On the Legacy of Stalinism in America
I have been teaching an NEH Summer Seminar for high school history teachers at Princeton University. I call the topic of the course “The Legacy of Stalinism in America.” It is a title I start by explaining, since even for those who know American history, it certainly sounds rather far-fetched. As I explain to the students, I really am talking about the myriad ways in which a mentality that derived from the era of Stalinism in the Soviet Union still is alive in our country.
It shows itself particularly in debates that have taken place the last few weeks over the issue of Soviet espionage during the 1930’s and 40’s, and especially the question of whether the late journalist I.F. Stone had been for two short years an actual Soviet agent. The vitriol from those who are furious over this particular charge is most seen in the article by Amy Knight that appeared in the June 26th issue of the Times Literary Supplement (London). Therein, Knight wrote in what she claims was a review of the new book Spies by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, that “the main purpose of Spies, it seems is not to enlighten readers, but to silence those who still voice doubts about the guilt of people like Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White, I.F. Stone and others.”
In other words, anyone who writes about documents that prove actual Soviet espionage are simply McCarthyites, a charge she indeed makes against Klehr and Haynes. So to counter Knight and the other folk who refuse to acknowledge the truth, I wish to recommend the new special issue of The Journal of Cold War Studies, now available for purchase. Information about it can be found here.
And for material you can read right now, I would like to post the following forum about the issues involved, available here as a PDF. What you will read is a discussion posted from the H-Diplo website roundtable, the forum of diplomatic historians. This is one of the valuable website known to scholars, and this and other similar sites, part of the H-Net consortium, provide an immense service.
So, enjoy this somewhat heavy weekend reading. Warning: Definitely not to be taken to the beach!
Thank you for the resource Mr. Radosh. Knowing a little bit about the subject, and as a lawyer, it is bizarre that authors such as the first reviewer of Spies should insist that the scholastic “prosecution” should proceed according to the Federal Rules of Evidence when the subject is inherently unverifiable/falsifiable. Not only were Vassiliev’s notes selective or incomplete, as they must be, but defectors over the history of the USSR have commonly reported that the NKVD/KGB itself engaged in selective purges of its own documents. Everything, including the reports themselves, are “hearsay;” actually, they could probably all be admitted under the Business Document exception to the hearsay rule – except no one could verify any of its elements since *no one can get into the KGB archvies,* which are after all not some kind of library but the operational memory of the premier organization devoted to World Revolution.
I find objections such as the first reviewers to be fatally undermined by that most damning of all sins under the law: bad faith.
One question I have though is this: why is it that these scholars and all these books seem limited to the Stalin or Lenin period? We have precious little scholarly treatment from later periods. Chistopher Andrews has done a good job, but I frankly don’t trust Gordievsky and even Mitrhokin: their accounts of various things seem “selective” indeed. I realize the source material is hard to come by, but is there any interest in the Khruschev period? The long Andropov/late Brezhnev period? There are several accounts of course but there does not seem to be much scholarly treatment. If I am wrong please correct me!
For (slightly inapposite) example:
http://www.nationalobserver.net/1999_winter_campbell.htm
Ron wrote: “I have been teaching an NEH Summer Seminar for high school history teachers at Princeton University. I call the topic of the course ‘The Legacy of Stalinism in America.’ . . . ”
Most American students know very little about Stalinism, as documented on pages 61-63 of my little book*. They would probably benefit from reading that short and easy-to-read book:
*
Ludwik Kowalski, “Hell on Earth: Brutality and violence Under The Stalinist Regime” 2008.
Excerpts can be seen at
http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/excerpts.html
also see
http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/revcom.html
The more people know about Stalinism less likely it will reaper, in one form or another.
Ludwik Kowalski
kowalskiL@mail.montclair.edu