The Soviet Union: A Very Short Introduction

169 Pages·2009·3.117 MB·English

by  Stephen Lovell

TheSovietUnion:AVeryShortIntroduction
VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONSareforanyonewantingastimulating
andaccessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,andhave
beenpublishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.
Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin
history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.TheVSIlibrary
nowcontains200volumes—aVeryShortIntroductiontoeverythingfrom
ancientEgyptandIndianphilosophytoconceptualartandcosmology—and
willcontinuetogrowtoalibraryofaround300titles.
VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow:
AFRICANHISTORY CHAOS LeonardSmith
JohnParkerandRichardRathbone CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham
AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson
ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead
THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY Citizenship RichardBellamy
CharlesO.Jones CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY
ANARCHISM ColinWard HelenMorales
ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw CLASSICS
ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas MaryBeardandJohnHenderson
ANCIENTWARFARE CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward
HarrySidebottom THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon
ANGLICANISM MarkChapman CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore
THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair CONTEMPORARYART
ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia JulianStallabrass
ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY
THEAPOCRYPHALGOSPELS SimonCritchley
PaulFoster COSMOLOGY PeterColes
ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn THECRUSADES ChristopherTyerman
ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne CRYPTOGRAPHY
ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes FredPiperandSeanMurphy
ARTHISTORY DanaArnold DADAANDSURREALISM
ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland DavidHopkins
THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY DARWIN JonathanHoward
MichaelHoskin THEDEADSEASCROLLS
ATHEISM JulianBaggini TimothyLim
AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick DEMOCRACY BernardCrick
Autism UtaFrith DESCARTES TomSorell
BARTHES JonathanCuller DESIGN JohnHeskett
BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland DINOSAURS DavidNorman
THEBIBLE JohnRiches DOCUMENTARYFILM
BIOGRAPHY HermioneLee PatriciaAufderheide
THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea DREAMING J.AllanHobson
BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright DRUGS LeslieIversen
BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers THEEARTH MartinRedfern
BUDDHISM DamienKeown ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta
BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch
CAPITALISM JamesFulcher EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN
CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins PaulLangford
THECELTS BarryCunliffe THEELEMENTS PhilipBall
EMOTION DylanEvans INDIANPHILOSOPHY SueHamilton
EMPIRE StephenHowe INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary
ENGELS TerrellCarver INTERNATIONALMIGRATION
ETHICS SimonBlackburn KhalidKoser
THEEUROPEANUNION INTERNATIONALRELATIONS
JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood PaulWilkinson
EVOLUTION ISLAM MaliseRuthven
BrianandDeborahCharlesworth JOURNALISM IanHargreaves
EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn JUDAISM NormanSolomon
FASCISM KevinPassmore JUNG AnthonyStevens
FEMINISM MargaretWalters KABBALAH JosephDan
THEFIRSTWORLDWAR KAFKA RitchieRobertson
MichaelHoward KANT RogerScruton
FOSSILS KeithThomson KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner
FOUCAULT GaryGutting THEKORAN MichaelCook
FREEWILL ThomasPink law RaymondWacks
FREESPEECH NigelWarburton LINCOLN AllenC.Guelzo
THEFRENCHREVOLUTION LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews
WilliamDoyle LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller
FREUD AnthonyStorr LOCKE JohnDunn
FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven LOGIC GrahamPriest
galaxies JohnGribbin MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner
GALILEO StillmanDrake THEMARQUISDESADE JohnPhillips
GAMETHEORY KenBinmore MARX PeterSinger
GANDHI BhikhuParekh MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers
Geography Themeaningoflife
JohnMatthews&DavidHerbert TerryEagleton
GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds MEDICALETHICS TonyHope
GERMANLITERATURE MEDIEVALBRITAIN
NicholasBoyle JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths
