Book Publishing: A Buttress of Stalinism in Russia?

Abstract

In today’s Russia, there is a constant clash of opinions when it comes to perceptions of the past, and to what can be learned from Russia’s Soviet experience in general and Stalinist repression in particular. A consensus which seemed just over the horizon between 1998 and 1991 now grows ever more distant. Nearly half of those surveyed in 2017 say that Stalin should not be seen as a state criminal; that the repressions are best discussed less rather than more, and that there is nothing to be gained by dredging up the past. The only way for Russia to pursue a future of democracy and respect for human rights is to leave all of that baggage behind. How has this come to be? What are the roots of these myths of a great and just Stalin that now emerge 65 years after his death? A series of scholars posit that the key lies in Russian society itself, with its tendency towards being ruled with a firm hand and a state that merely takes a neutral position between the liberals and the Stalinists. Others assert that these are successful constructs of the Kremlin, which seeks to inculcate domestic support for authoritarian rule. In order to resolve this disagreement, we studied the book market for Stalin-related literature published within the last twenty years. The study indicates that the market comprises two mostly separate areas: books by Stalin apologists on the one hand, and books by professional historians and recollections by victims of repressions on the other. Quantitative analysis shows that the former receive markedly greater support, which reflects the state’s role over the past fifteen years in forming a positive image of Stalin.