Revolution from Above

• “Stalinist revolution from above used destructive or repressive means for what was, both in intent and in reality, a constructive (as well as destructive) process....

• Stalinism as revolution from above was a state-building process, the construction of a powerful, highly centralized bureaucratic, military-industrial Soviet Russian state.”

Tucker," Stalinism as Revolution from Above,“ 78

Revolution from Above“Stalinist revolution from above used destructive or repressive means

for what was, both in intent and in reality, a constructive (as well as destructive) process....

Stalinism as revolution from above was a state-building process, the construction of a powerful, highly centralized bureaucratic, military-industrial Soviet Russian state.”

Tucker," Stalinism as Revolution from Above,“ 78

Mikhail Nesterov: The Soviet Constitution (1939)The Stalin Constitution is the final result of the

struggles and victories of the October Revolution. Long live the constitution of

victorious socialism & genuine democratism.

Revolution from Above

Interpretations of Stalinism

Interpretations of Stalinism

Really Totalitarianism - textbook definition

Personal autocracy

Heavy Bureaucracy

Oligarchy . . .

Sets the Soviet System(Lewin & Fitzpatrick 1980s)

Stalin's constitution is thehappiness of the Soviet people

Children of the 1930s

“Thanks to Comrade Stalin for our happy childhood” • “Burdened with parents

too old to be trusted by the party, these children sometimes suffered when their parents suffered”

• The standards of their guardians were rigorous, but they were also difficult to enforce

http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1936children&Year=1936&navi=byYear

Alexander Rodchenko, 1936, Marching Across Red Square

Traditional Values and Soviet Values • Glory to Hero Mother

Women with 10+ children awarded medals

Pilots of the 46 Taman female aviation regiment being briefed in the field

"What have you done to grow a big crop of corn?"

"Women at the helm of harvester, at the wheel of the tractor"

1936: Year of the Stakhanovite

• Shock Worker Movement

• Aleksei Stakhanov (31 y.o)• 102 tons of coal • 14x his quota

• Increase labor productivity

• Stakhanovite = Record setters

Mark Markov-Grinberg: Portrait of [Shockworker] Nikita Izotov (1934)

Our Nobles (1935) Greetings to the best shock workers--heroes of socialist labor.This poster was mass printed for the bulletin boards of factories, which would place the portraits of their own local shock workers in the empty spaces.

T. G. Gaponenko: To Mother for the Next Feeding (1935)