#314 Reflections on Stalinism w/ Lewis Siegelbaum

The Road to Now

Benjamin Sawyer

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 629 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The debates over school curricula, banned books, and what educators can teach in their classes have become increasingly polarizing in recent years, but they are nothing new in the US. For those who researched, wrote and taught about the Soviet Union under Stalin during the Cold War, following the evidence to a conclusion that challenged America's established narrative could lead to denunciations and accusations of disloyalty. Despite this challenge, a generation of scholars dedicated their professional life to the study of Soviet history, generating far more in-depth and humane accounts of the past than the black and white narratives offered up by most political scientists and others who presented Soviet society as atomized and powerless.

As one of the most prolific Russian historians of his generation, Lewis Siegelbaum knows this story well. In this episode, he joins us to discuss his new book, Reflections on Stalinism, in which he, co-editor Arch Getty and ten of their peers share their own reflections on how they came to study Soviet history, how the political environment affected their own work, and what they got right (and wrong) in their career. Lewis also shares his story of witnessing the unexpected collapse of the USSR, what we learned when Soviet archives opened in the 1990s, and how current events remain haunted by the simplistic view of Russian history to which many Americans still adhere.

Dr. Lewis Siegelbaum is Jack and Margaret Sweet Professor Emeritus of History at Michigan State University where he taught from 1983 until 2018. He has authored multiple award-winning books on Soviet history, including Cars for Comrades: The Life of the Soviet Automobile, and served as doctoral advisor to many aspiring scholars, including Ben Sawyer.

If you're interested in learning more about Soviet history, we recommend that you check out the website Seventeen Moments in Soviet History, which Lewis cofounded and is the most widely-used online source for teaching and learning about Soviet history.

This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Road to Now. This is Ben Sawyer. Today we have a great episode for you with my former dissertation advisor and incredible Soviet historian Louis Siegelbaum to discuss the collection he recently edited with Arch Getty, reflections on Stalinism. But before we get to that, just a quick note up front,
0:22.2	we have big news. Ladies and gentlemen, the people have spoken. America's worst vice president
0:27.8	as selected by you. And I don't think there was a person more deserving. So congratulations,
0:33.6	I guess, to John C. Calhoun for being selected worst vice president. If you want to know more about
0:40.1	the voting, you can go to RTMPod.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m. Worse. Worse v. You'll see the
0:49.7	special poster that we made for Calhoun to celebrate his recognition as the worst, and also links there
0:56.4	to listen to episode number 312, a couple episodes back where me and Nicole Hemmer laid out our
1:01.9	arguments for the final four. Also wanted to say, some people ask who's the best vice president?
1:06.2	If you're more on the cheerful side, we do have a bonus episode there on Patreon where you can
1:10.6	actually listen
1:11.2	to me, Bob, and Lindsay Trevinsky, give our quick answers to the question of who's the best VP.
1:16.6	And that was a lot of fun. So that's just at patreon.com slash the road to now. If you're already
1:21.8	there supporting us, we thank you. You keep the show going and we never stop being grateful.
1:28.7	Now without further ado,
1:34.5	we move on to my conversation with Louis Siegelbaum on his new book, Reflections on Stalinism.
1:35.8	Have a great week.
1:39.6	Louis Siegelbaum, welcome to The Roads Now.
1:40.6	Thank you, Ben.
1:44.4	I should say welcome back to the Roads Now. This is your second appearance on the show.
1:49.1	We're distanced right now, but the last one we recorded, long-time listeners will remember.
1:58.1	Dr. Siegelbaum here was at the center of the perfect centrality of events where the annual Soviet History Conference took place in Chicago two blocks away from where the Avic brothers
2:02.7	were playing the same three nights at the Chicago Theater. And so Bob just came down to the
	...

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