cohen, Stephen
The Making and Breaking of the Soviet
System+
The Soviet Tragedy
The Soviet Century
The End of the Communist Revolution
Armaggedon Averted: The Soviet
Collapse 1970-2000
The Unfinished Revolution (1967)
Re-Thinking the Soviet Experience
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