From what I’ve read of the review of the ‘Affirmative Action Empire: 1923-1939’ by Terry Martin:

Martin significantly advances our understanding of the early, formative years of Soviet nationality policy, providing a subtle and lucid reconstruction of its unique conceptual underpinnings and its stormy evolution. Contrary to earlier Bolshevik mantras, Lenin and his partner in nationality policy, Stalin, committed the {union} by 1923 to developing non Russian languages, elites, territorial units, and cultural forms-all at the expense of Russian nationhood and culture. Hence the Soviet Union became, in Martin’s odd phrase, the first multiethnic “affirmative-action empire.”

That’s good, but then there’s this next part

Then, in the period of the Great Terror (1933-38), the experiment ended. Russian nationality and culture were revived, and “bourgeois nationalism” replaced “great-Russian chauvinism” in opprobrium

Why did that happen in such a manner?

  • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    The USSR and their people were on an existential crisis during that period due to the inminent german invasion, whatever framing western scholars want to put that ignores that very important context is dishonesty and malpractice.

    While this specific policy is not covered in his book, the vast majority of western media talking points about the “Great Terror” are analyzed by Domenico Losurdo on his book “Stalin: critique of a black legend”.

    • deathtoreddit@lemmygrad.mlOP
      0·
      4 days ago

      While this specific policy is not covered in his book, the vast majority of western media talking points about the “Great Terror” are analyzed by Domenico Losurdo on his book “Stalin: critique of a black legend”. The state of emergency imposed by Stalin saved the people from eastern europe of a catastrophe of gigantic proportions, a genocide of all the eastern europe peoples, as that was Hitler explicit goal stated in Mein Kampf and his writings.

      Oh I suppose I might be dull in that sense (I forgot that this was in the middle of the calm before WW2, so I suppose such policies might run the risk of foreign enemy influence)

      That being said, did the Stalin and his other sucessors make any measure, at least decades after WW2, to continue it, just to be sure that this was temporary measure though?

      Because I keep on hearing something about Russian cultural hegemony post-WW2?

      Edit: wait, huh, they did something after WW2, in regards to Soviet cuisine (nice)