Making History for Stalin: The Story of the Belomor Canal

264 Pages·1998·5.979 MB·English

by  Cynthia A. Ruder

Making History for Stalin

Making History for Stalin
University Press of Florida
Gainesville Tallahassee Tampa Boca Raton
Pensacola Orlando Miami Jacksonville
Copyright 1998 by the Board of Regents of the State of Florida
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper n
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03 02 01 00 99 98 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ruder, Cynthia Ann, 1956-
Making history for Stalin: the story of the Belomor Canal / Cynthia A. Rüden
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8130-1567-7 (alk. paper)
1. Soviet Union—Social life and customs—1917-1970. 2. Soviet Union—History—
1925-1953—Historiography. 3. White Sea-Baltic Canal (Russia)—History. 4. White
Sea-Baltic Canal (Russia) in literature. 5. Russian literature—20th century—History
and criticism. 6. Socialist realism in literature. I. Title.
DK268.3R83 1998 97-24059
947.084—dc21
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University System of Florida, comprised of Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic
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For my mother
For Igor

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Abbreviations xv
Constructing the Problem Historically and Theoretically 1
1. Reconstructing the (F)Actual History of the Belomor Canal 12
2. Mythmaking and Mythbreaking: The (Hi)Story behind The History of
the Construction of the Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal 39
3. Literary Text as Historical Narrative: The History of the Construction of
the Stalin White Sea-Baltic Canal 86
4. Converging Narratives and the Emerging Truth 154
5. The Legacy of Belomor 204
Appendixes 213
Notes 227
Bibliography 235
Index 245

Illustrations
1. Map of the route of the Belomor Canal 15
2. Canalarmyists hauling away soil from the construction site of a
dike, 1932 23
3. Canalarmyists preparing an area for explosions, 1932? 23
4. Construction of a lock on the Belomor Canal, 1932 24
5. Nearing the completion of the construction of a lock on the Belomor
Canal, 1932 24
6. Starting point of the Belomor Canal prior to the commencement of
construction—confluence of Lake Onega and the Povenets River,
1931 26
7. Entrance to the Belomor Canal from Lake Onega, 1933 27
8. Entering the first lock on the Belomor Canal, 1933 27
9. View of the entrance to the Belomor Canal from the first lock,
1933 28
10. View of the entrance to the Belomor Canal from the first lock,
1993 29
11. Long-range view from the bridge of the second lock of the Povenets
Steps, 1993 30
12. Hotel in Medvezhegorsk constructed for Stalin on the occasion of
his visit to the Belomor Canal, 1933 31
13. Contemporary view of the hotel in Medvezhegorsk constructed
for Stalin on the occasion of his visit to the Belomor Canal. The
Belomor Canal Museum is housed on the first floor, far-right side,
1993 32
14. Door from a barracks of the Belomor Canal prison camp, Belomor
Museum, Medvezhegorsk, Russia, 1993 33
15. Semyon Firin with members of the Soviet Writers Brigade to Belo­
mor, August 1993 51
16. Copy of a page of the Belomor camp newspaper Ferekovka 55
17. Ivan Nikolaevich Rusinov, Honored Artist of the USSR and actor in
the Belomor camp theater; photographed in his Moscow apartment,
July 1993 148
18. Front side of the Karelian Ministry of Internal Affairs file card for
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s grandson, Andrei Andreevich Dostoevsky, who
was imprisoned on the Belomor Canal 186
19. Reverse side of Andrei Dostoevsky’s Karelian MVD file card 187
20. First page of three-page excerpt, which contains editorial cuts and
comments from the draft manuscript for chapter 4, “The Prisoners,”
in The History of Construction 221
21. Second page of three-page excerpt, which contains editorial cuts and
comments, as well as Vs. Ivanov’s name in the left margins, for the
draft manuscript for chapter 4, “The Prisoners,” in The History of
Construction 222
22. Third page of three-page excerpt, which contains editorial cuts and
comments, from the draft manuscript for chapter 4, “The Prison­
ers,” in The History of Construction 223