Spring, 2001
Instructor: Julie Victa
Office: Tower 321S
Phone 740-3602 (office) (773) 384-1297 (home)
E-mail jvicta@stfrancis.edu or julievicta@prodigy.net
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:30-9; Monday and Wednesday 12-1; Tuesdays TBA
Course Description:
The course studies the political development of Eastern Europe and Russia from the formation of the Soviet Union to contemporary times with an emphasis on the Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin eras.
The former Soviet Union was a nation of paradox. Composed of geographic, ethnic, language, religious, and economic differences it can best be understood by its contradictions. It has also been described in terms of continuity. It is possible to see a clear linear descent from rule by the tsars to the autocracy of the Communist Party.
It is the intention of this class to make sense of both the paradox and stability of Russia and Eastern Europe. To do se we will focus on such topics as the history of Russia under the tsars, notions of political culture, the onset of Communism, the growth and erosion of communism, Soviet foreign policy, and ethnic turmoil in Eastern Europe.
Course Objectives:
After successful completion of the course the student will
In-class simulations: 30%
Two exams: 40%
Research paper and presentation: 30%
Required Reading:
Richard Appignamesi and Oscar Zarate Lenin and the Russian Revolution.
Daniel Diller. Russia and the Independent States.
Chrystia Freeland. Sale of the Century.
Course Outline
"The Soviet Union is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Winston Churchill
Week I Introduction
Week 2 The Tsarist Legacy Read Diller Chapter 1 First simulation "Trial of the Century"
". after the productive forces have also increased with the all round development of the individual, and all the springs of cooperative wealth flow more abundantly-only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banner: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." Karl Marx
Week 3 Revolutionary Movements-Marxism
"We shall destroy everything, and on its ruins we shall build our temple" Vladimir Lenin
Week 4 Marxism-Leninism Read all of Appignanesi
"The greatest delight is to mark one's enemy, prepare everything, avenge oneself thoroughly, and then go to sleep." Stalin
".our hope; Stalin, our desire; Stalin, the light of advanced and progressive humanity; Stalin, our will; Stalin, our victory." Khrushchev
Week 5 Stalinism. Diller Chapter 2 Second simulation "At the Gulag"
Week 6 Roots of the Cold War Diller Chapter 3
"We were standing eyeball to eyeball and the other guy blinked." Dean Rusk
Week 7 The Cuban Missile Crisis
"It makes sense to picture Soviet leaders as convinced and thoroughgoing Hobbesians, so persuaded of the precariousness of social cohesion and so appalled at the prospect of social breakdown, as to rate the absolute position of the sovereign as a supreme value in politics." John H. Miller
Week 8 Life as a Soviet Citizen Diller Chapter 4; begin Sale of the Century
"The question, in these circumstances, becomes not how effective is what I am doing in terms of the impact it makes on our world environment? But rather: how do I look, in the mirror of domestic American opinion, as I do it? Do I look shrewd, determined, defiantly patriotic, imbued with the necessary vigilance before the wiles of foreign governments?" George Kennan
Week 9 Soviet foreign policy and the arms race Diller Chapter 10
"I'm standing knee-deep in kerosene and everyone has a match." Mikhail Gorbachev
Week 10 Gorbachev Diller Chapter 5, continue with Sale of the Century
Week 11 The Commonwealth of Independent States Diller Chapters 6, 7 and 8
"At key points in his life, Yeltsin wakes up." Boris Berezovsky
"Putin--that magician without a face" Russian newspaper
Week 12 Yeltsin and Putin Finish Sale of the Century
Week 13 Final simulation
Week 14 and 15 Student Presentations
Week 16 Conclusion-Living in an Age of Uncertainty
Film: Welcome to Sarajevo