Stalin, Siberia and the Crisis of the New Economic Policy

This 1991 book makes an important contribution to the evaluation of the origins of Stalinism.

James Hughes (Author)

9780521380393, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 July 1991

280 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

"...Hughes has provided the best discussion of the grain procurement crisis and campaign available in English....this book is an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of the political, social and economic underpinnings of the NEP crisis, as well as a landmark in Soviet regional history in the West." Lynne Viola, Russian Review

This 1991 book makes an important contribution to the evaluation of the origins of Stalinism. Although it is widely acknowledged by Western scholars that the Soviet grain crisis of 1927–8 and Stalin's Siberian tour of January 1928 were crucial factors in the decision to abandon the New Economic Policy (NEP) and return to a more ideologically rigid policy of collectivisation and rapid industrialisation, studies have hitherto concentrated on the role of leading personalities and 'high politics'. In this book, Dr James Hughes presents an in depth examination of the crisis of the NEP from the regional perspective of Siberia and analyses the events and pressures 'from below', at the grassroots level of Soviet society. Using publications of the Siberian party and statistical investigations of the countryside, Dr Hughes offers insights into several largely uncharted features of the Soviet system in these years.

List of tables
Preface
Note on transliteration and dates
Weights and measures
Map of Siberia in 1928
Introduction
1. The Siberian peasant utopia
2. The party and the peasantry
3. Who was the Siberian kulak?
4. The crisis of NEP
5. The end of NEP
6. The emergency measures
7. The 'Irkutsk affair'
Conclusion
Appendix
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]