Soviet History, 1917–53: Essays in Honour of R. W. Davies

302 Pages·1995·5.142 MB·English

by  Julian Cooper, Maureen Perrie, E. A. Rees

SOVIET HISTORY, 1917-53
R.W. Davies
Soviet History, 1917-53
Essays in Honour ofR. W. Davies
Edited by
Julian Cooper
Professor,CentreforRussianand East European Studies
The UniversityofBirmingham
Maureen Perrie
SeniorLecturer,CentreforRussianandEastEuropeanStudies
The UniversityofBirmingham
and
E. A. Rees
Lecturer, Centrefor Russianand East European Studies
The UniversityofBirmingham
M
St. Martin's Press
Selection and editorial matter© Julian Cooper, Maureen Perrie and
E. A. Rees 1995
Chapters 1-11 © Macmillan Press Ltd 1995
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First published in Great Britain 1995 by
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A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-23941-2 ISBN 978-1-349-23939-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-23939-9
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95
First published in the United States of America 1995 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth A venue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-12615-5 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soviet history, 1917-53: essays in honour ofR. W. Davies I edited by
Julian Cooper, Maureen Perrie, and E. A. Rees.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-12615-5 (cloth)
I. Soviet Union-History-1917-1936. 2. Soviet Union
-History-1925-1953. I. Davies, R. W. (Robert William), 1925-
11. Cooper, Julian, 1945- . III. Perrie, Maureen, 1946- .
IV. Rees, E. A.
DK266.S574 1995
947.084-dc20 94-49543
CIP
Contents
Frontispiece: R.W. Davies
List ofTables vii
Notes on the Contributors viii
Introduction: a Tribute to R. W. Davies xii
GlossaryofRussian Terms and Abbreviationsusedin the Text xxiv
Big Business and the State in Russia, 1915-1918: the
Engineering Lobby
Peter Gatrell
2 The Making ofa Moderate Bolshevik: an Introduction to
L. B. Kamenev's Political Biography 22
Catherine Merridale
3 The Soviet State, Civil Society and Moscow Politics:
Stability and Order in Early NEP, 1921-24 42
Richard Sakwa
4 Decision-making on the Ural-Siberian Method 78
Yuzuru Taniuchi
5 Stalin, the Politburo and Rail Transport Policy 104
E.A.Rees
6 A Stalinist Victim ofStalinism: 'Sergo' Ordzhonikidze 134
FrancescoBenvenuti
7 The Objectives ofthe Great Terror, 1937-38 158
Oleg Khlevnyuk
8 'Small' Facts from Big Files about the kolkhozy in 1940 177
Moshe Lewin
9 The Moscow Crisis ofOctober 1941 201
John Barber
v
vi Contents
10 SovietNational Accounting for World War II: an Inside
View 219
Mark Harrison
II Why werethe Faulty Foundations Never Repaired? 243
HollandHunter
Bibliography ofR.W. Davies' Publications 263
Index 268
List of Tables
5.1 Formal sessions ofthe Politburo, 1928-40 106
5.2 Formal sessions ofthe Secretariat and Orgburo,
1928-40 108
8.1 Education of rural professional personnel, 1940 184
8.2 Losses ofdraught and productive animals 186
8.3 Incomes ofko/khozniki, 1940 193
10.1 Net material product produced and utilised, 1940 and
1942-3, according to Sukharevskii 222
10.2 Defence outlays, 1940and 1942-3,according to
Sukharevskii 223
10.3 Net material product produced and utilised, 1940 and
1942-5, according to Sukharevskii 224
lOA Defence outlays, 1940-5 228
10.5 Defence outlays and national income, 1940-3,
according to Sukharevskii 229
10.6 Net material product utilised, 1940 and 1942-5,
according to Goskomstat 231
10.7 Soviet net material product produced and utilised,
1940and 1944,according to Sorokin 233
10.8 Net material product utilised, 1940and 1942-5,
according to Goskomstat and Sorokin 234
10.9 The share of output allocated to 'war needs', 1940-3 236
10.10 Gross value of output, total and for 'war needs', 1940
and 1942-4, according to Sukharevskii 238
vii
Notes on the Contributors
John Barber is Lecturer in Politics at Cambridge University and a
FellowofKing's College.His publications include Soviet Historians in
Crisis, 1928-1932 (1981);Defended to Death; a Study ofthe Nuclear
Arms Race(co-author, 1982);and The Soviet Home Front. 1941-1945:
a Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II (co
