Hickey Home Page

Soviet Russia 452.01. Section 1

M. Hickey  Old Science Hall Office 130  389-4161 hickey@bloomu.edu

Office Hours:  M, W, 2:00-3:00; T, Th 2-3:30.

Navigation links for this syllabus:

Introduction    Required Texts     Course Grade Scale   On Paper Form   LINK TO REVISED INDIVIDUAL PRÉCIS ASSIGNMENTS

Class Participation    Précis Assignments    Individualized Readings Report      Document Analysis Papers    Final Exam                 

 Weekly Schedule and Links to Study Questions  

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On Plagiarism vs Quoting    On Disruptive Behavior     On Endnote Form    

Russian and Soviet History Resource Page

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Introduction: 

Since the USSR collapsed, access to previously closed archives and a wealth of new evidence has helped us refine and revise our understanding of several important historical questions.  But documents long hidden in the archives have not answered all of our questions, nor have they dampened heated debates over key issues of Soviet history. 

This course addresses many of those issues and considers the following questions:  Why did the Bolshevik Revolution occur?  How did the Soviet leadership reassemble the fragments of Russia’s former empire and how did the realities of functioning as a multi-national state shape the Soviet system?  What enabled Stalin’s rise to power? How did Soviet citizens cope with the enormous strains of industrialization, collectivization, state terror, and the other policies associated with Stalinism? How can we explain the terror of the 1930s?  How was the USSR able to defeat Hitler and at what costs?  How did subsequent Soviet leaders confront the legacies of Stalinism? What elements of the Soviet system impeded and continue to impede reform? What dynamics led to the  system's collapse?

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Required Texts:

Stephen Kotkin, Armageddon Averted:  The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2001).

Lewis Sieglebaum and Andrei Sokolov, Stalinism as a Way of Life:  A Narrative in Documents (New Haven and London:  Yale University Press, 2000).

Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment:  Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States (New York:  Oxford University Press, 1998).

Ronald Grigor Suny, ed., The Structure of Soviet History (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2003).

Gabriel Temkin, My Just War:  The Memoir of a Jewish Red Army Soldier in World War II (Novato, CA:  Presidio, 1998).

Rex A. Wade, The Russian Revolution, 1917 (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 2000).

A grade of "A" in this course means that your cumulative score on assignments equals 93 percent or more of possible points. A-=90-92; B+=88-89; B=83-87; B-80-82; C+=78-79; C=73-77; C-=70-72; D+= 68-69; D=60-67.

Your grade will be based upon: Class Participation (20 percent); two (2) Précis Assignments (10 percent each); an Individualized Readings Report (20 percent); two (2) Document Analysis Papers (10 percent each); and a Final Exam (20 percent).  

Absence Policy:  I will consider as "excused" absences only those medical, family, or activity related events (etc.) that the student has discussed with me in advance and/or that are documented by the university administration.  I will give no "make up" assignments unless the student has an excused absence. 

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On Paper Form:

All papers for this course must be written in a standard 12 point font (I prefer Times Roman), with one inch margins.  Put your name in the top right hand corner of the page.  All pages must be numbered.  Staple papers in the top left hand corner. 

All quotations must be placed in quotation marks and all quotations, paraphrases, and direct summaries must be accompanied by endnotes in proper form.  See On Plagiarism vs Quoting and On Endnote Form.

A "Do Not Do!" list:  Do not "double-skip" between paragraphs; do not skip lines before starting your first paragraph; do not use fancy or unusual fonts! 

I will not tolerate plagiarism in any form.  See On Plagiarism vs Quoting

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Class Participation (20 percent):

This class is a reading seminar.  My minimum expectation is that you attend every class having completed all readings for the week. Your participation grade will fall in direct ratio to the percentage of class meetings that you miss.  Your grade will be based upon the quality of your contributions to class discussions.

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Précis Assignments  (2 assignments @ 10 percent each):  two 1 page essays

You will write two précis of essay readings in Suny, The Structure of Soviet History.  I will assign these essays to you individually during the semester.  I will inform you of your assignment the week before it is due (the week before we all read the essay to which you have been assigned).  I will inform you of your assignments in class and I also will post the assignments on the weekly schedule of readings (below).

A précis is a very concise summary.  Without quoting the author at all, you must explain the author's thesis (his or her main point) in one or two paragraphs (max. length of one page). 

At the head of your paper, list the author of the essay and the essay's title.

Begin your paper by stating as clearly as possible the fundamental question that the author is trying to answer in the essay.  Then explain as clearly as possible the main point the author makes in answering that question.

Remember, I'm not asking you to describe the topic of the essay--I want you to explain the thesis.

If you are at all confused about what the assignment is asking you to do, be sure to talk to me before you start writing!

Again, I will assign you these précis papers during the semester.

I will grade each précis on the basis of its logic, clarity, and accuracy. 

