Being Soviet: Identity, Rumour, and Everyday Life Under Stalin 1939-1953

OX FOR D
H ISTORICAL
MONOGRAPH
S

SOVIET

Identity, Rumour,and
Everyday
Life under Stalin

1939-1953

BEING SOVIET

OXFORD HISTORICAL MONOGRAPHS

Editors

P
.
CLAVI N R
.
J
.
W
.
EV ANS

L
.
GOLDMAN J
.
ROBERTSON R
.
SERVICE

P
.
A
.
SLACK B
.
WARD
-
PERKINS

J
.
L
.
WATTS

Being Soviet

Identity, Rumour, and Everyday Life
under Stalin 1939–1953

TIMOTHY JOHNSTON

1

3

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford
ox2 6dp

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.

It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in

Oxford New York

Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto

With offices in

Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries

Published in the United States

by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

#
Timothy Johnston 2011

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

First published 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,

or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction

outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available

Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain

on acid-free paper by

MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn
ISBN 978–0–19–960403–6

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Joy

This page intentionally left blank

Preface

‘
Being Soviet
’ is the product of many months spent in the former Soviet archives in Moscow, Arkhangel’sk, Kiev, and Simferopol. It sets about the ambitious task of evaluating what it meant to ‘be Soviet’ in the tumultuous years between 1939 and 1953. With so much scholarly attention focused on the importance of Russian and other nationalisms in the Stalin-era USSR, this book argues that Soviet identity was a vital and vibrant sphere of identity in that era. It goes on to explore how ordinary Soviet citizens responded to the shifting rhetoric of Sovietness between the Nazi–Soviet Pact and Stalin’s death.

The current historiography of the Stalin years is often polarized
around the debate over the relative prominence of ‘resistance’ versus the power of official discourse to shape all aspects of Soviet life. ‘Being Soviet’ takes a fresh approach. It argues that most Soviet citizens did not fit easily into either category. Their relationship with Soviet power was defined by a series of subtle ‘tactics of the habitat’ (Kotkin) that enabled them to stay fed, informed, and entertained in these difficult times. Those everyday strategies of getting by are explored via the rumours, jokes, hairstyles, musical tastes, sexual relationships, and political cam- paigning of the era. Each chapter finishes with an examination of what that ‘tactical’ behaviour tells us about the collective
mentalit
^´
e
of the Stalin era.

Britain and America are at the heart of this book. The two great
capitalist states provided a vital frame of reference for Soviet self- construction throughout the period. Their evolution from the betrayal at Munich to wartime allies and then Cold War antipathy played a vital role in shaping what it meant to be Soviet in these years. Nazi Germany, Communist China, and Eastern Europe are only touched on in brief in the interests of time and coherence. They all played a key role in defining what it meant to be Soviet, but the Anglo-Saxon states provided the most complex and contentious palette from which ele- ments of Soviet identity could be constructed in this period.

It is my hope that
Being Soviet
will provide a provocative reference work for undergraduates, graduates, and scholars alike. The scope of the book is perhaps wider than some monographs. Whereas Soviet histori- ography has traditionally ‘Balkanized’ into a series of confined periods:

viii
Preface

NEP; the Great Break; the 30s; the war; late-Stalinism; the Khrushchev
years, this book deliberately traverses those boundaries. In doing so it explores some of the continuities and discontinuities that shaped the Soviet experience. It also grapples with a number of big themes about the nature and working of Soviet society, while hopefully shining some light into previously underexplored corners of the Stalin era. It offers the first book-length exploration of the place of rumour in Soviet society. Chapter 3 also offers the first archivally based English-language research concerning the life of the wartime Arctic convoyers ashore in Arkhangel’sk and Murmansk. In the balancing act between breadth and depth I have often chosen breadth. I hope that that breadth makes
Being Soviet
a valuable and accessible resource at all levels of study.

Part I examines the under-discussed Pact Period from August 1939 to

June 1941. Official Soviet Identity in this period boasted of the success
of Stalin’s ‘peace’ policy in these years, but the Soviet rumour network was alive with tales of invasion and future conflict.

Part II addresses the years of the Great Patriotic War. Chapter 2
examines the wartime diplomatic identity of the USSR and suggests that Soviet citizens often took a more negative view of the Grand Alliance partners than the official press encouraged. Chapter 3 looks at the place of culture, technology, and inter-allied personal relationships within wartime Soviet identity.

Part III moves on into the post-war years. Chapter 4 examines the
war rumours and war panics of the post-1945 era and suggests that they provide the key to understanding the success of the post-1948 peace campaigns. Chapter 5 discusses the ideological campaigns against capi- talist civilization and culture that began in 1946. It suggests that Soviet scientists, artists, and ordinary people skilfully deployed the ‘tactics of the habitat’ in order to negotiate the challenges presented by the new version of Cold War Sovietness.

Tim Johnston

Acknowledgements

This project began as a speculative idea in the winter of 2002. A number
of people have contributed to its evolution into a book. David Priestland was an intellectually stimulating supervisor, who supported the pro- ject through its various incarnations. Catriona Kelly and Catherine Merridale were exacting and conscientious examiners. The advice of Robert Service, who guided the transition from thesis to book, has been invaluable. Steve Barnes, David Brandenberger, Mike Froggatt, Arch Getty, Karl Qualls, Jenny Smith, Steve Smith, and Will Pettigrew all read and commented on at least one chapter of the text. Lawrence Goldman, Mark Whittow, Henrietta Leyser, Nicholas Cole, and Helena Carr were part of an outstanding History ‘machine’ at St Peter’s College; I miss them dearly. Mark Whittow also cast a medievalist’s enquiring eye over an entire draft of the DPhil and is owed a particular debt of gratitude.

Thanks are also due to those who have enlivened my moments in the
archives: Jenny Smith stands out amongst many. This book would also not be what it is without the advice and support of Juliane Fu¨rst, who encouraged me in my thoughts, suggested fresh directions, and knew the archives like the back of her hand.

A number of individuals and institutions provided practical assis-
tance at different moments. The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded my graduate research. Victoria De Breyne generously provided an additional scholarship at Keble College, Oxford. The Graduate and Faith Ivens Franklin Travel Funds at Keble College; Ilchester Fund at the Modern Language Faculty; and O’Connor Research Fund at St Peter’s College, Oxford, all provided financial assistance for various overseas trips. Larissa Vladimirovna at
Memorial
and Viktor Iosifovich at the Moscow Veterans Society made many of my interviews possible.

V. A. Kozlov provided me with access to the procuracy database at
GARF. Sarah Davies provided me with her notes from some now closed files, and Rosalind Blakesley offered the negatives to posters from the era.

On a personal level, my parents, Anthony and Janet Johnston, have
been lifelong cheerleaders and encouraged me to follow my nose and take up Soviet History.

x
Acknowledgements

A final word of gratitude to my wife, Joy. Joy moved to Moscow and
Arkhangel’sk for a year and then endured the long grind of writing up. She also read and commented on the text. Her encouragement to keep going and then to follow my nose again into pastures new has been priceless. This book is dedicated to her.

Contents

Illustrations xiii

List of Abbreviations xiv

Introduction xvii

The historiography of the Stalin era: where have we got to? xvii