Conformism and Agency: Model Young Communists and the Komsomol Press in the Later Khrushchev Years, 1961–1964

Abstract

This essay examines newspaper narratives depicting model youth in Komsomol'skaya Pravda in the early 1960s in order to cast light on the Party-state's efforts in the Khrushchev years to use the press as a means of re-energising the drive to forge model communist citizens. In contrast to most studies of Soviet media, this study offers a glimpse of the reception of official signals, by drawing on sociological studies that Komsomol'skaya Pravda conducted of its readers in the early 1960s. Throughout, the paper explores recent scholarly discussions of resistance, conformism and agency in the Soviet context.

Notes

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Donald J. Raleigh, who read and commented on early drafts of this essay, as well as the two anonymous reviewers and the editorial board of Europe-Asia Studies, whose comments on the final stages of this manuscript enabled a substantially stronger final product.

¹ See also David-Fox (1997), Halfin (2000), Konecny (1999), Isaev (2003) and Attwood (1990, 2001).

² By using the term ‘Party-state’, I refer, following Crowley and Reid (2010), both to government structures and Soviet social organisations managed by the Party, such as the Komsomol and trade unions. On the state's low priority for youth in the post-war Stalin era, particularly in the context of the wartime devastation of mechanisms and institutions oriented at social control and youth mobilisation, see Fürst (2010, pp. 1–31). On the focus on reconstruction and mobilisation for war in this period, see Zubkova (1998), Filtzer (2006), Jones (2001) and Fitzpatrick (1985).

³ On the Khrushchev years, see Taubman (2003), Jones (2006a), Aksyutin (2004), Brusilovskaya (2001) and Vail and Genis (1988).

⁴ While recognising the debate over the use of the term ‘Thaw’, I use it as the best means of conveying the sense of quickening change during the post-Stalin years. See Bittner (2008, pp. 1–13) and Condee (2000).

⁵ On attempting to achieve a communist everyday life by reforming criminals, see Dobson (2006, 2009). On instilling communist morality, see Field (2007). On forging a new, communist home life, see Varga-Haris (2006).

⁶ The Komsomol, the Soviet mass organisation for those aged 14–28 dedicated to socialising youth, grew rapidly in the 1950s, with participation essential for attending college or joining the Party (see Kassof 1965, pp. 14–18).

⁷ Read by publicly engaged youth and some adults, this paper had a daily press run of six million in 1961 (see Vsesoyuznaya knizhnaya palata 1967, p. 9).

⁸ I define ‘identity’ as one's individual worldview and values.

⁹ For Khrushchev-era press and social control, see Tsipursky (2008). On the press in earlier periods, see Brooks (2008) and Dobrenko (2004).

¹⁰ These were published in Grushin (2001). My methodology of employing Soviet sociology studies is informed by Shlapentokh (1989) and Zuzanek (1980).

¹¹ For the gaps between the public discourse and its appropriation by individuals, see Bakhtin (1981, pp. 259–422) and de Certeau (1984, pp. 29–42).

¹² See, among many others, Edelman (2009), Davies (1997), Baron (2001), Fitzpatrick (1999, pp. 115–38), Viola (1996, pp. 45–66), Kotkin (1995, pp. 198–237) and Malia (1994, pp. 227–350).

¹³ A good discussion of the problems inherent in using private sources such as letters to Party officials is given in Dobson (2009, pp. 11–12).

¹⁴ My understanding of the concept of agency is most influenced by Grossberg (1992, pp. 113–27) and Appadurai (1996, pp. 5–11).

¹⁵ I place ‘western’ in quotation marks and do not capitalise western Europe, as doing so functions to homogenise a widely varied set of historical experiences, and makes problematic claims to an inherent separation between ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ (see Lewis & Wigen 1997, pp. 1–9; Said 1979, pp. 1–30). On the concept of resistance in the Soviet context see the following discussion forum: Viola (2000), Krylova (2000) and Hellbeck (2000); also see Brown (2005, pp. 1–17) and Tsipursky (2012).

¹⁶ For post-war Soviet youth engaging in non-conformist, ‘westernised’ cultural practices, see: Fürst (2006d), Fitzpatrick (2006), Zhuk (2010), Risch (2005), Edele (2002), Pilkington (1994) and Tsipursky (2013b). On youth hooliganism, see Fürst (2006b), Kozlov (2002) and LaPierre (2012). On youth political non-conformism, see Zubkova (1998, pp. 130–38), Fürst (2006a), Alekseeva and Goldberg (1990), Lebina (2008) and Tsipursky (2011).

¹⁷ An exception is Silina (2004) who used archival reports to examine the mood of Soviet college students, but those aspects of her study focusing on youth conformism are vulnerable to the criticism expressed by Sarah Davies, as the students expressing conformist opinions may have held back their true viewpoints. Zubok (2009) focuses on the intelligentsia rather than ordinary youth. Yurchak (2006) mentions such youth, but mainly using sources from the post-Khrushchev era.

¹⁸ As did all Soviet newspapers, according to Brooks (2008, p. 6).

¹⁹ Most often, Komsomol'skaya Pravda's own journalists wrote these morality tales, as one among many genres of newspaper articles. Sometimes, local-level Komsomol officials related these accounts, although we lack information on whether Komsomol'skaya Pravda commissioned them to write the stories or they chose to do so out of their own initiative.

²⁰ For more on such signalling, see Martin (2001, pp. 22–23).

²¹ On private and public in the USSR, see Siegelbaum (2006a). Also see Crowley and Reid (2010).

