‘Theses on Economic Policy’: A Document from the Verkhne-Uralsk Political Prison of 1933
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Alexey V. Gusev in
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Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis, and introduces the publication, of one of the texts of the documentary complex ‘The Verkhne-Uralsk Political Isolator Notebooks’ – the ‘Theses on Economic Policy’ of 1933. The article (DOI: 10.1163/1569206X-00002252) covers the history of the discovery of this complex of documents reflecting the ideological and political life of imprisoned members of the Opposition of the Bolshevik Leninists (Trotskyists) in the early 1930s, and discusses the context of their creation. On the basis of archival materials, the biography of one of the authors of the Theses – the agricultural economist, and a member of the Siberian opposition centre, F.P. Sasorov – is reconstructed. It is noted that Sasorov held a special position among the Bolshevik Leninists, determined by his economic views. He belonged to the current whose adherents were called ‘neo-Nepists’ by their opponents. This current advocated not just a return to the NEP cancelled by Stalin, but also an expansion of its scope, and this position is presented and argued for in the ‘Theses on Economic Policy’. A comparison of the views of Sasorov and his co-author G.A., stated in the Theses, including on the explanation of the crisis and the liquidation of the NEP, the policy of out-and-out collectivisation and forced industrialisation, with the views of Leon Trotsky, allows us to conclude that the thought of the imprisoned oppositionists developed independently, and not always in accordance with the guidelines of their exiled thought leader. The article also examines the forecasts of the development of the economic and socio-political situation in the USSR presented in the Theses.
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Bellaïche, Avshalom 2022, Verkhnéouralsk, l’isolateur politique 1925–1938. Combats, débats et extermination d’une génération de révolutionnaires, Paris: La Breche.
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Davies, R.W. and Stephen G. Wheatcroft 2004, The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931–1933, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Gusev, Alexei V. 2019, ‘“Socializm na konnoj tyage”: stalinskaya kollektivizaciya derevni v ocenkah kommunisticheskoj oppozicii [“Horse-drawn Socialism”: Stalin’s Collecti- visation of the Village from the Point of View of the Communist Opposition]’, Istoricheskij zhurnal: nauchnye issledovaniya [Historical Journal: Scientific Research], 6.
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Gusev, Alexei V. 2021, ‘Oppoziciya za reshyotkoj: «kommunisticheskij sektor» Verhne- Ural’skogo politicheskogo izolyatora v nachale 1930-h gg. [Opposition Behind Bars: The “Communist Sector” of the Verkhne-Uralsk Political Isolator in the 1930s.]’, Elektronnyj nauchno-obrazovatel’nyj zhurnal «Istoriya» [The Journal of Education and Science ‘ISTORIYA’ (‘History’)], 12, 3.
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Lafitte, Pierre, Pierre Mattei and Léna Razina (eds.) 2021, Les cahiers de Verkhnéouralsk: récits de militants trotskystes soviétiques 1930–1933, Paris: Pantin.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 496 | 105 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 31 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 93 | 15 | 1 |
‘Theses on Economic Policy’: A Document from the Verkhne-Uralsk Political Prison of 1933
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Alexey V. Gusev in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis, and introduces the publication, of one of the texts of the documentary complex ‘The Verkhne-Uralsk Political Isolator Notebooks’ – the ‘Theses on Economic Policy’ of 1933. The article (DOI: 10.1163/1569206X-00002252) covers the history of the discovery of this complex of documents reflecting the ideological and political life of imprisoned members of the Opposition of the Bolshevik Leninists (Trotskyists) in the early 1930s, and discusses the context of their creation. On the basis of archival materials, the biography of one of the authors of the Theses – the agricultural economist, and a member of the Siberian opposition centre, F.P. Sasorov – is reconstructed. It is noted that Sasorov held a special position among the Bolshevik Leninists, determined by his economic views. He belonged to the current whose adherents were called ‘neo-Nepists’ by their opponents. This current advocated not just a return to the NEP cancelled by Stalin, but also an expansion of its scope, and this position is presented and argued for in the ‘Theses on Economic Policy’. A comparison of the views of Sasorov and his co-author G.A., stated in the Theses, including on the explanation of the crisis and the liquidation of the NEP, the policy of out-and-out collectivisation and forced industrialisation, with the views of Leon Trotsky, allows us to conclude that the thought of the imprisoned oppositionists developed independently, and not always in accordance with the guidelines of their exiled thought leader. The article also examines the forecasts of the development of the economic and socio-political situation in the USSR presented in the Theses.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 496 | 105 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 31 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 93 | 15 | 1 |