History 2100: Revolution in History: Russia, RAMY N1B23, Spring 2014 Instructor: Dr Nancy Vavra Class contacts: nancy.vavra@colorado.edu Office and Hours: Hellems 337 MWF, 10:00-10:30 am, W: 12-12:30 pm, aba. Teaching assistant: Michelle Penn Michelle.Penn@ Colorado.EDU Course Description: History 2100 examines the causes, character and significance of a major political revolution in modern history. In this course, we will study the Russian Revolution of 1917. The course begins with an overview of Imperial Russia and ends in the late 1930s with Stalin s revolution from above. Questions we will consider include: What conditions precipitated the revolution? Was revolution inevitable? Who participated? How did individuals affect the course and influence the outcomes? Did revolution fulfill or abandon its promise to the people? How can we apply this revolutionary history to events in Russia today? Required Books: Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna. Engel and Rosenthal, Five Sisters, Women against the Tsar Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution David R Marples, Lenin s Revolution: Russia, 1917-1921 John Scott, Behind the Urals You may purchase or rent the books at the bookstore or online. Copies are also on reserve at Norlin library. Required website: @www.sovlit.net, where you will find the following: Fyodor Gladkov, summary of Cement @www.sovlit.net/cement/ Andrei Platonov, summary of The Foundation Pit @http://www.sovlit.net/foundationpit/ Additional, optional, websites will be discussed and announced in class. 1
Course requirements: History courses include lectures, discussions, and large amounts of reading; students are expected to attend class regularly and complete the assignments on time. An attendance sheet will circulate at the beginning of each class. I will consider attendance in the case of grades that fall on the border. (For ex, a 79.5 may receive a B-.) I also make announcements at the beginning of class that may not be posted elsewhere so prompt attendance is essential. Students who arrive after ten minutes lose the opportunity to sign the attendance sheet. Course structure: We will have class discussions and watch documentary material, but lectures make up most of the course. I place a keynote (power-point) with an outline and images on the board with every lecture. These are NOT posted on D2L so students should attend class and copy the outlines before or during class. These outlines contain themes, key terms, and events that will appear on exams. Please note that checking email and browsing the web will not be tolerated in this course. Laptops are for taking notes. Open phones and computers with email and social networking are distracting to the students around you and infuriating to the instructor. Grades are assessed on a 300 point scale: 60 pts- one essay exam on Five Sisters. 60 pts- one paper, comparing two Soviet short stories and view points. 120 pts- 2 midterms: essay, IDs, possibly multiple-choice (60 pts each). 60 pts- final exam: same format as midterms with additional essay on primary source readings. A 300-279 B 249-260 C 219-130 D 189-200 A- 270-278 B- 240-248 C- 210-218 D- 180-188 B+ 261-269 C+ 231-239 D+ 201-209 F 179 The breakdown equivalent: A 93-100 B 83-86.5 C 73-76.5 D 63-66.5 A- 90-92.5 B- 80-82.5 C- 70-72.5 D- 60-62.5 B+ 87-89.5 C+ 77-79.5 D+ 67-69.5 F 59-0 No make-ups without prior arrangements or documented excuse. Late papers are accepted, but incur a 2 pt deduction per day late. We do not post grades online; students should keep track of their totals. 2
Campus Policies Disability Statement: If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, or a temporary medical condition, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in the first three weeks so that your needs may be addressed. D.S. determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, or email dsinfo@colorado.edu. Also, for temporary medical conditions and injuries, see (http://disabilityservices.colorado.edu/. Religious observance: Campus policy requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all scheduling conflicts due to a religious observance, Please see me prior to the absence to make arrangements. http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html Decorum. Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics, veteran s status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, disability, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See policies at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code Online Decorum: Please use proper grammar in your emails and address your instructors by their titles and last names not by first name. Discrimination and Harassment: The University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working, and living environment and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and employment in, its educational programs and activities. (Regent Law, Article 10, amended 11/8/2001). CU-Boulder will not tolerate acts of discrimination or harassment based upon Protected Classes or related retaliation against or by any employee or student. For purposes of this CU-Boulder policy, "Protected Classes" refers to race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or veteran status. