TOTALITARIAN AND AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES: A COMPARISON OF STALINISM AND PUTINISM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ONUR YENGİL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EURASIAN STUDIES AUGUST 2016 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Pamir Dietrich Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Co-Supervisor Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assist. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı (METU, ADM) Assist. Prof. Dr. Yuliya Biletska (Karabük, IR) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Onur Yengil Signature : iii ABSTRACT TOTALITARIAN AND AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES: A COMPARISON OF STALINISM AND PUTINISM Yengil, Onur M. Sc., Department of Eurasian Studies Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ayşe Pamir Dietrich August 2016, 164 pages This thesis aims to compare and contrast Stalin’s Soviet Union with Putin’s post- Soviet Russia by looking at the totalitarian and authoritarian characteristics that these two periods as well as these two leaders display. It is argued that despite certain differences that they have, the totalitarian regime of Stalin and authoritarian regime of Putin share certain similarities the roots of which go back to Russian history. Keywords: Totalitarian, Authoritarian, Stalinism, Putinism, Regime Typology iv ÖZ TOTALİTER VE OTORİTER REJİMLER: BİR STALİNİZM VE PUTİNİZM KARŞILAŞTIRMASI Yengil, Onur Master, Avrasya Çalışmaları Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Pınar Akçalı Ortak Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ayşe Pamir Dietrich Ağustos 2016, 164 sayfa Bu tez, Stalin’in Sovyetler Birliği ile Putin’in Sovyetler Birliği sonrası Rusya’sı dönemlerini, rejimlerin totaliter ve otoriter karakterleri kapsamında, iki liderin tutumlarını da göz önünde bulundurarak, karşılaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Söz konusu iki rejim belli farklılıklar gösterse de, Stalin’in totaliter rejiminin ve Putin’in otoriter yönetiminin, kökleri Rus tarihine dayanan bazı benzerliklere sahip olduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Totaliter, Otoriter, Stalinizm, Putinizm, Rejim Tipolojisi v DEDICATION To All the People who are Suppressed under Antidemocratic Regimes vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı and co-advisor Prof. Dr. Ayşe Pamir Dietrich for their guidance, advice, criticism, and encouragement throughout the research. I also wish to thank the members of my thesis committee, Assist. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant and Assist. Prof. Dr. Yuliya Biletska for their critical comments and suggestions. I also owe special thanks to my family, to my mother Necla Yengil, to my father Celil Yengil, and to my sister Yasemin Erbağcı for their morale support, patience, love and blessing. I am also grateful to my brother Deniz Yengil for his assistance, encouragement, understanding and his confidence in me. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without his help. Lastly, I am very thankful to Sinem Maden and Uzair Hashmi for their technical assistance and to all friends for their understanding and friendship during my study. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... x I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 II. CHARACTERISTICS OF TOTALITARIANISM .......................................... 12 1. The Party and State under One Leader ....................................................... 16 2. Ideology and Politics .................................................................................. 19 3. Terror by Police Force and Army .............................................................. 22 4. Society and Social Life .............................................................................. 25 5. Controlled Economy .................................................................................. 27 III. STALIN AND STALINISM ............................................................................ 30 1. From Georgia to Soviet Leadership ........................................................... 35 2. Personality Cult .......................................................................................... 39 3. Creation of the New Soviet Man ................................................................ 45 4. Facts ........................................................................................................... 51 5. Revolution from Above .............................................................................. 60 IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTHORITARIANISM ....................................... 69 viii 1. Role of the Leader and Inner Circle ........................................................... 72 2. Limited Pluralism in Society ...................................................................... 74 3. Seeking for Legitimacy .............................................................................. 77 4. Economy under Dominance ....................................................................... 80 V. PUTIN AND PUTINISM ................................................................................. 83 1. From KGB to Presidency ........................................................................... 86 2. Domestic Politics under Putin .................................................................... 91 a) Political Aspects ................................................................................... 92 b) Shaping the Media and the Society ...................................................... 96 c) Russian Culture and Civil Society ..................................................... 100 3. Economy as a Weapon ............................................................................. 104 4. Imperial Foreign Policy............................................................................ 108 VI. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 127 Appendix A: TURKISH SUMMARY ..................................................................... 152 Appendix B: TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU .................................................... 164 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABM Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty AUSW All-Russian Union of Soviet Writers AUW All-Russian Union of Writers CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union CSO Civil Society Organization GUGB State Security Administration KGB Committee for State Security MGB Ministry of State Security MVD Ministry of Internal Affairs NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NEP New Economic Policy NKGB People’s Commissariat for State Security NKTP People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry NKVD People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs OGPU Unified State Political Administration RAPP All-Russian Association of Proletarian Writers SR Socialist Revolutionaries U.S. United States of America UN United Nations UR United Russia USAID United States Agency for International Development USSR Union Soviet Socialist Republics x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This thesis aims to compare and contrast Stalin’s Soviet Union with Putin’s post-Soviet Russia by looking at the totalitarian and authoritarian characteristics that these two periods as well as these two leaders display. It is argued that despite certain differences that they have, the totalitarian regime of Stalin and authoritarian regime of Putin share certain similarities the roots of which go back to Russian history. As Alec Nova suggests, “the habits of centuries assert themselves in two ways: they affect what the rulers consider right and proper to do, and also what the ruled are accustomed to regard as normal and tolerable in the behaviour of authority.”1 The Russian historical periods are generally inter-related. The Tsarist period had effects on the Soviet era in social, cultural, economic aspects and especially