It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past

by David Satter

Overview

A veteran writer on Russia and the Soviet Union explains why Russia refuses to draw from the lessons of its past and what this portends for the future

Russia today is haunted by deeds that have not been examined and words that have been left unsaid. A serious attempt to understand the meaning of the Communist experience has not been undertaken, and millions of victims of Soviet Communism are all but forgotten. In this book David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent and longtime writer on Russia and the Soviet Union, presents a striking new interpretation of Russia's great historical tragedy, locating its source in Russia's failure fully to appreciate the value of the individual in comparison with the objectives of the state. 

Satter explores the moral and spiritual crisis of Russian society. He shows how it is possible for a government to deny the inherent value of its citizens and for the population to agree, and why so many Russians actually mourn the passing of the Soviet regime that denied them fundamental rights. Through a wide-ranging consideration of attitudes toward the living and the dead, the past and the present, the state and the individual, Satter arrives at a distinctive and important new way of understanding the Russian experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300178425
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	12/13/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David Satter is senior fellow, Hudson Institute, and fellow, Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He was Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times from 1976 to 1982, then a special correspondent on Soviet affairs for the Wall Street Journal. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations and Administrative Delineations xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Statue of Dzerzhinsky 11

Chapter 2 Efforts to Remember 29

Chapter 3 Butovo and Kommunarka 49

Chapter 4 St. Petersburg 75

Chapter 5 The Appeal of Communism 95

Chapter 6 The Responsibility of the State 112

Chapter 7 The Trial of the Communist Party 128

Chapter 8 Moral Choice under Totalitarianism 142

Chapter 9 The Roots of the Communist Idea 167

Chapter 10 Symbols of the Past 88

Chapter 11 History 207

Chapter 12 The Shadow of Katyn 229

Chapter 13 Vorkuta 256

Chapter 14 The Odyssey of Andrei Poleshchuk 279

Conclusion 300

Notes 307

Bibliography 357

Index 365

Editorial Reviews

Satter (Age of Delirium: The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union), a Hudson Institute fellow and former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, amasses over two decades of research and reporting in a startling book that revisits the history, symbols, and repressive tools of the deposed Soviet state and the crushing grip of amnesia imposed on citizens since the fall of the Communist regime. Despite the millions prosecuted and killed during the many Soviet purges and mock trials, Satter boldly states that today’s average Russian is not interested in re-evaluating the past, but merely surviving and avoiding any mention of “bad things in our history.” Some think of the Brezhnev years as good times, when the terror abated and the government provided economic security. Satter concludes that the failure of a “historically enslaved population” to confront the “authoritarian instincts” on which communism was built leaves Russia vulnerable to a resurgence of those instincts. Drawing on interviews with Russian citizens and officials, Satter’s reflective, expert analysis of a Russian society in moral and cultural flux after the end of communism provides great food for thought beyond today’s headlines. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"A book full of vivid and well-chosen anecdotes."—Financial Times

"David Satter has written a book full of vivid and well chosen anecdotes. . . . The use of nostalgia is Satter's field. Russia is not, he believes, able to give itself a chance; in love with their chains, its people cannot face up to the horrors of a past they wish to ignore or romanticize."—John Lloyd, Financial Times

"Rich in detail and enthused by civil passion, It Was A Long Time Ago contains many precise, moving and original observations."—Alexander Etkind, Times Literary Supplement

"A sweeping study of how the former Soviet Union’s bloody past continues to poison Russia’s present and threatens to strangle the country’s future."—Newsweek

"Satter’s reflective, expert analysis of a Russian society in moral and cultural flux after the end of communism provides great food for thought beyond today’s headlines."—Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating, deeply thoughtful and researched study that contributes mightily to the ongoing humanist debate."—Kirkus Reviews

"David Satter delivers one of the most harrowing stories of all time. . . . This is a rare book by many measures, not least of which is the way in which Satter captures the magnitude of Russian atrocities and the frightening realities that people accept as part of their daily lives. By no means is Russia unique in being a nation that must grapple with the question of national cruelty and corruption . . . but its rich history makes it story all the more fascinating—and tragic."—Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters