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH, the above referenced policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://hr.colorado.edu/dh/ Honor Code: All students of the University are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-735-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Information can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and http://honorcode.colorado.edu 3
Proposed lecture and assignment schedule These dates may change due to class discussions Week 1, Jan 13-17 We will begin with an intro to the course, to ancient and Imperial Russia. This includes a history of autocracy, orthodoxy, and serfdom, the Ivans, and Peter the Great. We also begin the legacy of popular opposition in Russian history. Begin reading Five Sisters: Women against the Tsar, first Chapter: Vera Figner. Week 2, Jan 22& 24 (no class Monday) The roots of rebellion: a background to Russian popular opposition. Begin the nineteenth century radical tradition and the road to revolution. Continue reading Five Sisters, read the Chapter on Elizaveta Kovalskaia. Week 3, Jan 27-31 Populists, terrorists & the woman question. Alexander II & III, reformer to reactionary. Assignments: Finish Five Sisters by reading the Chapter on Elizaveta Kovalskaia. Week 4, Feb 3-7 Russia s late industrialization and the consequences; an intro to Marxism. Intro to Nicholas II, V I Lenin, and the Bolsheviks. Assignments: Feb 5, in class essay exam on Five Sisters & early opposition. Read Marples, Lenin s Revolution, Russia, 1917-1921, Chapter One (read first). Read Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, Chapter One (you may skip the Intro). We will have a brief discussion on the history of Sochi, Russia this week 4
Week 5, Feb 10-14 The events of 1905: Bloody Sunday, war with Japan, and increased popular opposition. Show excerpts of the film, Battleship Potemkin. Read Marples, Lenin s Revolution, Russia, 1917-1921, Chapter Two. Week 6, Feb 17-21 Russia and the Great War. What was the role of war in Russian Revolution? The Romanovs, Rasputin and the royal family. February 1917: revolution in the streets of Petrograd & the tsar s abdication. Documentary excerpts. In Fitzpatrick s, The Russian Rev, read Chapter Two, pp. 40-57. Week 7, Feb 24-28 Events of 1917 continued: Lenin and the April Thesis, May Crisis, & July days. Kerensky & Kornilov: counter revolution or radical revolution? Monday, Feb 24, First Midterm exam In The Russian Rev read Chapter Two, pp. 57-67. Week 8, March 3-7 Cont. Kornilov Affair. Begin Red October Lenin, Trotsky and October 1917. Documentary on the Russian Revolution, 1917. Read Marples, Lenin s Revolution, Russia, 1917-1921, Chapter Three. Week 9, March 10-14 The fate of the Constituent Assembly and the March 1918 Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Leaving World War and entering Civil War. Civil War in Russia: Reds, Whites and Greens. 5
Read The Russian Rev, all of Chapter Three and Chapter Four, pp 93-107. Read Lenin s Revolution, Russia, 1917-1921, Chapter Four. March 14, Second Midterm exam Week 10, March 17-21 Soviet Russia in the 1920s: the New Economic Policy and Bolshevik culture. Russian revolutionary culture continued. How to proceed after Lenin? Documentary. From The Russian Rev, read Chapter Four, pp. 107-119. Read Lenin s Revolution, Russia, 1917-1921, Chapter Five (pp 87-91). Read the summary of Fyodor Gladkov s 1924 novel, Cement. @ www.sovlit.net/cement Week 11, March 24-28 Spring Break- NO CLASSES Week 12- March 31-April 4 Stalin and the succession struggle. Stalin & the revolution from above: rapid industrialization and its consequences. From The Russian Revolution, read Chapter Five Read the summary of Andrei Platonov s 1930 novel, The Foundation Pit. http://www.sovlit.net/foundationpit/ Week 13, April 7-11 Cont. revolution from above: collectivization, famine, and the industrial drive. April 11, Paper due, on Cement and The Foundation Pit Week 14, April 14-18 Daily life in early Stalinist Russia: culture, constitutions, and control. 6
Read sections of John Scott, Behind the Urals, to be announced. I will hand out the study questions for the final on April 18. Stalin s Terror & the purges. Week 15, April 21-25 Assignments: Begin reading Sofia Petrovna and read Chapter Six from The Russian Revolution. Week 16, April 28- May 2 Conclusion to revolutionary Russia, overview of Russia in the twentieth century Finish Sofia Petrovna. STUDY FOR FINAL Questions on Behind the Urals and Sofia Petrovna will be on the final exam. Final exam in class Tuesday May 6, 7:30-10 pm 7