The Gorbachev Phenomenon: A Historical Interpretation / Edition 1

by Moshe Lewin

Overview

The "Gorbachev phenomenon" is seen as the product of complex developments during the last seventy years—developments that changed the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian society into an urban, industrial one. Here, for the first time, a noted authority on Soviet society identifies the crucial historical events and social forces that explain Glasnost and political and economic life in the Soviet Union today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520074293
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/16/1991
Edition description:	First Edition, Expanded edition
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	989,324
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Moshe Lewin is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books on Soviet history.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Contents
PART ONE From Village to Megacity-A Country in a Hurry
1. The Rural Dimension, from the Tsars to Stalin 
2. The Rise of the Cities 
3. Urban Society, a New Labor Force 
4. The Intelligentsia 
5. The Urban Microworlds and Their Power 
6. Underpinnings of Public Opinion 
PART TWO The New Course
7. The Social Sciences: A New Ideology 
8. "Planned Imbalances," the Making of a Crisis 
9. The Way Out: A New Line 
10. Gorbachev's Challenge 
11. The Political Program: A One-Party Democracy? 
12. The Economic Hurdle: Planning and Markets 
Conclusion 
PART THREE The End of the Gorbachev Phenomenon?
13. Perestroika: The Genie Out of the Bottle
14. In Search of Clues in the Past
Bibliography
Index

 

Editorial Reviews

Glasnost under Gorbachev has its roots in Khrushchev's de-Stalinization and Kosygin's attempted economic reforms, notes Lewin, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. He contrasts the agrarian despotism that Lenin and Stalin presided over with today's highly industrialized society in which well-educated urban citizens are dominant. Soviet mass media cannot brainwash the individual, Lewin asserts, because a maze of interpersonal relations and informal groups serve as a shield against indoctrination. Themes like personal autonomy and individuality have filtered into public discourse. In an instructive and highly readable analysis, Lewin pinpoints Gorbachev's main strength as his awareness that all parts of the systemsociety, party, state, economymust be reformed simultaneously. (March)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A major interpreter of Soviet history, Lewin briefly examines evolving Soviet social patterns from their 1917 origins to the present in an effort to place the current glasnost and reformism into sharper perspective. His rather dry sociological approach will not appeal to the generalist, while the brevity of treatment may not satisfy the specialist. Nevertheless, his book provides useful evidence that the Soviet Union is not some monstrous monolith but, rather, a heterogeneous, socially dynamic entity whose rapid transformation from underdeveloped provincialism to urban superpower status is unprecedented. Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll. Lib., Burlington

Library Journal