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While Joseph Stalin is commonly reviled in the West as a murderous
tyrant who committed egregious human rights abuses against his own
people, in Russia he is often positively viewed as the symbol of
Soviet-era stability and state power. How can there be such a
disparity in perspectives? Utilizing an ethnographic approach,
extensive interview data, and critical discourse analysis, this
book examines the ways that the political elite in Russia are able
to control and manipulate historical discourse about the Stalin
period in order to advance their own political objectives.
Appropriating the Stalinist discourse, they minimize or ignore
outright crimes of the Soviet period, and instead focus on positive
aspects of Stalin's rule, especially his role in leading the Soviet
Union to victory in the Second World War. Advancing the concepts of
"preventive" and "complex" co-optation, this book analyzes how
elites in Russia inhibit the emergence of groups that espouse
alternative narratives, while promoting message-friendly groups
that are in line with the Kremlin's agenda. Bringing the resources
of the state to bear, the Russian elite are able to co-opt multiple
avenues of discourse formulation and dissemination. Elite-sponsored
discourse positions Stalin as the symbol of a strong, centralized
state that was capable of great achievements, despite great cost,
enabling favorably portrayals of Stalin as part of a tradition of
harsh but effective rulers in Russian history, such as Peter the
Great. This strong state discourse is used to legitimize the return
of authoritarianism in Russia today.
While Joseph Stalin is commonly reviled in the West as a murderous
tyrant who committed egregious human rights abuses against his own
people, in Russia he is often positively viewed as the symbol of
Soviet-era stability and state power. How can there be such a
disparity in perspectives? Utilizing an ethnographic approach,
extensive interview data, and critical discourse analysis, this
book examines the ways that the political elite in Russia are able
to control and manipulate historical discourse about the Stalin
period in order to advance their own political objectives.
Appropriating the Stalinist discourse, they minimize or ignore
outright crimes of the Soviet period, and instead focus on positive
aspects of Stalin’s rule, especially his role in leading the
Soviet Union to victory in the Second World War. Advancing the
concepts of “preventive” and “complex” co-optation, this
book analyzes how elites in Russia inhibit the emergence of groups
that espouse alternative narratives, while promoting
message-friendly groups that are in line with the Kremlin’s
agenda. Bringing the resources of the state to bear, the Russian
elite are able to co-opt multiple avenues of discourse formulation
and dissemination. Elite-sponsored discourse positions Stalin as
the symbol of a strong, centralized state that was capable of great
achievements, despite great cost, enabling favorably portrayals of
Stalin as part of a tradition of harsh but effective rulers in
Russian history, such as Peter the Great. This strong state
discourse is used to legitimize the return of authoritarianism in
Russia today.
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Paris Cat
Dianne Hofmeyr
Paperback
R260
R65
Discovery Miles 650
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