Research Catalog

Bringing Stalin back in : memory politics and the creation of a useable past in Putin's Russia

Title
Bringing Stalin back in : memory politics and the creation of a useable past in Putin's Russia / Todd H. Nelson.
Author
Nelson, Todd H.
Publication
  • Lanham : Lexington Books, [2019]
  • ©2019

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 20-3557Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xiv, 167 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
"While Joseph Stalin is commonly reviled in the West as a murderous tyrant who committed egregious human rights abuses against his own people, in Russia he is often positively viewed as the symbol of Soviet-era stability and state power. How can there be such a disparity in perspectives? Utilizing an ethnographic approach, extensive interview data, and critical discourse analysis, this book examines the ways that the political elite in Russia are able to control and manipulate historical discourse about the Stalin period in order to advance their own political objectives. Appropriating the Stalinist discourse, they minimize or ignore outright crimes of the Soviet period, and instead focus on positive aspects of Stalin's rule, especially his role in leading the Soviet Union to victory in the Second World War. Advancing the concepts of "preventive" and "complex" co-optation, this book analyzes how elites in Russia inhibit the emergence of groups that espouse alternative narratives, while promoting message-friendly groups that are in line with the Kremlin's agenda. Bringing the resources of the state to bear, the Russian elite are able to co-opt multiple avenues of discourse formulation and dissemination. Elite-sponsored discourse positions Stalin as the symbol of a strong, centralized state that was capable of great achievements, despite great cost, enabling favorable portrayals of Stalin as part of a tradition of harsh but effective rulers in Russian history, such as Peter the Great. This strong state discourse is used to legitimize the return of authoritarianism in Russia today."--
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographic references (pages 143-154) and index.
Call Number
JFE 20-3557
ISBN
  • 1498591523
  • 9781498591522
  • 9781498591539 (canceled/invalid)
OCLC
1109185535
Author
Nelson, Todd H., author.
Title
Bringing Stalin back in : memory politics and the creation of a useable past in Putin's Russia / Todd H. Nelson.
Publisher
Lanham : Lexington Books, [2019]
Copyright Date
©2019
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographic references (pages 143-154) and index.
Chronological Term
1925-1953
Other Form:
ebook version : 9781498591539
Research Call Number
JFE 20-3557
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