"[Satter] does a brilliant job of chronicling the human consequences of Communism."—The National Review

"David Satter has really captured the role of the past in the present in Russia. . . . He feels that the Soviet Union hollowed out both public and private morality and left people without a moral compass when it collapsed. . . . The title of his book is the quintessence of the Putinist attitude to the past."—Edward Lucas, The Browser

"Satter grapples with an elemental failing of Russia’s leaders and people. . . . Russia, he argues, refuses to face the fundamental moral depravity of its Soviet past. . . . Expansive and brilliantly explored . . . compelling."—Foreign Affairs

"David Satter has written a classic of its kind, investigating the psychological reactions that modern Russians feel towards the crimes of their Communist forebears."—Andrew Roberts, The American Spectator

"Compelling, a journalist’s book."—Choice

"Highly successful in shedding light on both the nature of the Soviet system and the post-Communist period, this is a lucid, illuminating portrait of the outlook and attitudes of Russians. This book is one of the best I have ever read about the Soviet system and what it left behind."—Paul Hollander, author ofPolitical Will and Personal Belief: The Decline and Fall of Soviet Communism

"The central message of this important new book—that Russia cannot reverse its current decline without first coming to terms with the crimes of its Soviet past—is both sobering and absolutely compelling."—Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy

"In this penetrating analysis of Russia today, David Satter demonstrates how terror, ideology and mass murder were integrated and institutionalized in the Soviet Union, then dismantled in economic collapse, and are now resurrected in a modern, lighter authoritarian regime, minus the ideology. 'It Never Happened' gives the reader original insights and analysis by a Russian expert par excellence, and one exceptionally well written."—Richard V. Allen, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and former National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan

"An insightful, informative and fact-filled book."—Paul Hollander, author of Political Will and Personal Belief: The Decline and Fall of Soviet Communism

"Many of our finest journalists have grappled with the moral legacy of Soviet communism. This book is a reminder that no one has stayed with the issue longer, dug deeper, or thought harder about it than David Satter."—Stephen Sestanovich, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for the former Soviet Union, 1997-2001

From the Publisher

"E.H. Carr made the point that, to understand how history gets written, one first has to understand who the historian is and the age in which they are writing. I was reminded of this warning when reading Satter's fascinating study of how Russia has, since 2000, been trying to construct its own particular version of the past that directly serves Vladimir Putin's purposes - with the obvious caveat that they are not dealing with a sole historian but a whole state apparatus - Professor Michael Cox, BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine - Professor Michael Cox

Compelling, a journalist’s book.”—Choice 

Choice

David Satter has written a classic of its kind, investigating the psychological reactions that modern Russians feel towards the crimes of their Communist forebears.”—Andrew Roberts, The American Spectator

The American Spectator - Andrew Roberts

"Rich in detail and enthused by civil passion, It Was A Long Time Ago contains many precise, moving and original observations."—Alexander Etkind, Times Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement - Alexander Etkind

Truly illuminating….Satter is both a gifted journalist and a chronicler of intellectual and political currents….Splendidly researched and engagingly written, this book offers invaluable vignettes of various reactions to the still unprocessed remembrance of totalitarian times.”
—Vladimir Tismaneanu, International Affairs

International Affairs - Vladimir Tismaneanu

Satter grapples with an elemental failing of Russia’s leaders and people. . . . Russia, he argues, refuses to face the fundamental moral depravity of its Soviet past. . . . Expansive and brilliantly explored . . . compelling.”—Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

"[Satter] does a brilliant job of chronicling the human consequences of Communism."—The National Review

National Review

A meticulous, sweeping and wrenching history of Russia's burial of Soviet crimes … [and] a sensitive, compelling and convincing exploration of the importance of memory.”—European Voice

European Voice

"David Satter has written a book full of vivid and well chosen anecdotes. . . . The use of nostalgia is Satter's field. Russia is not, he believes, able to give itself a chance; in love with their chains, its people cannot face up to the horrors of a past they wish to ignore or romanticize."—John Lloyd, Financial Times

