Princeton Sovietologist Cohen (Bukharin and the Bolshevik
Revolution) has set his sights on the mess his colleagues have made
of interpreting Soviet politics - but these five essays (four of
them previously published) deserve more than an academic
readership. Cohen particularly regrets the decline in Soviet
studies in England and the US. Fueled by enormous government and
foundation funds, research institutes at major universities
flourished during the 1950s and 1960s, only to hit on hard times in
the 1970s. (Ford Foundation outlays for the field dropped from $47
million in 1966 to slightly over $2 million in 1979.) Part of the
decline was due to budgetary woes, but Cohen points as well to a
decline in quality that set in earlier - from Cold War influences,
he asserts. Proper historical studies were eschewed in favor of the
simplistic formulas of the totalitarianism model, which established
such a hold that consensus reigned in Soviet studies - and
consensus, Cohen notes, is deadly for scholarly inquiry. The
totalitarian thesis holds, in part, that Soviet history represents
a single development from the Bolshevik Revolution to Stalinism.
Cohen attacks this claim throughout the essays. Bukharin and the
policies of the NEP period of economic relaxation represent, he
rightly says, a real alternative to Stalinism; and he traces that
alternative through Khrushchev's attempted economic reforms and on
to the rehabilitation of Bukharin's memory. But the forces of
Stalinism are still alive, tied to a conservatism rooted in the
state bureaucracy. Reformists appeal to unfulfilled aspects of
communist ideology; Stalinists to a defensive nationalism. Thus US
demands for reform prior to a relaxation of relations aid the
Stalinists, meanwhile cutting off the reformists whom the
totalitarian thesis refuses to acknowledge. Readers should not let
themselves be deterred by the gripes about Sovietologists in the
early chapters: this is one specialists' argument that's not just
for specialists. (Kirkus Reviews)
In this wide-ranging and provocative book, Stephen F. Cohen cuts
through Cold War stereotypes of the Soviet Union to arrive at fresh
interpretations of that country's traumatic history and its
present-day political realities.
Cohen's lucidly written, revisionist analysis reopens an array of
major historical questions. As he probes Soviet history, society,
and politics, Cohen demonstrates how this country has remained
stable during its long journey from revolution to conservatism. It
the process, he suggests more enlightened approaches to
American/Soviet relations. Based on the author's many years of
study and research, including numerous visits to the USSR, this
book is essential reading for anyone interested in the state of
world affairs today.
General
| Imprint: |
Oxford UniversityPress
|
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| Series: |
Galaxy Books, 816 |
| Release date: |
October 1986 |
| First published: |
1986 |
| Authors: |
Stephen F. Cohen
|
| Dimensions: |
203 x 135 x 12mm (L x W x T) |
| Format: |
Paperback
|
| Pages: |
240 |
| Edition: |
Revised |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-19-504016-6 |
| Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Politics & government >
General
Promotions
|
| LSN: |
0-19-504016-3 |
| Barcode: |
9780195040166 |
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