Stalin's outcasts
Subtitle: aliens, citizens, and the Soviet state, 1926-1936
By: Golfo Alexopoulos.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
Subjects: Citizenship -- Soviet Union; Political rights -- Soviet Union; Marginality, Social -- Soviet Union; Class consciousness -- Soviet Union; Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1917-1936
Description: "Golfo Alexopoulos focuses on the lishentsy ("outcasts") of the interwar USSR to reveal the defining features of alien and citizen identities under Stalin's rule. Although portrayed as "bourgeois elements," lishentsy actually included a wide variety of people, including prostitutes, gamblers, tax evaders, embezzlers, and ethnic minorities, in particular, Jews. The poor, the weak, and the elderly were frequent targets of disenfranchisement, singled out by officials looking to conserve scarce resources or satisfy their superiors with long lists of discovered enemies." "Alexopoulos draws heavily on an untapped source: an archive in western Siberia that contains over 100,000 individual petitions for reinstatement. Her analysis of these and many other documents concerning "class aliens" shows how Bolshevik leaders defined the body politic and how individuals experienced the Soviet state. Personal narratives with which individuals successfully appealed to officials for reinstatement allow an unusual view into the lives of "outcasts." From Kremlin leaders to marked aliens, many participated in identifying insiders and outsiders and challenging the terms of membership in Stalin's new society."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-234) and index.
Table of contents: title: Marking outcasts and making citizens; title: Faces of the disenfranchised; title: Dangers, disappearances, and false appearances; title: Hardship and citizenship; title: The talents and traits of Soviet citizens; title: Endings and enduring legacies.