Inventing a Soviet Countryside: State Power and the Transformation of Rural Russia, 1917–1929: 233 (Russian and East European Studies) - Softcover

Heinzen, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082296175X ISBN 13: 9780822961758

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004

Synopsis

Following the largest peasant revolution in history, Russia's urban-based Bolshevik regime was faced with a monumental task: to peacefully \u201cmodernize\u201d and eventually \u201csocialize\u201d the peasants in the countryside surrounding Russia's cities. To accomplish this, the Bolshevik leadership created the People's Commissariat of Agriculture (Narkomzem), which would eventually employ 70,000 workers. This commissariat was particularly important, both because of massive famine and because peasants composed the majority of Russia's population; it was also regarded as one of the most moderate state agencies because of its nonviolent approach to rural transformation. Working from recently opened historical archives, James Heinzen presents a balanced, thorough examination of the political, social, and cultural dilemmas present in the Bolsheviks' strategy for modernizing of the peasantry. He especially focuses on the state employees charged with no less than a complete transformation of an entire class of people. Heinzen ultimately shows how disputes among those involved in this plan-from the government, to Communist leaders, to the peasants themselves-led to the shuttering of the Commissariat of Agriculture and to Stalin's cataclysmic 1929 collectivization of agriculture.

About this title

About the Author

James W. Heinzen is Professor of History at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 082296175X
• ISBN 13: 9780822961758
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312