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Individualized Readings Report (20 percent of course grade):  1 two-to-four page essay

1.   First, select a topic on which you will conduct individualized readings. 

Defining a topic for your Individualized Readings Report:  I would prefer that you define your topic by using the subsection subtitles that are provided in each chapter of the Suny textbook (The Soviet Experiment). Look over the table of contents, skim the sections that interest you, and then choose a topic. 

You must provide me with a brief typed written statement (a sentence or two) defining your prospective topic by the end of WEEK III. If you have not done so by the end of Week III, you will fail the assignment.

2.  Next, find appropriate readings on your topic.  You may read either three (3) different articles from scholarly historical journals or one (1) scholarly monograph on your topic.

Finding monographs and scholarly articles on your topic:   Remember that for this assignment I am asking you to read secondary sources--articles by historians published in scholarly journals or scholarly monographs.  To locate suitable readings you will have to learn to use the library.  

Scholarly Monographs:  We have a small but decent collection of monographs on Soviet topics in our library, which you can locate by doing "subject" and "keyword" searches in the library's on-line catalog.  Once you find the call number for books on your topic, actually go up into the stacks and browse!  See if a particular book strikes you as interesting.  Another method is to consult the “Suggestions for Further Reading” at the end of each chapter in Suny, The Soviet Experiment.  Also consider doing subject and keyword searches on your topic using the "WorldCat" database, available through our library, or by searching the on-line catalog of The Library of Congress.  If you get frustrated, ask me for help!  You may find it necessary or desirable to read a book that is not in our library collection--you would then order the book using Interlibrary Loan.   This can take several weeks, so get a jump on the process; it is your responsibility to obtain the book, so don't delay!

Scholarly Articles:  You can identify potential readings using our libraries electronic databases (“Historical Abstracts,”etc.).  You also can consult the “Suggestions for Further Reading” at the end of each chapter in the Suny book.  If you get frustrated, ask me for help!  Our library has a limited run of the two most important Russian-Soviet history journals published in the USA (The Russian Review and the Slavic Review); we also have full runs of other journals that print essays on Russian history (for instance, the Journal of Modern History and The Journal of Social History).  If you find a reference to an article that we do not have in our library, there is a chance that it may exist in a digital text versions through our library's databases.  It is very likely that you will need to order some articles using Interlibrary Loan.  This can take several weeks, so get a jump on the process; it is your responsibility to obtain the articles, so don't delay!

3.  You must present me with a typed list of your chosen readings by the end of WEEK IV.   The list must be in proper bibliography form (see link).

I must approve your selections.  I may very well reject some of your selections.  For that reason, it is a good idea for you to prepare some alternative choices beyond the required 3 articles or 1 monograph.

If you do not obtain my approval for your reading list, you will fail the assignment.   

4. Once you have obtained approval of your readings, you will read the agreed upon articles or book. 

5. You then will write a short essay (2-4 pages, not counting endnotes) in which you

• explain the thesis of each article and

• compare the thesis in each article to the position taken on that topic by Suny in The Soviet Experiment. 

Your paper must be typed, double spaced, in 12-point font, with one inch margins.  You must provide endnote citations for all quotations and paraphrases.

You will turn in the paper at our session on WEEK XIII. 

I will grade your written report on the basis of its logic, clarity, and accuracy. 

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Document Analysis Papers (2 @ 10 percent each): Maximum length of 2 pages.

During Weeks VII-IX, we will be reading Lewis Sieglebaum and Andrei Sokolov, Stalinism as a Way of Life, a collection of documents on life in the USSR during the 1930s.  I will assign you two documents from two different weeks, on each of which you are to write a document analysis paper.

Your paper must presents a thesis (your own main point about the document) that explains the evidence in this document. 

At the heading of your paper, be sure to properly identify the document.

Then, in 1-3 paragraphs, present and defend a thesis that explains this document.  What is the main point you are making about this evidence?  What does it show us? What evidence in the document itself supports your thesis (remember that historians have to back up their arguments using specific evidence)?

You may quote the document when necessary (in which case you must provide endnote citations in proper form).

I will inform you of your specific individual document assignments the week before they are due (the week before we all discuss the document in question). 

I will grade each analysis on the basis of its logic, clarity, and accuracy. 

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Final Exam (20 percent)

The final exam is a take-home final exam.  It requires that you draw together material from all of our assigned readings and also from outside readings.  It will be due at our scheduled final exam meeting.  Your essay must be at least ten pages long (typed, double-spaced), not counting endnotes (see On Endnote Form).  I will grade your exam on the basis of its logic, clarity, accuracy, and use of relevant evidence.  It is due at our final exam session.    FINAL EXAM QUESTION

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Week XIII:   The Khrushchev years.  

Suny Experiment, 404-420.  Link to Suny Experiment study questions.

Suny Structure, 329-338, 340-358.  Link to Suny Structure questions.

Individualized Readings Paper due.

Week XIV:   Brezhnev, the “Period of Stagnation,” and the early Gorbachev reforms.