Financial Times - John Llyod

"A meticulous, sweeping and wrenching history of Russia's burial of Soviet crimes. It is also a sensitive, compelling and convincing exploration of the importance of memory. But it makes a broader contention - that forgetting is a symptom of an illness that Russia contracted before the Soviet era. . . a humane, measured, first-hand, historically and philosophically rooted argument that is hard to refute."—Andrew Gardner, European Voice

European Voice - Andrew Gardner

"David Satter delivers one of the most harrowing stories of all time. . . This is a rare book by many measures, not least of which is the way in which Satter captures the magnitude of Russian atrocities and the frightening realities that people accept as part of their daily lives. By no means is Russia unique in being a nation that must grapple with the question of national cruelty and corruption. . . but its rich history makes it story all the more fascinating—and tragic."—Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters

PopMatters - Jedd Beaudoin

A book full of vivid and well-chosen anecdotes.”—Financial Times

Financial Times

A sweeping study of how the former Soviet Union’s bloody past continues to poison Russia’s present and threatens to strangle the country’s future.”—Newsweek

Newsweek

"David Satter has really captured the role of the past in the present in Russia. . . . He feels that the Soviet Union hollowed out both public and private morality and left people without a moral compass when it collapsed. . . . The title of his book is the quintessence of the Putinist attitude to the past."—Edward Lucas, The Browser

Browser - Edward Lucas

"Impeccably argued. . . Satter is a man whom no Russian leader would wish to meet, let alone shake by the hand, but he has their measure."—Donald Rayfield, Literary Review

Literary Review - Donald Rayfield

Truly illuminating….Satter is both a gifted journalist and a chronicler of intellectual and political currents….Splendidly researched and engagingly written, this book offers invaluable vignettes of various reactions to the still unprocessed remembrance of totalitarian times.”

—Vladimir Tismaneanu, International Affairs

— Vladimir Tismaneanu

International Affairs

David Satter has really captured the role of the past in the present in Russia. . . . He feels that the Soviet Union hollowed out both public and private morality and left people without a moral compass when it collapsed. . . . The title of his book is the quintessence of the Putinist attitude to the past.—Edward Lucas, The Browser

— Edward Lucas

Browser

Impeccably argued. . . Satter is a man whom no Russian leader would wish to meet, let alone shake by the hand, but he has their measure.—Donald Rayfield, Literary Review

— Donald Rayfield

Literary Review

David Satter delivers one of the most harrowing stories of all time. . . This is a rare book by many measures, not least of which is the way in which Satter captures the magnitude of Russian atrocities and the frightening realities that people accept as part of their daily lives. By no means is Russia unique in being a nation that must grapple with the question of national cruelty and corruption. . . but its rich history makes it story all the more fascinating—and tragic.—Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters

— Jedd Beaudoin

PopMatters

Sober, trenchant exploration of the need for settling the crimes of the Soviet Union with history. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, yet a proper reckoning over its 73 years of totalitarianism has not yet been achieved, writes Hudson Institute senior fellow Satter (Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State, 2003, etc.). Reflecting his own visits to Russia, the author looks at various facets of Russian society with an eye on the Soviet past--e.g., national monuments, textbooks, the election of Vladimir Putin and rehabilitation of many of Soviet leaders--and he questions why a moral reflection has not penetrated very deeply. Many Russians look back at the Soviet era as a time of solidity and security, when everyone had jobs and were taken care of by the state, and the Soviet Union was perceived as powerful. The election of Putin has reinforced a dangerous tilt toward nostalgia, as one of his first acts when assuming power in 2000 was to restore a plaque commemorating his former KGB boss, Yuri Andropov, the "cold-blooded" autocrat. Even though the crimes of the Soviet regime eventually became known to the people, the dossiers of KGB informers were swiftly closed by law in 1992, and President Yeltsin's attempts to ban the Communist Party in 1994 were largely foiled. Putin's proposal to reintroduce the Soviet national anthem "enabled Russians to be proud of the Soviet-era achievements," but without the essential moral introspection. Throughout Satter's journeys across Russia, he witnessed the struggle between forces of remembrance and forgetting. A fascinating, deeply thoughtful and researched study that contributes mightily to the ongoing humanist debate.

Kirkus Reviews