GLOBALCATASTROPHES Memory JonathanFoster
BillMcGuire MODERNART DavidCottington
GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin MODERNCHINA RanaMitter
GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta
THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHE MODERNJAPAN Christopher
NEWDEAL EricRauchway Goto-Jones
HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson MOLECULES PhilipBall
HEGEL PeterSinger Mormonism
HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood RichardLymanBushman
HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson MUSIC NicholasCook
HINDUISM KimKnott MYTH RobertA.Segal
HISTORY JohnH.Arnold NATIONALISM StevenGrosby
TheHistoryofLife MichaelBenton NELSONMANDELA EllekeBoehmer
HistoryofMedicine THENEWTESTAMENTAS
WilliamBynum LITERATURE KyleKeefer
THEHISTORYOFTIME Leofranc NEWTON RobertIliffe
Holford-Strevens NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner
HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside NINETEENTH-CENTURY
HOBBES RichardTuck BRITAIN ChristopherHarvie
HUMANEVOLUTION BernardWood andH.C.G.Matthew
HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham NORTHERNIRELAND
HUME A.J.Ayer MarcMulholland
IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden NOTHING FrankClose
nuclearweapons RUSSIANLITERATURE
JosephM.Siracusa CatrionaKelly
THEOLDTESTAMENT THERUSSIANREVOLUTION
MichaelD.Coogan S.A.Smith
PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose SCHIZOPHRENIA
PAUL E.P.Sanders ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone
PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig SCHOPENHAUER
PHILOSOPHYOFLAW ChristopherJanaway
RaymondWacks Scienceandreligion
PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE ThomasDixon
SamirOkasha SCOTLAND RabHouston
PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards Sexuality V´eroniqueMottier
PLATO JuliaAnnas SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer
POLITICALPHILOSOPHY SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt
DavidMiller SOCIALANDCULTURAL
POLITICS KennethMinogue ANTHROPOLOGY
POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung JohnMonaghanandPeterJust
POSTMODERNISM SOCIALISM MichaelNewman
ChristopherButler SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce
POSTSTRUCTURALISM SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor
CatherineBelsey THESOVIETUNION StephenLovell
PREHISTORY ChrisGosden THESPANISHCIVILWAR
PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY HelenGraham
CatherineOsborne SPINOZA RogerScruton
PSYCHIATRY TomBurns STATISTICS DavidJ.Hand
PSYCHOLOGY GillianButlerand STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill
FredaMcManus SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion StephenBlundell
QUANTUMTHEORY TERRORISM CharlesTownshend
JohnPolkinghorne THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford
RACISM AliRattansi TRAGEDY AdrianPoole
RELATIVITY RussellStannard THETUDORS JohnGuy
ReligioninAmerica TWENTIETH-CENTURY
TimothyBeal BRITAIN KennethO.Morgan
THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton TheunitedNations
RENAISSANCEART JussiM.Hanhim¨aki
GeraldineA.Johnson THEVIKINGS JulianRichards
ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling
THEROMANEMPIRE WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman
ChristopherKelly THEWORLDTRADE
ROUSSEAU RobertWokler ORGANIZATION
RUSSELL A.C.Grayling AmritaNarlikar
Availablesoon:
Puritanism Communism LeslieHolmes
FrancisJ.Bremer Fashion RebeccaArnold
WritingandScript Aquinas FergusKerr
AndrewRobinson Deserts NickMiddleton
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Stephen Lovell
the Soviet
Union
A Very Short Introduction
3
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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ISBN 978–0–19–923848–4
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Listofillustrations xi
Listofmaps xiii
Introduction:questionsandapproaches 1
1 Futureandpast 15
2 Coercionandparticipation 37
3 Povertyandwealth 58
4 Eliteandmasses 78
5 Patriotismandmultinationalism 96
6 WestandEast 117
Conclusion 140
Furtherreading 143
Index 147
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Acknowledgements
WorkonthisbookwasgreatlyeasedbytheawardofaPhilip
LeverhulmePrize.IthanktheLeverhulmeTrustforitsgenerous
support.
IgratefullyacknowledgetheassistanceofLucianaO’Flaherty,
AndreaKeegan,andOUP’sexternalreadersasthebookwentfrom
commissiontocompletion.Manythanksalsotothecolleagueswho
kindlyreadpartsorthewholeofthemanuscript:CatrionaKelly
castherkeeneyeoverafulldraft,whileJeremySmithandJulian
Graffyofferedhelpfulcommentsonindividualchapters.
MygreatestdebtistothemanyscholarswhoseworkIhaveused
withouthavingtheopportunityforadequateacknowledgement.
TothemIoffergratefulapologies.