²² ‘Tochnii instrument’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

²³ ‘Tak my zhivem, tak my khotim zhit'’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 March 1959. For similar messages, see ‘Krasnye platki’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 January 1959, and ‘O dvukh meshkakh s den'gami’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

²⁴ ‘Glavnaya splavka’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

²⁵ For more on these reforms, see Tromly (2007, pp. 310–48), Coumel (2009) and Soltys (1997, pp. 15–17).

²⁶ ‘O dvukh meshkakh s den'gami’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

²⁷ ‘Tak my zhivem, tak my khotim zhit'’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 March 1959.

²⁸ On the emphasis of preparedness for self-sacrifice on the battlefront in Stalinist rhetoric for young people, see Krylova (2010, pp. 35–86).

²⁹ On a more peaceful stance, see English (2000, pp. 49–116) and Taubman (2003, pp. 325–61).

³⁰ ‘Khoroshie trudovye biografii’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 11 January 1959.

³¹ ‘Glavnaya splavka’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

³² ‘Krasnye platki’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 January 1959. See also ‘Khoroshie trudovye biografii’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 11 January 1959.

³³ ‘O dvukh meshkakh s den'gami’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

³⁴ ‘Tak my zhivem, tak my khotim zhit'’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 March 1959.

³⁵ ‘Khoroshie trudovye biografii’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 11 January 1959.

³⁶ ‘Prikhodite zavtra v “Vesnu”’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 14 January 1961; on youth cafes, see Zubok (2009, pp. 193–224) and Stites (1992, pp. 123–47).

³⁷ ‘Komsomol'skomu tovarishchu’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 18 February 1964.

³⁸ ‘V krivom zerkale’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 January 1959.

³⁹ ‘Komsomol'skoe spasibo’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 3 January 1959.

⁴⁰ ‘Privet, velikaya semiletka’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959.

⁴¹ For more on the use of patriotism and nationalism for political mobilisations in the Soviet Union, see Brandenberger (2002).

⁴² ‘Krasnye platki’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 January 1959.

⁴³ ‘Vokrug Yury’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 10 June 1962; see also on rehabilitating adolescents: ‘On byl “trudnym” mal'chikom’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 February 1960. For more on the use of rehabilitation to deal with youth misbehaviour, see Dobson (2009, pp. 133–55).

⁴⁴ ‘Khrabrye uchastvuyut v reidakh’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 14 June 1962. On such Komsomol patrols, see Fürst (2010, pp. 194–95), Mitrokhin (2003), Tsipursky (2008) and Dobson (2009, pp. 139–41).

⁴⁵ ‘Nas mnogo, my vmeste’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 9 January 1959.

⁴⁶ ‘Svideteli’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 9 January 1959.

⁴⁷ ‘Yavnyi musor’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 3 January 1959.

⁴⁸ For more on Party efforts to manage tastes in these years, see Reid (2002).

⁴⁹ ‘Triumfal'naya “Nulevka”’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 17 June 1962.

⁵⁰ ‘Nash katok’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 January 1959. On censuring stilyagi, also see ‘Okhotniki za podtyazhkami’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 1 July 1960; ‘Krakh firmy “London”’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 21 January 1962; ‘Zhalkie rytsari rezinovoi zhvachki’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 16 January 1959.

⁵¹ ‘Korol' stilyag idet na fabriku’, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 9 December 1958.

⁵² On the relative lack of censure of stilyagi and hooligans in the federal-level youth press under Stalin, see Fürst (2010, pp. 167–249).

⁵³ On the Third Party Program, see Titov (2009). For more on the Moral Code and its implementation, see Field (2007).

⁵⁴ Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsial'no-politicheskoi istorii (RGASPI), fond (archive) M-1, opis' (subsection) 3, delo (file) 880, list (page) 38.

⁵⁵ RGASPI, f. M-1, op. 32, d. 821, ll. 50–55.

⁵⁶ The decree is reprinted in Afiani and Afanas'eva (1998, p. 43).

⁵⁷ On the journalists of Komsomol'skaya Pravda, see Wolfe (2005, pp. 33–70).

⁵⁸ Grushin saved a large portion of the documents from these investigations, including much of the raw survey results, in his private archive. After the Soviet demise and therefore freed from censorship, he published many of these documents in book form, with a description of the survey methodology, detailed breakdowns of responses and extensive representative quotes, making this volume an excellent primary source (Grushin 2001, pp. 44–68).

⁵⁹ The capitalisation was in the original survey itself. For the publications that resulted from these surveys in the newspaper, see: Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 6 January 1961; 11 January 1961; 26 January 1961; 24 February 1961; 16 March 1961; 28 April 1961; 1 March 1963; 17 March 1963; 12 April 1963; 18 June 1963.

⁶⁰ For more on this practice of sending letters, see Fitzpatrick (1996, 1997) and Livshin et al., (1998). On the Khrushchev years, see Bittner (2003) and Tsipursky (2010).

⁶¹ For the argument that victory in World War II represented a more important source of legitimacy than the October Revolution for most Soviet citizens, see Weiner (2001, pp. 7–40).

⁶² Jeffrey Brooks argued that Soviet citizens had to perform officially acceptable behaviour in order to avoid repression (Brooks 2008, pp. 54–92). On Soviet citizens ‘speaking Bolshevik’ as a means of benefiting themselves in the Soviet system, see Kotkin (1995, pp. 198–237).

⁶³ On an in-depth exploration of female youth in the 1930s willingly accepting the goal of preparing themselves for war to defend the Soviet Union, and showing agency in the process, see Krylova (2010, pp. 33–82). While not explicitly investigating youth agency as such, Benjamin Tromly shows how, in the Khrushchev years, the early period of construction brigades travelling to the Virgin Lands relied on initiative from below (Tromly 2007, pp. 370–424).