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Jump to: [Unit One] [Unit Two] [Unit Three] [Unit Four]

Course Schedule:

The assigned reading is due the day of class under which it appears.  These readings must be completed before class in order to make the lectures comprehensible and in order to allow you to participate effectively in discussion.  Lectures will build on, not merely recap the contents of the textbook.  Lectures will also serve in most cases to set up the following week’s discussion sections.

 

Week of:

Topic and Assigned Readings:

Unit One

Revolutionary Russia, 1917-21

Week 1

 

For discussion:

 

No discussion section this week

 

August 27

 

Introduction:

Syllabus review

Pre-Revolutionary Russia and the Revolutionary Movement

Experiment xiii-xvii

 

Week 2

 

For discussion:

 

Mary Antin, A Little Jewish Girl in the Russian Pale, 1890

Prince Ukhtomskii, Russia’s Imperial Destiny, 1891

Lenin, Our Program, 1899

These readings give radically different perspectives on Russia at the end of the 19th century.  Consider: Who are these authors and what motivates them to write?  Who was the intended audience? What light does each shed on life and politics in Russia?  Taking them together, how would you answer the question “Wither Russia” in the year 1900?

 

September 3

 

Revolution of 1905 and WWI

Experiment 3-34

For discussion in class: “Why the Russians Lost in the Recent War,” New York Times (August 11, 1906)

“Failings of the Russian Army Medical Service” 1914

 

Week 3

 

For discussion:

 

“Gapon, the Hero of ‘Bloody Sunday,’” NYTimes, Feb 18, 1906.

Manifesto of October 17, 1905

What did the petitioners demand of Nicholas II?  In the end, how did what he conceded match up against what they sought?

September 10

 

MAP ASSIGNMENT DUE at start of class

February and October Revolutions

Experiment 35-55

For discussion in class: Structures 32-47

 

Week 4

 

For discussion:

 

Primary document research project due at the start of class

Documents discussed; each section selects two to present on 9/17

 

September 17

 

Civil War and War Communism

Experiment 56-120

For discussion in class: primary document research project

 

Week 5

Revolutionary Culture

For discussion:

 

Structures 50-86

 

September 24

Commemorating the Revolution: “October” (dir. S. Eisenstein, 1927; 103 min.)

Discussion will follow film

Experiment 121-169; Kollontai chapters 1-5

 

Unit 2

The NEP Era

Week 6

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 103-30

 

October 1

 

Economics and Culture of NEP

Experiment 170-214; Kollontai chapters 6-16

For discussion/viewing in class: Structures 130-37; Soviet Toys (Vertov, 1924; disc 4, Animated Soviet Propaganda, Main Media 23086DVD)

Recommended reading: Mjolsness, L. W. “Dziga Vertov’s “Soviet Toys”: Commerce, Commercialization, and Cartoons,” Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema 2, no. 3 (2008): 247-267, especially 254ff.

 

Week 7

 

For discussion:

 

No discussion

 

October 8

 

“Bed and Sofa” (dir. Room, 1926; 73 min.); discussion of film and Love of Worker Bees follows film

Recommended reading: Graffy, Julian. Bed and Sofa: The Film Companion (2001), excerpts available via Google Books.

 

Week 8

 

For discussion:

 

Midterm Review

 

October 15

 

Midterm Exam

 

Unit 3

The Stalin Revolution

Week 9

 

For discussion:

 

Structures, 137-47

 

October 22

 

Economic and Political Crises and the Turn to Rapid Industrialization

Experiment 217-251; Garros xi-97

 

Week 10

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 151-77

 

October 29

 

Collectivization

Garros 97-217

*last day to drop: Nov 2; midterm exams will be returned no later than the Oct. 29 class meeting

*sign up sheet posted on Prof. Michaels’ office (SH160) door for next week’s extended office hrs, if you want to discuss the paper.

 

Week 11

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 209-22

 

November 5

 

Cultural Revolution

Experiment 269-90; Garros 219-90

*Prof. Michaels will hold extended office hrs: 12-2:15 pm. Sign up in advance or try you luck and stop by. You can also, of course, meet with Ms. Bartram.

 

Week 12

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 228-32

Paper title, thesis statement, opening paragraph due

 

 

November 12

 

Lecture cancelled for individual work on papers

Garros 291-394

 

Week 13

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 245-50; Garros

 

November 19

 

Papers due in class, 6 p.m.

The Great Terror and Stalinist Popular Culture

Experiment 252-268

For discussion in class: Structures177-98

 

Week 14

 

Thanksgiving Break; there is no class this week, but you need to read ALL of Merridale by discussion section next week

 

For discussion

 

NO CLASS

 

November 26

 

NO CLASS

 

Unit 4

World War II

Week 15

 

For discussion:

 

Structures 264-73; Merridale

 

December 3

 

World War II

Experiment 291-336

 

Week16

 

For discussion:

 

Final Exam Review

 

December 10

 

World War II Propaganda: excerpts from and discussion of “Fascist Barbarians,” disc 2 from the collection Animated Soviet Propaganda (Media Services video record 23086 DVD)

Summary Remarks

 

Week 17

FINALS WEEK

December 18

FINAL EXAM, 7 p.m.

 

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