Late Stalinism, the period between the end of the Second World War and the death of the dictator in 1953, was the most isolated period of Soviet history. The political leaders saw the world as divided into two parts, and everything outside their own camp as ruled by unalterably hostile capitalist and imperialist war-mongers, eager to annihilate the Soviet Union. Internationalism, once a fundame...

although russian studies existed in world academies in preceding centuries in different styles, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that major academic centers in europe and the united states paid serious attention to understanding the soviet :union: and its current developments by attracting some emigrant soviet authors and scientists. for these academic centers, recognizing the...

This PDF document preserves the page numbering of the printed version for accuracy of citation. When viewed with Acrobat Reader, the printed page numbers will not correspond with the electronic numbering. The Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies (BPS) is a leading center for graduate training on the Soviet Union and its successor states in the United States. Founded in 1983 as par...

In this chapter, I explore the impact of the post-Soviet political and socioeconomic transitions on women in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. I review the impact of Soviet policies on gender roles and relations in order to contextualize post-Soviet developments. The central segment, which examines gender roles and relations after socialism, is divided into two secti...

Literature regarding the post-Soviet period has commented extensively on the difficulties of post-Soviet governments in extricating themselves from command economies and centralised polities and moving toward market economies and democratic government. For the most part, such writing has emphasised the economic variable. Essentially, the argument has concentrated on a consensus that the post-So...

The paper represents the memories of an active participant of development of the first Soviet computers in Kiev, Ukraine. The process of creating electronic computing machines such as MECM, BESM and SESM is described in detail. The outstanding role of S.A. Lebedev (head of the research group) is specially stressed as well as his impact on subsequent progress.

In World War II, the Soviet mobilisation of industry appears to have been more successful than the German. Yet in terms of prewar resources and ex ante mobilisation potential there is no obvious reason why this should have been the case. In production, resources, and mobilisation preparations there were many similarities. The obvious differences were mostly to the Soviet disadvantage. Yet the S...

The mechanism of hidden inflation in Soviet industrial growth statistics between 1928 and 1950 is described. Hidden inflation arose when new products were substituted for old ones. Substitution biases in Soviet and Western growth estimates are compared; the extent of hidden inflation in the Soviet figures is estimated. The view that all Soviet growth series were exaggerated is qualified; the pr...

Background: The Slavic countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU) Russia, Belarus and Ukraine retain one of the highest ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality rates in the world, despite a gradual decline over the past decade Aims: The present study aims to analyze whether population drinking is able to explain the dramatic fluctuations in IHD mortality rates in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine from...

An informal research study for background information The Soviet Union invariably supports the peace movement. The World Peace Council, in its turn, positively reacts to a// Soviet initiatives in international affairs. Wider mobilization of public opinion in support of the Soviet Union’s peaceful initiatives ... would help further to improve the world climate. (WPC President Romesh Chandra, New...