author, 1991).Hehasbeenassociatedwith R.W.Davies andthe Soviet
Industrialisation Project since 1976,as a Research Fellow and (from
1980)as Honorary Research Fellow ofCREES.
FrancescoBenvenutiisAssociate Professorofthe HistoryofRussia and
the Soviet Union in the Department of Historical Studies at the
Universityof Bologna, Italy. His main publications are The Bolsheviks
and the Red Army. 1918-1922 (1988) and Fuocosui sabotatori. Stach
anovismoi organizzazione industriale in URSS. 1934-1938 (1988). He
has had a longstanding association with R.W. Davies and with
CREES through his membership ofthe International Work-Group on
SovietInter-WarEconomic History. His current research ison aspects
of the political and economic history ofthe 1930s.
Julian Cooper is Professor of Russian Economic Studies at CREES,
where he has been Director since 1990. His publications include The
Soviet Defence Industry: Conversion and Reform (1991); Technical
ProgressandSoviet EconomicDevelopment (ed., with R. Amann, 1986);
IndustrialInnovation in the Soviet Union (ed., with R. Amann, 1982);
and The TechnologicalLevel ofSoviet Industry (ed., with R. Amann
and R.W. Davies, 1977).His PhD thesis on 'The Soviet Machine-Tool
Industry, 1917-1941'(University ofBirmingham, 1975)wassupervised
by R.W. Davies. His current research is concerned with the
restructuring of the former Soviet defence industry.
Peter Gatrell isSenior Lecturer in Economic History at the University
of Manchester. He has published The Tsarist Economy, 1850-1917
(1986) and Government, Industry and Rearmament in Russia. 1900
1914: the Last Argument of Tsarism (1994). His current research
interestsincludeeconomy and society in Russia during the FirstWorld
War, and long-run economic development in Russia. The results of his
viii
Notes on the Contributors ix
collaboration with Bob Davies appear in a chapter on the industrial
economy in R.W. Davies (ed.), From Tsarism to the New Economic
Policy (1990).
Mark Harrison is Reader in Economics, University ofWarwick. He is
theauthorofSoviet PlanninginPeaceandWar,1938-1945(1985)and,
with John Barber, ofThe Soviet Home Front,1941-1945 (1991). He is
co-editor, with R.W. Davies and S.G. Wheatcroft, of The Soviet
Economic Transformation, 1913-1945 (1994). He is currently working
on the Soviet economy in World War II, the international economic
history ofthe war, and the history ofthe Soviet defence industry.
Holland Huntcr is Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Haverford
College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA.He isthe author, with Janusz
M.Szyrmer, ofFaulty Foundations(1992),and editorof The Futureof
the Soviet Economy: 1978-1985 (1978) and of Transport in Russia's
Future (in press). He has participated in several meetings in
Birmingham of the International Work-Group on Soviet Inter-War
Economic History. His current research is on feasible institutional
forms for Russian economic management.
01cg Khlcvnyuk was awarded the title of Candidate in Historical
Science by the Institute ofUSSR History of the Academy ofSciences
oftheUSSRin 1985,and isnowa memberofthe editorial board of the
journal Svobodnaya mysl'. His main publications are 1937 god:
protivostoyanie (1991); 1937 - Stalin, NKVD i sovetskoe obshchestvo
(1992); and Stalin i Ordzhonikidze. Konj1iktyv Po/itbyuro v30-egody
(1993). He has collaborated with R.W. Davies since 1989 on Soviet
economic history; they are the joint authors ofSIPS Discussion Paper
no. 36, The Role ofGosplanin EconomicDecision-Makingin the 1930s
(1993). His current research ison the political and economic history of
the 1930s.
Moshe Lewin has been Professor of History at the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, since 1978. He was Director of
Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, from 1965 to 1967;and
between 1968 and 1978 he was successively Senior Lecturer, Reader
and Professor at CREES.His major publications are Russian Peasants
and Soviet Power (1968); Lenin's Last Struggle (1969); Political
Undercurrents in Soviet Economic Debates (1974); The Making ofthe
Soviet System (1985); The Gorbachev Phenomenon (1988 and 1991);