Studying Russian and Soviet History. INSTITUTION Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., Boulder, Colo

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 292 717 SO 018 762 AUTHOR Ascher, Abraham, Ed. TITLE Studying Russian and Soviet History. INSTITUTION Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., Boulder, Colo. SPONS AGENCY National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH), Washington, D.C. REPORT NO ISBN-0-89994-317-9 PUB DATE 87 NOTE 120p.; Originally presented at summer institutes for teachers. AVAILABLE FROMSocial Science Education Consortium, Inc., 855 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302. PUB TYPE GuiCes Classroom Use - Guides (For Teachers) (052) Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Area Studies; *Foreign Countries; *History; *History Instruction; Secondary Education; Social Studies; World History IDENTIFIERS Historical Background; Historical Bibliography; Russia; Russian History; *Russian Studies; *Soviet Studies; USSR ABSTRACT These essays were written to assist teachers in the task of making Russian history intelligible to young U.S. students. In "An Approach to Russian History," Edward Keenan proposes that students need to gain a better understanding of how Russians perceive themselves and their history. In "Pre-Petrine Russia," Andrzej S. Kaminski focuses on the origins of the state, problems of the steppe, autocracy, structure of society, church, and the multinational character of the sl.ate. Marc Raeff describes developments during the 18th century in "Russia From 1689 to 1825/55." Richard Wortman discusses how the political social, and cultural settings defined the way in which ideas were understood and used in "Russian Intellectual History to 1917: An Introduction." Abraham Ascher delineates the fundamental economic, political, and social changes that took place in "Revolutionary Russia, 1861-1921." Robert C. Tucker's aim is to put the Soviet Union's history into a Russian perspective in the essay, "Soviet Russia under Lenin and Stalin: 1921-1953." Vojtech Mastny discusses "The Soviet Union since 1953." The scholars also include bibliographic essays to help teachers locate materials that are usable in teaching Russian history. An eight-page index is provided. (SM) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** STUDYING RIEMAN 63 S VIET HET Rilf ,. p- Abraham Ascher, Editor (N.._ U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement Q` jEOUC RONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION N CENTER (ERIC) his document has ceen reproduced as received from the person or organization O phginating .1 C.' Minor changes have been made to improve W reoroduclion Quality Points of vie. or opinions stated in thisdocu- ment do not necessarily represent official OERI00SthOO or pOitoy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN G ANTED BY /7)6 5 b, TO THE EL UCATIONAL RESOURCES N INFORMAT ON CENTER (ERIC) Social Science Education Consortium Boulder, Colorado 1987 2 STUDYING RUSSIAN AND SOVIET HISTORY Abraham Ascher, Editor Social Science Education Consortium Boulder, Colorado 1987 ORDERING INFORMATION This publication is available from. Social Science Education Consortium, Inc 855Broadway Boulder, Colorado80302 ISBN0-89994-317-9 This publication was prepared with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of NEH. CONTENTS Foreword, by James R Giese iv Preface, by Abraham Ascher v An Approach to Russian History. by Edward Keenan 1 PART 1: ESSAYS ON THEMES IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET HISTORY Pre-Petrine Russia. by Andrzej S Kaminski 11 Russia from 1689 to 1825/55. by Marc Raeff 21 Russian Intellectual History to 1917 An Introduction, by Richard Wortman . 33 Revolutionary Russia, 1861-1921, by Abraham Ascher 45 Soviet Russia Under Lenin and Stalin 1921-1953, by Robert C Tucker . 57 The Soviet Union Since 1953, b, Vo 'tech Mastny 67 PART 2: BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAYS Pre-Petrine Russia, by Andrzej S Kaminski . 79 Russia from 1689 to 1825/55, by Marc Raeff 87 Russian Intellectual History. 1825 -1917' A Bibliographic Introduction, by Richard Wortman . 93 The Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, by Abraham Ascher 97 Soviet Russia's History Under Lenin and Stalin, 1921 -1953' Sources and Issu9s. by Robert C Tucker . 103 The Soviet Union from 1953 to the Present, by Voltech Mastny 109 Index 115 FOREWORD As the co-director of three summer institutes sponsored by the National Endowmentfor the Humanities, I have witnessed firsthand the great impact these institutes have on participants, for manyteachers, the institutes are one of the best professional experiences of their lives But the institutes aresmall in number and typically reach only a few practitioners each year. I have long believed that one way ofwidening the circle of teachers affected by the institutes is through publication of materials prepared for andduring the institutes both by scholars and by teachers The SSEC's first effort in this area was publication of two volumes of teaching activitiesdeveloped by participants in our own summer