Title Khrushchev's cold summer : Gulag returnees, crime, and the fate of reform after Stalin / Miriam Dobson

Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2009

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 264 pages) : illustrations Series ACLS Humanites E-book ACLS Humanities E-Book Contents 1953 : "the most painful year" -- Prisoners and the art of petitioning, 1953-1956 -- Heroes, enemies, and the secret speech -- Returnees, crime, and the gulag subculture -- The redemptive mission -- A return to weeding -- 1961 : clearing a path to the future -- Literary hooligans and parasites Summary Between Stalin's death in 1953 and 1960, the government of the Soviet Union released hundreds of thousands of prisoners from the Gulag as part of a wide-ranging effort to reverse the worst excesses and abuses of the previous two decades and revive the spirit of the revolution. This exodus included not only victims of past purges but also those sentenced for criminal offenses.In Khrushchev's Cold Summer, Miriam Dobson explores the impact of these returnees on communities and, more broadly, Soviet attempts to come to terms with the traumatic legacies of Stalin's terror. Confusion and disorientation undermined the regime's efforts at recovery. In the wake of Stalin's death, ordinary citizens and political leaders alike struggled to make sense of the country's recent bloody past and to cope with the complex social dynamics caused by attempts to reintegrate the large influx of returning prisoners, a number of whom were hardened criminals alienated and embittered by their experiences within the brutal camp system.Drawing on private letters as well as official reports on the party and popular mood, Dobson probes social attitudes toward the changes occurring in the first post-Stalin decade. Throughout, she features personal stories as articulated in the words of ordinary citizens, prisoners, and former prisoners. At the same time, she explores Soviet society's contradictory responses to the returnees and shows that for many the immediate post-Stalin years were anything but a breath of spring air after the long Stalinist winter Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-255) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL In English digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Political prisoners -- Rehabilitation -- Soviet Union -- History Ex-convicts -- Soviet Union -- History Crime -- Political aspects -- Soviet Union -- History Political culture -- Soviet Union -- History HISTORY -- Europe -- Russia & the Former Soviet Union. HISTORY -- Europe -- Eastern. HISTORY -- Europe -- Former Soviet Republics. Crime -- Political aspects Ex-convicts Political culture Politics and government Social conditions Strafgefangener Rückkehr Tauwetter-Periode Vergangenheitsbewältigung Straflager Politieke gevangenen. Misdadigers. Vrijlating. Politieke hervormingen. Politisk rehabilitering -- historia -- Sovjetunionen. Politiska fångar -- rehabilitering -- Sovjetunionen. SUBJECT Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1953-1985. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125849 Soviet Union -- Social conditions -- 1945-1991. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125856 Subject Soviet Union Sowjetunion Sovjet-Unie. Sovjetunionen -- politik och förvaltning -- 1953-1985. Genre/Form Electronic book History Form Electronic book LC no. 2008047451 ISBN 9780801458514 080145851X 9780801457272 0801457270

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