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Liberal Discourse

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Mass Political Culture Under Stalinism

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Abstract

In the wide range of opinions voiced in 1936, the comments supporting democratic, civic, moderate, conciliatory, tolerant values and appreciating individual rights are close to our understanding of liberal values. In this chapter, I argue that the concern of many citizens about individual and civil rights, the effective work of the soviets, election reform, and the rule of law, as well as their political engagement, illustrates the existence, within Stalinist society, of a liberal political subculture with democratic elements. It is the democratic character of the constitution that inspired these “liberal” voices and allowed them to be heard. The discussion of the constitution for the first time educated a new Soviet generation in the language of civil rights. Widespread skepticism about fair elections demonstrates a regard for rational and critical thinking in the popular mind and the distance that many individuals managed to keep from the state.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Orlov and Dolgova (2008) suggest the following categories in the Soviet political culture: traditional, Western-modernist, and Soviet elements. In the latter, they include Communist eschatology, the cult of the leader (vozhdism), conflict consciousness, and egalitarianism.

  2. 2.

    Seven suggestions in Gorky krai.

  3. 3.

    “Citizens of the USSR are guaranteed inviolability of the person. No person may be placed under arrest except by the decision of a court or with the sanction of a procurator.”

  4. 4.

    Statistical review, Organizational Department of the Presidium of TsIK SSSR (“Kolichestvo predlozhenii k Proektu Konstitutsii SSSR”), received by 15 November 1936. See Tables 12.1 and 12.2 in Chapter 12.

  5. 5.

    Molotov’s report at the 7th Soviet Congress, 6 February 1935.

  6. 6.

    No date specified, but probably at the end of the 1920s.

  7. 7.

    19 December 1930, Report of Ural oblast’ plenipotentiary G. P. Matson to the head of the Secret Operative Department (SOU), OGPU, E. G. Evdokimov “About the conditions of kulak exile.”

  8. 8.

    The author, K. E. Porkhomenko, Western oblast’, Gordeevsky raion, probably belonged to the activists.

  9. 9.

    The Gulag clarification to local organs about the application of the Statute article to special settlers with reinstated voting rights, August 1935.

  10. 10.

    December 1936–January 1937. Requests for clarifications of the constitution.

  11. 11.

    The total number of special settlers was 859,366 by 1 October 1938.

  12. 12.

    The information of the Gorky krai soviet chair Yu. M. Kaganovich about the preparation of the extraordinary soviet congresses at the 10th Plenum of the VKPb Krai Committee, 28 September 1936.

  13. 13.

    The decrees stressed preparations of the church people to elections according to the new liberties of the constitution. Sixty-four percent of the arrested 31,359 in church operations between August and November 1937 were believers, others—churchmen.

  14. 14.

    The history of the elections to the Supreme Soviet in 1937 deserves to be studied further, with meticulous analysis of the October CC Plenum (see Getty 2013b; Brandenberger 2011; Pavlova 2003).

  15. 15.

    “In conformity with the interests of the working people, … citizens of the U.S.S.R. are ensured the right to unite in public organizations—trade unions, cooperative associations, youth, sport and defense organizations, cultural, technical, and scientific societies; and the most active and politically conscious citizens … unite in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which is the vanguard of the working people in their struggle to strengthen and develop the socialist system and is the leading core of all organizations of the working people, both public and state.”

  16. 16.

    The idea of natural autonomy and dignity are central in the modern Western self.

  17. 17.

    “Clarifications about the Constitution.”

  18. 18.

    The letters to the regime, according to A. Tikhomirov, showed that the Soviet people conceptualized themselves not only as supplicants but also as individuals and citizens.

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  1. Department of History, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    Olga Velikanova

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Velikanova, O. (2018). Liberal Discourse. In: Mass Political Culture Under Stalinism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78443-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78443-4_9

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