Кафедра нової і новітньої історії України запрошує у вівторок, 19 листопада, на черговий семінар з інтелектуальної історії “Trust and Distrust in the Soviet Union: A Reassessment of the Consequences of the October Revolution”. Доповідач: Geoffrey Hosking – історик, професор-емерит Університетського Коледжу Лондона, автор монографії “Russia and the Russians: A History” і численних досліджень з історії Російської імперії та СРСР. Модератор: проф. Олександр Зайцев. Початок: 16:40. Місце проведення: ауд. 424 (вул. Козельницька 2а).

The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was both messianic and apocalyptic.  It aimed to create a perfectly humane society by conducting merciless struggle and annihilating all its opponents.  Its leaders therefore attracted the total trust of their followers and the total distrust and hatred of its opponents.  That dichotomy of trust and distrust remained a permanent feature of Soviet society.  To create unity and defeat their enemies the Bolshevik leaders had to trust one another through revolution and civil war.  They demanded from their followers total trust;  indeed the ‘trust of the party’ became the main criterion for the promotion of ordinary people.  When disagreements arose among the party leaders, it proved impossible for them to dissociate themselves from the narratives of total trust and total distrust which they had already generated.  Hence the extreme nature of Stalin’s terror.  A society whose ideal was proclaimed to be total trust was in practice riven by distrust.  I will examine some of the consequences of this contradiction.