This seminar discusses one of the Soviet Union’s key societal projects:
the creation of the new “Soviet being” (sovetskii chelovek). It examines
the scope and contradictory nature of this project, exploring it as both a
utopian ideal and lived reality. Particular attention is paid to the
diversity of ideas and blueprints for the Soviet being, and the everyday
experience and implementation of these ideas. Some saw the Soviet being as
a distant goal, others viewed it as a model for correct behavior. At the
same time, the image of the Soviet person was invoked and used to mobilize
people in the struggle against real and imagined enemies of socialism. The
Soviet being was both glorified and derided. In everyday life, many
identified with this image while to many others, it meant little more than
coercion and control.
The seminar compares ideas and realities of the Soviet being by combining
different analytical perspectives. It analyzes Soviet and Western academic
debates. It explores party documents and press articles as much as letters
and literary texts. And crucially, it traces discussions about the new
“Soviet people” (sovetskii narod), which was supposed to result from the
fusion of all nationalities in the Soviet Union. |
