The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923

Description: The Affirmative Action Empire by Terry Martin The Soviet Union was the first of Europes multiethnic states to confront the rising tide of nationalism by systematically promoting the national consciousness of its ethnic minorities and establishing for them many of the institutional forms... FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The Soviet Union was the first of Europes multiethnic states to confront the rising tide of nationalism by systematically promoting the national consciousness of its ethnic minorities and establishing for them many of the institutional forms characteristic of the modern nation-state. In the 1920s, the Bolshevik government, seeking to defuse nationalist sentiment, created tens of thousands of national territories. It trained new national leaders, established national languages, and financed the production of national-language cultural products.This was a massive and fascinating historical experiment in governing a multiethnic state. Terry Martin provides a comprehensive survey and interpretation, based on newly available archival sources, of the Soviet management of the nationalities question. He traces the conflicts and tensions created by the geographic definition of national territories, the establishment of dozens of official national languages, and the worlds first mass "affirmative action" programs.Martin examines the contradictions inherent in the Soviet nationality policy, which sought simultaneously to foster the growth of national consciousness among its minority populations while dictating the exact content of their cultures; to sponsor national liberation movements in neighboring countries, while eliminating all foreign influence on the Soviet Unions many diaspora nationalities. Martin explores the political logic of Stalins policies as he responded to a perceived threat to Soviet unity in the 1930s by re-establishing the Russians as the states leading nationality and deporting numerous "enemy nations." Author Biography Terry Martin is Associate Professor of History at Harvard University. Review "In the popular imagination, the Soviet Union was always synonymous with Russia, but in the U.S.S.R.s early days Soviet leaders had a very different idea in mind: they wanted to establish a true multinational, multiethnic empire... Yet, as Martin shows in this fascinating history, simply giving an order was not enough, even in the Stalin years, and the complex relationship between socialism and nationalism in places like Ukraine often frustrated Soviet intentions."-The New Yorker, June 10, 2002 "Martin significantly advances our understanding of the early, formative years of Soviet nationality policy, providing a subtle and lucid reconstruction of its unique conceptual underpinnings and its stormy evolution... Martins work is more than an important contribution to the field of Soviet history; it is a critical piece in comprehending contemporary Ukrainian and Russian nationality."-Foreign Affairs, May/June 2002 "The real virtue of Martins book-and all of the best new Soviet scholarship-is not in the theoretical model it propounds, but in the power of its details, gleaned from previously unknown documents... Martin is able, for the first time, to explain what it was that the Soviet Unions leaders actually intended their nationality policy to achieve... Reading Martins work, ... one is struck, above all, by how much stranger the Soviet Union is beginning to seem, in retrospect, than we thought it was at the time, and how much more perverse... Reading this history also gives us in the West an insight, however narrow, into the turmoil experienced in the non-Russian lands of the former Soviet Union during the last decade. Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Georgia: these are now free and independent states. Yet how real is this freedom? Might it not be another illusion, foisted upon them by a still powerful, and still much wealthier, Russian republic."-The New York Review of Books, February 12, 2004 "Martins book is fascinating and enlightening... After reading Martins book, one is left with the impression that Stalins weight in the nationalities debate as a significant factor in his victory."-Michael F. Gretz, New School University, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 9:1, Spring 2003 "Terry Martins Affirmative Action Empire is an exceptional and unique book, indispensable for any student of ethnic politics in the Soviet Union and its successor states, notably the Russian Federation. It is unique both in its comprehensive, in-depth treatment of the evolution of the Soviet nationalities policy from its inception until the end of the 1930s and in its reliance on Soviet archival sources that have become accessible only recently... A major contribution to the history of the Soviet Union and to the study of ethnicity."-Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, Harvard University, Journal of Ukrainian Studies 26:1-2, Summer/Winter 2001 "Terry Martin looks at the nationalities policy of the early Soviet period and offers an insightful, detailed analysis of a problem that Soviet leaders grappled with throughout the twentieth century. As he points out, it was a problem that eventually helped to usher in the end of the USSR."-Amanda Wood Aucoin, New Zealand Slavonic Journal "Martin has produced the most detailed study of the origin of the Soviet regimes contradictory policies toward its minorities. The Affirmative Action Empire is one of the most important books on Soviet nationalities policies ever published. It will be an instant classic in its field."-Mark R. Beissinger, University of Wisconsin-Madison "In this important new book, Terry Martin analyzes the emergence of the Soviet multinational state in the 1920 s and Stalins move to promote the concept of the Friendship of the Peoples in the 1930s. With exhaustive research in theRussian archives, Martin has captured the USSRS paradoxical policy of fostering the development of its constituent nations, while seeking to bring them under Moscows strict control."-Norman M.Neimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Porfessor of East European Studies, Department of History, Stanford University Prizes Winner of Winner of the Wayne S. Vucinich Prize (American As. Long Description The Soviet Union was the first of Europes multiethnic states to confront the rising tide of nationalism by systematically promoting the national consciousness of its ethnic minorities and establishing for them many of the institutional forms characteristic of the modern nation-state. In the 1920s, the Bolshevik government, seeking to defuse nationalist sentiment, created tens of thousands of national territories. It trained new national leaders, established national languages, and financed the production of national-language cultural products. This was a massive and fascinating historical experiment in governing a multiethnic state. Terry Martin provides a comprehensive survey and interpretation, based on newly available archival sources, of the Soviet management of the nationalities question. He traces the conflicts and tensions created by the geographic definition of national territories, the establishment of dozens of official national languages, and the worlds first mass "affirmative action" programs. Martin examines the contradictions inherent in the Soviet nationality policy, which sought simultaneously to foster the growth of national consciousness among its minority populations while dictating the exact content of their cultures; to sponsor national liberation movements in neighboring countries, while eliminating all foreign influence on the Soviet Unions many diaspora nationalities. Martin explores the political logic of Stalins policies as he responded to a perceived threat to Soviet unity in the 1930s by re-establishing the Russians as the states leading nationality and deporting numerous "enemy nations." Review Quote "The real virtue of Martins book-and all of the best new Soviet scholarship-is not in the theoretical model it propounds, but in the power of its details, gleaned from previously unknown documents. . . . Martin is able, for the first time, to explain what it was that the Soviet Unions leaders actually intended their nationality policy to achieve. . . . Reading Martins work, . . . one is struck, above all, by how much stranger the Soviet Union is beginning to seem, in retrospect, than we thought it was at the time, and how much more perverse. . . . Reading this history also gives us in the West an insight, however narrow, into the turmoil experienced in the non-Russian lands of the former Soviet Union during the last decade. Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Georgia: these are now free and independent states. Yet how real is this freedom? Might it not be another illusion, foisted upon them by a still powerful, and still much wealthier, Russian republic."-The New York Review of Books, February 12, 2004 Details ISBN0801486777 Author Terry Martin Short Title AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPIRE Publisher Cornell University Press Language English ISBN-10 0801486777 ISBN-13 9780801486777 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2001 Imprint Cornell University Press Place of Publication Ithaca Country of Publication United States Pages 528 DOI 10.1604/9780801486777 UK Release Date 2001-11-01 AU Release Date 2001-11-01 NZ Release Date 2001-11-01 US Release Date 2001-11-01 Series The Wilder House Series in Politics, History and Culture Publication Date 2001-11-01 Subtitle Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939 Alternative 9781501713316 DEWEY 947.0842 Illustrations 47 tables, 4 maps Audience Undergraduate We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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