Roads to the temple : truth, memory, ideas, and ideals in the making of the Russian revolution, 1987-1991 / Leon Aron.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aron, Leon Rabinovich.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Glasnost.

Social action--Soviet Union.

Social action.

Social change--Soviet Union.

Social change.

Values--Soviet Union.

Values.

Collective memory--Soviet Union.

Collective memory.

Soviet Union--History--1985-1991.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Moral conditions.

Soviet Union--Intellectual life--1970-1991.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (448 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Leon Aron considers the "mystery of the Soviet collapse" and finds answers in the intellectual and moral self-scrutiny of glasnost that brought about a profound shift in values. Reviewing the entire output of the key glasnost outlets in 1987-1991, he elucidates and documents key themes in this national soul-searching and the "ultimate" questions that sparked moral awakening of a great nation: "Who are we? How do we live honorably? What is a dignified relationship between man and state? How do we atone for the moral breakdown of Stalinism?" Contributing both to the theory of revolutions and history of ideas, Aron presents a thorough and original narrative about new ideas' dissemination through the various media of the former Soviet Union. Aron shows how, reaching every corner of the nation, these ideas destroyed the moral foundation of the Soviet state, de-legitimized it and made its collapse inevitable.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The "Mystery" of the Soviet Collapse and the Theory of Revolutions

2. For Truth and Goodness: The Credos of Glasnost

3. Inside the "Deafened Zone"

4. In Search of History

5. "The Innocent, the Slandered, the Exterminated"

6. The Peasant Hecatomb

7. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, I: Food, Housing, Medical Care, the "Golden Childhood," and the Standard of Living

8. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, II: Progress, the "State of Workers and Peasants," Equality, "Freedom from Exploitation," Novocherkassk

9. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, III: The Great Patriotic War

10. The "Immoral" Economy

11. The "Disintegration of Souls": Homo Sovieticus

12. The House That Stalin Built: The Master State and its Political Economy

13. "De-individualization," the "Original Sin," and the Nationalization of Conscience

14. Stalin, Memory, Repentance, Atonement

15. The "Spirit of Freedom" and the Power of Nyet

16. The Freedom Canon: Mandelstam, Dombrovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Platonov, Grossman

17. In Man's Image, I: "Privatizing" the State and Economy

18. In Man's Image, II: The Empire, the "Garrison State," and the World

Epilogue

Glasnost's Signposts: The Themes and the Texts

Glasnost's Troubadours

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786613681126

9781280770357

128077035X

9780300183245

0300183240

OCLC:

828617164