Everyday Stalinism

7 Pages 1652 Words

Book Critique on Everyday Stalinism

In Shelia Fitzpatrick’s Everyday Stalinism, life in Soviet Russia during the 1930s is described in a variety of ways. After the revolution of 1917 and the change in the regime, life for ordinary Russians took a very different course. Agriculture was no longer a private entity, but a state-ran operation. Industrialization was given top priority, and even as people were starving and suffering sever economic hardships, the state continued to build railways and new factories in its hopes to make Russia completely self-sufficient. More than anything else, “normal” everyday life had been dramatically altered. Citizens now worked for the state, laws and legal procedures were held in low regard; food, clothing, shelter and other basic human needs were scarce. The state ruled by terror, arresting people on suspicion of not conforming to the states belief system. Citizens were watched, spied on and were basically at the mercy of the high-ranking communist officials. The 1930s were truly a time of hardship and terror for many living in Soviet Russia. This book critique will seek to give a brief synopsis of Everyday Stalinism, how reading this book enhanced my own personal understanding of Soviet history, and I will comment how the author presented her arguments.
In Everyday Stalinism, Fitzpatrick seeks to paint a vivid picture of everyday life under Stalin’s reign. First, Stalinism can be defined as “Communist Party rule, Marxist-
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Leninist ideology, rampant bureaucracy, leader cults, state control over production and distribution…police surveillance, terror…” (Fitzpatrick, 1999, 3). Lenin had understood that pure communism was only hurting Russia, not making it the promise-land that everyone had originally anticipated. He passed the New Economic Policy, which allowed for the reversion back to some private enterprises. When Stalin took power several years ...