| Titre | Interpreting the new archival signals [Nationalities policy and the nature of the Soviet bureaucracy] | |
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| Auteur | Terry Martin | |
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Revue | Cahiers du monde russe |
| Numéro | volume 40, no 1-2, janvier-juin 1999 Archives et nouvelles sources de l'histoire soviétique, une réévaluation | |
| Page | 113-124 | |
| Résumé anglais |
Terry Martin Interpreting the new archival signals: Nationalities policy and the nature of the Soviet bureaucracy. This article surveys the major archival sources available for the study of Soviet nationalities policy in the period from 1923 to 1938. It then articulates a new theory about the nature of the Soviet bureaucracy. This theory states that the Soviet bureaucracy was intentionally divided into soft-line and hard-line bureaucracies. Soft-line institutions dealt openly with the Soviet public and their job was to present the regime's policies in as attractive a light as possible. Typical soft-line tasks were receiving petitions and petitioners, correcting excesses, restoring rights, bestowing awards, providing a forum for mass participation in elections and soviets. Hard-line institutions, on the other hand, specialized in upholding Bolshevik vigilance and insuring the implementation and preservation of core Bolshevik policies and values. Since the central leadership simultaneously promoted contradictory soft and hard-line policies (both in open and secret communication), terror emerged as a signaling device to inform lower-level bureaucrats when the central authorities were serious about having the hard-line policy implemented. The article cautions against two interpretive errors that can emerge if this bureaucratic division of labor is ignored. First, studies that rely exclusively on either soft or hard-line sources will inevitably distort Soviet reality. Second, studies that ignore the functional nature of the hard-line/soft-line dichotomy will tend to exaggerate the level of bureaucratic conflict in the Stalinist years. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_1252-6576_1999_num_40_1_994 |
