Prof. Julie Hessler

Office: McKenzie 351

Office hours: Tues. 10:15-11:30,

Thurs. 1:00 - 2:45 (or by appointment)

Telephone: 346-4857 (office); 302-9032 (home)

Email: hessler@darkwing.uoregon.edu

History 407 [Seminar] STALINISM

Mondays, 3:00-5:00

Course description: This seminar will explore the history and English-language historiography of the Stalin era, a formative period in Russian, Soviet, and contemporary European history. Like other seminars, it has methodological as well as substantive aims; class discussions and assignments will focus on the practice of writing history as well as on the specific subject matter of assigned texts.

Library assignments: The course is directed towards the production of an original 20-page seminar paper, due the Wednesday of finals week. Towards that end, students need to familiarize themselves with the sources available in the library. For the first few weeks, this course asks you to spend two hours a week perusing a major primary source, then writing up an informal 2-page response paper, due in class. Response papers should address as many of the following questions as possible: What was your source? If you have read only part of a bigger source, which part? What range of topics does this source address? For what kinds of research topic could it be used? How would you assess its reliability? What questions does the source raise?

Paper proposals: To do enough research for your paper, you need to start reasonably early. This is one of the reasons for the requirement that you turn in a formal proposal for your research paper on Oct. 27. The other reason, of course, is that you can get some feedback at an early stage as to whether your topic is feasible and your approach sound. For the proposal, try to formulate your topic in terms of a historical problem, which is to say that you should frame it in the form of a question, but also give some sense of why this question is interesting or significant, based on the reading that you have already done. In addition, you should try to give a sense of how you plan to go about answering the question (your research strategy, and, if already possible, your hypothesis or argument). Aim for roughly two pages. You should also append to your proposal a preliminary bibliography of at least eight items.

E-mail progress report: There are neither meetings nor formal assignments in the week of November 17. The purpose of this break is to give you time to delve into your independent research; a 20-page seminar paper should rest on significantly more than twice the research that you would devote to an ordinary 10-page assignment. Just to make sure that you stay on track, I would like to hear from you by e-mail at least once during that week. I’m not looking for anything formal (though correct grammar and capitalization would be nice!) -- just a brief progress report that lets me know what you’ve been doing. Specifically, can you tell me about one secondary book and one primary source that have had an impact on your thinking, as well as any changes that you are thinking of making to your proposal? Also, has your paper begun to take shape in your mind? What are its major sections going to be

Grading: Much of your grade for this course rides on your seminar paper, but not all! Attendance is mandatory. We meet formally only six times in the quarter, so if you miss one session, your participation grade will drop substantially. Missing two or more sessions will mean an automatic F in the course. Because of the nature of this course (the large amount of independent work and the need to get through the early material quickly), I will not accept late papers on any assignments (library assignments, proposals, rough drafts, peer comments, or final papers). In the case of rough drafts, failure to turn one in on time means that you will not have the benefit of comments from me or your peers. Even if it is still rough, turn something in! Assuming that you attend class, grades will be determined as follows:

20% preparation for and participation in class discussion

20% library assignments

5% on-time submission of rough draft

5% e-mail progress reports

5% comments on assigned partner’s rough draft

45% seminar paper

Required readings:

Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain

Moshe Lewin, The Making of the Soviet System

Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna

Jan T. Gross, Revolution from Abroad

Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War

Course packet

SYLLABUS

Mon., Sept. 29

Introduction; documentary film on the life of J. V. Stalin

Mon., Oct. 6 Industrialization and urban life

Reading: Stephen Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain, pp. 1-237. Note: To get through this assignment, I strongly recommend that you skip the endnotes. Instead, just glance over them at some point to see what kinds of sources Kotkin uses.

Library assignment: Select two document collections from the handout. What can you learn about the Stalin period from them? Response paper due in class.

Mon., Oct. 13 Collectivization, politics, and social change

Reading: Moshe Lewin, The Making of the Soviet System (New York: Pantheon, 1985) -- choose from among “Social Crises and Political Structures in the USSR,” pp. 3-48 [1985]; “Leninism and Bolshevism: The Test of History and Power,” pp. 191-208 [1984]; “Society, State, and Ideology During the First Five-Year Plan,” pp. 209-240 [1978]; “The Social Background of Stalinism,” pp. 258-285 [1977]; and “Grappling with Stalinism,” pp. 286-314 [1985].

J. Millar and A. Nove, “A debate on collectivization: Was Stalin really necessary?” (course packet).

Lynne Viola, “Bab’i bunty and peasant women’s protest during collectivization,” (course packet), pp. 213-30.

Library assignment: Look at British and/or American foreign service records from 1929-1934. What do they tell you about collectivization, famine, rural life? What other topics were the foreign services interested in at that time? Write a response paper.

Mon., Oct. 20 Terror and subjectivity

Readings: Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna

Robert W. Thurston, “Fear and Belief in the USSR’s ‘Great Terror’: Response to Arrest, 1935-1939”; reply by Robert Conquest, “What is Terror?”; rebuttal by Thurston (course packet).

Library assignment: Peruse the Current Digest of the Soviet Press from 1949-1953 (translated newspaper articles from the Soviet Union).

Mon., Oct. 27

No class; replaced by consultations to discuss individual research projects. Topic proposal and bibliography due by the normal class period; see note on proposals.

Mon., Nov. 3 Conquest

Reading: Jan T. Gross, Revolution from Abroad

Mon., Nov. 10 Foreign affairs

Reading: Zubok and Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War

Mon., Nov. 17

No class. See note on e-mail progress reports. Note: I will be out of town at a conference on Nov. 20-23, hence unavailable for consultation. If you want to talk about your paper, make an appointment for Tuesday!

Mon., Nov. 24

No class, but rough drafts due by 12:00 p.m. Wednesday in my office. Turn in two copies. Take your assigned partner’s paper and prepare written comments.

Monday, Dec. 1

Peer reviews due by 5:00 p.m. in my office. Bring one copy for me and one for the author of the paper. Meeting to discuss rough drafts at the normal meeting time.

Final papers due 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 9.