Contending with Stalinism

Lynne Viola is Professor of History at the University of Toronto. She is the author of The Best Sons of the Fatherland and Peasant Rebels under Stalin and coeditor of The War against the Peasantry.

Drawing extensively on archival research, the contributors demonstrate the wide variation of popular responses to actions initiated by the Stalinist state.... Contending with Stalinism is an important work that is well grounded both theoretically and empirically. The combination of theoretical sophistication and empirical research makes this volume a significant contribution to our understanding of both the Stalinist phenomenon and popular responses to it.- Robert Owen Krikorian, George Washington University (Journal of Cold War Studies) Viola's elucidating introduction and essay map out the slipperiness of the concept of resistance, noting the need to contextualize action and intent, and state perceptions and prescriptions. The seven excellent essays illustrate how opposition to the regime in the early 1930s could be overt... or existential, that is, simply by living in a minority culture.... Some Soviets were clearly defiant; others were defined by the regime as deviant and thus disloyal.... The Viola collection shows that in the early 1930s organized opposition was still possible, although ultimately futile.- Patricia Herlihy, Brown University (Journal of Interdisciplinary History) Contending with Stalinism certainly adds to the continuing discussion of state-society relations.... Viola rightly remarks that the term Stalinism lacks explanatory or causal force; it is necessary to look closely at how people in and outside the governing apparatus behaved. We should hope that this point and the fine research presented here in its support increasingly find their way into textbooks, western civilization classes, and finally the attitudes of the educated public.- Robert W. Thurston, Miami University (Slavic Review) Drawing on a wealth of recently available archival materials, the contributors to this volume greatly enhance our understanding of the 1930s and give us a clearer sense of the size and content of popular resistance under Stalin. Based on solid research, this volume makes a substantive scholarly contribution in illuminating forms of popular resistance with new detail and fresh perspective.- Kate Transchel, California State University, Chico (Russian Review)

• Popular resistance in the Stalinist 1930s : soliloquy of a devil's advocate / Lynne Viola -- A workers' strike in Stalin's Russia : the Vichuga Uprising of April 1932 / Jeffrey J. Rossman -- A peasant rebellion in Stalin's Russia : the Pitelinskii Uprising, Riazan 1930 / Tracy McDonald -- Subaltern dialogues : subversion and resistance in Soviet Uzbek family law / Douglas Northrop -- Sexual and gender dissent : homosexuality as resistance in Stalin's Russia / Dan Healey -- Economic disobedience under Stalin / Elena A. Osokina -- Resisting the plan in the Urals, 1928-1956, or, Why regional officials needed "wreckers" and "saboteurs" / James Harris .