Martin Barbara. Dissident Histories in the Soviet Union: From De-Stalinization to Perestroika

London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. — 312 p. — (Library of Modern Russia) — ISBN-10: 1788310535; ISBN-13: 978-1788310536.How was it possible to write history in the Soviet Union, under strict state control and without access to archives? What methods of research did these 'historians' - be they academic, that is based at formal institutions, or independent - rely on? And how was their work influenced by their complex and shifting relationships with the state?To answer these questions, Barbara Martin here tracks the careers of four bold and important dissidents: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Roy Medvedev, Aleksandr Nekrich and Anton Antonov-Ovseenko. Based on extensive archival research and interviews (with some of the authors themselves, as well as those close to them), the result is a nuanced and very necessary history of Soviet dissident history writing, from the relative liberalisation of de-Stalinisation through increasing repression and persecution in the Brezhnev era to liberalisation once more during perestroika. In the process Martin sheds light onto late Soviet society and its relationship with the state, as well as the ways in which this dissidence participated in weakening the Soviet regime during Perestroika. This is important reading for all scholars working on late Soviet history and society.Note on methodology and sourcesThe Party’s Call to Denounce Stalin’s CrimesAnton Antonov-Ovseenko’s duty to his father
Roy Medvedev: Writing for the Party
Aleksandr Nekrich: Pushing the limits of de-StalinizationFrom a Reopening of the Stalin Question to a Closure of the Ideological LidA Mandate to end de-Stalinization
Opposition on the historical front
The Brezhnev compromiseVoicing Opposition to Stalin’s RehabilitationA rebellious intelligentsia
From the Gulag to the anti-Stalinist barricades
The Nekrich AffairWriting History through the Voice of the RepressedThe Gulag Archipelago
Let History JudgeExiting the SystemFrom the official field to the underground publishing world
Expulsion as a tool of repressionFrom “Inner Emigration” to ExileLiving in “Inner Emigration”: Medvedev’s fragile compromise with the authorities
Exile as the ultimate form of exitDiverging TruthsTwo truths about the Soviet past
Skirmishes on the historical battlefield
Between history and folklore
Dissident histories as ethical manifestosUnleashing the PastPerestroika and the resurgence of history
The belated return of dissident histories to the Soviet public
Questioning dissident histories’ factual accuracyNotes
Timeline of Events

Index