Red Phoenix: Revolution & USSR

Catalog description

This course focuses on the Soviet experiment. It explores the making of the October Revolution, the economic and political crises that shaped Stalin’s rise to power, the Great Purges, the legacy of the Great Patriotic War, the challenge of Destalinization, as well as Gorbachev’s reforms and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lectures, readings, and discussions are designed to sharpen students’ understanding not only of Russian history, but also of the structures (ideological, theoretical, political and cultural) that shape our interpretation of the Russian and Soviet past.