institutes on the early national period of U S historyI am delighted that we are now able to extend our efforts by publishing this collectionof materials developed by scholars for a series of conferences on Russian and Soviet history. I am particularly pleased that the volumeaddresses an area of high interest to world history teachers but one in whichfew have extensive training The task facing world history teachers is not an enviable one They not only must be knowledgeable about events across the sweep of history, but also must be skilled in helping young peoplebring meaning to this vast array of materialIf this publication can inform and facilitate their work, it has achieved an important objective James R Giese, Executive Director Social Science Education Consortium iv 6 PREFACE The prigins of this book can be traced to a conversation I had early in the fall of 1983 with Dr Richard Ekman, then Director of the Division of Education Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities. We were discussing the various reports on the decline of the teaching and study of the humanities in our secondary schools We were especially distressed to note that in many schools history was no longer taught as a separate subject Furthermore, in other schools the emphasis was on broad concepts, methodological questions, and current events rather than on the evolution of human societies. As a consequence, many high school graduates have only the vaguest notion of major developments in the past that have decisively shaped our contemporary world. It seemed to us that although there were several reasons for this state of affairs, two of the more important were the inadequate training of teachers and the lack of opportunity for teachers to take part in programs of intellectual renewal We decided to consider ways to help restore the study of history in secondary schools' promised to survey the situation in my own field, Russian and Soviet history, and to make some recommendations I discovered that slightly over 50 percent of our high schools still offer courses in world history and that many other schools offer social studies courses in which some attention is paid to modern Russia and the Soviet Union. It also became evident, however, that these subjects are too frequently taught by members of social studies departments whose training in the discipline of history is exceedingly modest. In several states, among them New York, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Oregon, virtually no training in history was demanded as a qualification for a teaching position in social studies at the secondary school level. In about one-third of the states, prospective teachers of history were expected to have taken four to six three-hour history courses in college Fewer than one-sixth of the states required a minimum of seven three-credit courses in history. I also discovered that textbooks in world history tend to be brief and superficial in their coverage of Rus- sia Generally, the best that one can hope for is an accurate account of events, without any attempt to analyze trends or to offer the reader an understanding of the nature of Russian and Soviet societies. One of the better books in this genre devotes three pages to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, one of the most critical events of the 20th century. The years from 1924 to the late 1930s, when the Soviet Union under- went major social and political transformations, are covered in about five pages. In another widely used textbook in world history, developments in Russia from the 16th century to 1914 are dealt with in 13 pages. Such brevity may be inevitable in textbooks and might not be troublesome if teachers could be counted upon to add depth to the discussion of significant events in the classroom. But teachers cannot be expected to have read widely in all areas of a field as vast as world history. Very few teachers have ever taken a course in Russian and Soviet history. Consequently, even if teachers have learned the basic facts about the history of Russia, they rarely have a sophisticated understanding of the traditions and institutions of that country No wonder that classroom discussions of such critical and exciting events as the Revolution of 1917 and the evolution of Soviet society often strike students as dry and uninteresting. Only a teacher who has studied the history of Russia in some depth and is familiar with the major historiographical controversies surrounding the revolution and subsequent Soviet history can _01-Ivey to students the drama and significance of that country's past. After further extensive discussions with Dr. Ekman, I developed a project for high school teachers that we both recognized would be a bit risky We would invite carefully selected teachers to three-day conferences at which ellablished scholars would conduct intensive seminars on six major areas of Russian and Soviet history We knew, of course, that such a conference would not transform teachers into experts if; Rus- sian history, but we believed that we could achieve several goals.

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