After centuries of expansion, the tsarist empire collapsed in political crisis and military defeat. Within months the Bolsheviks had come to power in Russia and established what they claimed to be the first socialist government in history. This course will explore the fate of that government and the people it ruled, the seventy-four years of "socialist" experimentation, industrial transformation of a backward peasant economy, the establishment of a new type of party-state dictatorship, and the attempts after 1985 to transform the Soviet system that led to the collapse of the state. Various critiques and explanations of Soviet society, ranging from Western Sovietological to Marxist, will be introduced and examined through the semester. The goal of the course is to establish the basis for a broader and deeper understanding of Soviet history and to provide material for analysis of the USSR, Russia, and the successor states from a variety of viewpoints.

Intended Audience:

upper level undergraduates

Class Format:

Take-home mid-term exam/paper, final take-home exam/paper, participation in class discussions. Remote.