Being Soviet: Identity, Rumour, and Everyday Life Under Stalin 1939-1953 by Timothy Johnston
Authors: Timothy Johnston
Tags: General, History, 20th Century, Europe, Political Science, Political Ideologies, Modern, Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Social History
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Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama’, (Unpublished, Davis Centre Library, Harvard University).
97 R. A. Bauer and D. B. Gleicher, ‘Word of Mouth Communication in the Soviet
Union’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 17.3 (1953), 306.
Introduction xxxix
happen. Rumours were an important expression of the tactic of brico- lage . They embedded Soviet citizens within Soviet power, rather than removing them from it. Rumours straddled the boundaries between support and resistance, making them an ideal object for the study of the more ambiguous spaces between internalization and rejection, which were inhabited by the ‘little tactics of the habitat’.
It might be objected that respondents to HIP could have exaggerated the prevalence of rumouring in the Stalin-era Soviet Union. The Pro- ject’s respondents were atypically well educated and probably atypically curious about the world around them. 98 Nonetheless, respondents from all social groups stated that they had heard and passed on rumours. 99 It is also possible that the respondents to HIP exaggerated the prominence of rumours because they thought it was what the interviewers wanted to hear. However, the first questions in the Communication Section were straightforward and open without suggesting any particular sources. 100 The authors’ conclusion, that rumouring was a widespread phenome- non in Soviet society, seems credible.
The sociological and psychological literature concerning rumours also lends weight to the idea that the USSR would have been a society rich in rumours. In their 1965 book, Allport and Postman suggested that the likelihood of a rumour spreading was related to its importance and ambiguity. 101 Press censorship in the Stalin years would have led to heightened levels of ambiguity. Many Soviet citizens were fully aware that they were not always being told the full story within the official press. That awareness drove many of them to seek out additional sources of information. In that sense the propaganda state bred the rumour network. Other studies of rumour have also suggested that rumours are more likely to spread if they are credible to their audience. Under conditions of stress and emotional tension, credibility thresholds are lowered and rumouring increases. 102 The upheavals and traumas expe- rienced by the citizens of wartime and post-war Soviet society would have contributed to a lowering of credibility and a proliferation of rumouring.
98 Ibid. 300–5.
99 See: H. Rossi, and R. A. Bauer, ‘Some Patterns of Soviet Communications Behaviour’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 16.4 (1952), 653–70.
100 HIP. ‘Code Book A’, 57.
101 Allport and Postman, Psychology of Rumor, 33–40.
102 Rosnow and Fine, Rumour and Gossip, 51–2.
xl Being Soviet
The opening of the archives of the former Soviet Union has also affirmed the notion that rumouring was widespread in this period. There is ample primary evidence of speculative stories and rumours passing by word-of-mouth between Soviet citizens. 103 Rumours were a powerful force within Soviet society, capable of inspiring full-scale panics and acts of civil disobedience at moments of unusual tension. 104 They even played a part in shaping the course of elite politics at the highest level. Stalin’s humiliation of Molotov in late 1945 seems to have been motivated by anger about rumours that Molotov was about to replace him. 105 Rumouring touched on all areas of life in the USSR and was a widespread, everyday expression of the tactic of bricolage for the vast majority of the population of the Soviet Union.
The final ‘tactic of the habitat’ that is described in this book was ‘avoidance’. In Everyday Stalinism Fitzpatrick describes how Soviet citizens sidestepped the levers of Soviet power and evaded punishment by the state. 106 This ‘tactic’ of avoidance was particularly widespread in relation to official campaigns and attempts at physical mobilization. It is less clear how it operated in relation to
97 R. A. Bauer and D. B. Gleicher, ‘Word of Mouth Communication in the Soviet
Union’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 17.3 (1953), 306.
Introduction xxxix
happen. Rumours were an important expression of the tactic of brico- lage . They embedded Soviet citizens within Soviet power, rather than removing them from it. Rumours straddled the boundaries between support and resistance, making them an ideal object for the study of the more ambiguous spaces between internalization and rejection, which were inhabited by the ‘little tactics of the habitat’.
It might be objected that respondents to HIP could have exaggerated the prevalence of rumouring in the Stalin-era Soviet Union. The Pro- ject’s respondents were atypically well educated and probably atypically curious about the world around them. 98 Nonetheless, respondents from all social groups stated that they had heard and passed on rumours. 99 It is also possible that the respondents to HIP exaggerated the prominence of rumours because they thought it was what the interviewers wanted to hear. However, the first questions in the Communication Section were straightforward and open without suggesting any particular sources. 100 The authors’ conclusion, that rumouring was a widespread phenome- non in Soviet society, seems credible.
The sociological and psychological literature concerning rumours also lends weight to the idea that the USSR would have been a society rich in rumours. In their 1965 book, Allport and Postman suggested that the likelihood of a rumour spreading was related to its importance and ambiguity. 101 Press censorship in the Stalin years would have led to heightened levels of ambiguity. Many Soviet citizens were fully aware that they were not always being told the full story within the official press. That awareness drove many of them to seek out additional sources of information. In that sense the propaganda state bred the rumour network. Other studies of rumour have also suggested that rumours are more likely to spread if they are credible to their audience. Under conditions of stress and emotional tension, credibility thresholds are lowered and rumouring increases. 102 The upheavals and traumas expe- rienced by the citizens of wartime and post-war Soviet society would have contributed to a lowering of credibility and a proliferation of rumouring.
98 Ibid. 300–5.
99 See: H. Rossi, and R. A. Bauer, ‘Some Patterns of Soviet Communications Behaviour’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 16.4 (1952), 653–70.
100 HIP. ‘Code Book A’, 57.
101 Allport and Postman, Psychology of Rumor, 33–40.
102 Rosnow and Fine, Rumour and Gossip, 51–2.
xl Being Soviet
The opening of the archives of the former Soviet Union has also affirmed the notion that rumouring was widespread in this period. There is ample primary evidence of speculative stories and rumours passing by word-of-mouth between Soviet citizens. 103 Rumours were a powerful force within Soviet society, capable of inspiring full-scale panics and acts of civil disobedience at moments of unusual tension. 104 They even played a part in shaping the course of elite politics at the highest level. Stalin’s humiliation of Molotov in late 1945 seems to have been motivated by anger about rumours that Molotov was about to replace him. 105 Rumouring touched on all areas of life in the USSR and was a widespread, everyday expression of the tactic of bricolage for the vast majority of the population of the Soviet Union.
The final ‘tactic of the habitat’ that is described in this book was ‘avoidance’. In Everyday Stalinism Fitzpatrick describes how Soviet citizens sidestepped the levers of Soviet power and evaded punishment by the state. 106 This ‘tactic’ of avoidance was particularly widespread in relation to official campaigns and attempts at physical mobilization. It is less clear how it operated in relation to
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