Annotated Bibliography: Russian History: Stalin

Abstract

The paper examines the close relationship between Stalin’s tendency for mass violence activities and territoriality, which poses a lot of concern to scholars in international circles. Being currently well- developed, Russian economy is among the best in the world today, ranking as the ninth in the world. The country also enjoys a fairly low population of citizens, living below the poverty line, standing at a manageable 13% rate of the total population and a 5% unemployment rate as in august, 2012. The country has a steady supply of natural elements like oil, coal, natural gas, and precious metals that weigh well with export. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country has undergone some radical and significant changes. Russia managed to move from a centrally focused economy to a well -placed market-based plan of the economy that encompasses a globally integrated economy and overall market. Looking at the political biography of Joseph Stalin, there is a clear demonstration of ephemeral gain in two cycles, following each other consecutively. Among the most powerful rulers and feared dictators of the world, Stalin was the overall leader of the Soviet Union for almost three decades. His terrorist acts and homicidal behavior caused suffering and demise of millions of innocent lives. There was an increased level of poverty and the population suffered greatly al through the great terror in the 1930’s, when Stalin wiped out other parties that opposed him. The political biography of Stalin is an evidence of the ephemeral benefit, presented in two cycles. Additionally, its aftermath is revealed through the emotional expression of shame and humiliation, injustice perceptions, threat of a setback and reverse process to conditions of earlier subordination and anger, loss and threat of territorial authority in relation to the west.

D.L. Hoffmann and Y. Kotsonis, eds., (2000), Russian Modernity: Politics, Knowledge, Practices, Houndmills, UK: Macmillan.

The authors of this book give the first concerted effort to locate and explain 19th and 20th century Soviet Power (Russia) in the European context. Additionally, this book tries to connect and understand the Soviet Russia alongside of the chronological setting of Imperial Russia. In a across-the-board selection of topics and titles, from harsh corporal punishment to journal recording, from the inevitable ascent of nationalism to immense biological engineering, this book puts forward that Russia was a part of a larger European modernity, characterized by an escalated cover and a merger of spheres for many times that had formerly been treated as divided entities. These entities are in the political and social life, society and state, economy and government, private and public sectors.

D. Kahneman and A. Tversky, (2000). “Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk,” Econometrica Vol 47, No 2, 1979, pp 263–292; D. Kahneman and A. Tversky, eds., Choices, Values, and Frames: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In this article, value is allocated for benefits and losses instead of final assets, and also probabilities are substituted for decision weights. The value function is usually concave for benefits and convex for losses, being steeper for losses than for gains as well. Decision weights are in general inferior to the corresponding probabilities, excluding the range of low probabilities. This book focuses on Stalin’s decision, the gains and losses incurred, how they affected Russia and if they could have been avoided.

Bennigsen A. and S. E. Wimbush, (2001), Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide,Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p 189.

This article provides data about all Muslims in the then USSR. It generally deals with demographics and religious practices. The author also arranges information in ethnic groups, covering peoples from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and European Russia. This history serves to show Joseph Stalin’s intolerance to radicals and religious groups that were opposed to his rule.

Gregory Paul, Mark Harrison (2005). Allocation under Dictatorship: Research in Stalin’s Archives. Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XLIII, pp. 721–761.

The authors review research of the Russian economy in the party, military and state records of the Stalin rule. These records have given new evidence of the economic plans of a command system, enveloped by a powerful tyrant, including the role of Stalin in developing the economic system and policies. Stalin’s economic and industrial actions are well documented to help the reader to get a glimpse of the then USSR.

J.B. Dunlop, (2006), Russia Confronts Chechnya: Roots of a Separatist Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); M. Gammer, the Lone Wolf and the Bear: Three Centuries of Chechen Defiance of Russian Rule, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

The author gives a background, which is useful in understanding of the invasion. The author traces the history of Chechens keenly, documenting their sufferings from the communists. The function of the Chechen principal, Dudaev, and the collapse of negotiations are scrutinized closely in an effort to reveal, whether the conflict could have been avoided.

Orlando Figes (2008) Private Life in Stalin’s Russia: Family Narratives, Memory and Oral History Macmillan Publishers.

This article is referred to the hardships in private families during the Stalin era by examining the results of an extensive project of historical recovery. With research teams from various regions in Russia, the article views life through the years of Stalin’s rule. The interviews investigated the way families showed different reactions to the various pressures of the Soviet regime.

D.N. DeSteno, N. Dasgupta, M.Y. Bartlett and A. Cajdric, (2004) “Prejudice from thin air: the effect of emotion on automatic intergroup attitudes,” Psychological Science Vol 15, No 5, pp 319–324.

The authors and researchers use data of two experiments to give the first evidence that precise emotional states have a capability to create automatic intolerance toward out-groups. The research distinctively suggests that the anger involuntary influences the evaluations of out-groups, due to its functional significance to intergroup divergence and competition. The implication of this research is considered to be done for emotionally induced biases, specifically in unspoken intergroup cognition and in general social cognition. With regard to the paper, the research helps to show the effects of emotional bias of Russians on out-groups.

N. Stein, T. Trabasso and M. Liwag, (1993) “The representation and organization of Emotional Experience: unfolding the emotion episode,” in: M. Lewis and J.M. Haviland, eds., Handbook of Emotions New York: Guilford, pp. 279–300.

According to the authors, emotional experience, which is negative, yields a reactive stress reply to the mismatch, in order to accomplish positive results of social motivational necessity. The model helps to understand that fear is a responsive primary emotion (or Class 1 primordial emotion, linked to survival). The model helps to understand the behavior of most Russian families in the Stalin era.

K. McDermott, (2006), Stalin: Revolutionary in an Era of War, New York: Palgrave, pp 19.

In this article, Stalin’s impact on Russian history is explained by using his lust after power, an inherent evil, and personality defects. Without discarding these perceptions, McDermott presents Stalin’s thoughts and actions as best contextualized in the inter-connection between revolution and war in the first part of the 20th century.

Haidt, J. (2003). The Moral Emotions. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 852.

In this article, different classes of emotions are discussed in relation to the lives of Russians during the Stalin era. Four classes of moral emotions are explained: the other-condemning class (anger, disgust, and contempt), the self-conscious class (embarrassment, guilt, and shame), the suffering class (compassion), and the praising family (elevation and gratitude). For every emotion, the action tendencies that make it a moral emotion are well explained.