Questions on Von Geldern and Stites for Week 8
The Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal (1934) (pp. 190-201)
This is an excerpt from a book that idealizes one of the worst Stalinist slave labor camps.
As you read this, answer the following questions:
How do the prisoner describe his former life before being sent to the labor camp?
What sort of values does he suggest the labor camp instilled in prisoners?
Does he end up hating the labor camp, or being glad he was sent? Why?
In what way did the labor camp (supposedly) turn him into a New Soviet Man?
Two Purge Poems (1937) (pp. 301-02)
Bedny, "We Dealt the Enemy a Cruel Counterblow"
In what kind of language does the poet describe the "enemies"?
Do you recognize any of the names listed on p. 302?
What does the poet accuse the "enemies" of doing? How should they be punished?
Bezymensky, "The Law of Millions"
What does this poet say should be done to the "enemies"?
How does this poet describe the "enemies"?