Soviet Veterans Of World War Ii: A Popular Movement In An Authoritarian Society, 1941-1991
by Mark Edele /
2009 / English / PDF
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Millions of Soviet soldiers died in the "war of annihilation"
against Nazi Germany but millions more returned to Stalin's state
after victory. Mark Edele traces the veterans' story from the early
post-war years through to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. He
describes in detail the problems they encountered during
demobilization, the dysfunctional bureaucracy they had to deal with
once back, and the way their reintegration into civilian life
worked in practice in one of the most devastated countries of
Europe. He pays particular attention to groups with specific
problems such as the disabled, former prisoners of war, women
soldiers, and youth.
Millions of Soviet soldiers died in the "war of annihilation"
against Nazi Germany but millions more returned to Stalin's state
after victory. Mark Edele traces the veterans' story from the early
post-war years through to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. He
describes in detail the problems they encountered during
demobilization, the dysfunctional bureaucracy they had to deal with
once back, and the way their reintegration into civilian life
worked in practice in one of the most devastated countries of
Europe. He pays particular attention to groups with specific
problems such as the disabled, former prisoners of war, women
soldiers, and youth.
The study analyses the old soldiers' long struggle for recognition
and the eventual emergence of an organized movement in the years
after Stalin's death. The Soviet state at first refused to
recognize veterans as a group worthy of special privileges or as an
organization. They were not a group conceived of in
Marxist-Leninist theory, there was suspicion about their political
loyalty, and the leadership worried about the costs of affording a
special status to such a large population group. These
preconceptions were overcome only after a long, hard struggle by a
popular movement that slowly emerged within the strict confines of
the authoritarian Soviet regime.
The study analyses the old soldiers' long struggle for recognition
and the eventual emergence of an organized movement in the years
after Stalin's death. The Soviet state at first refused to
recognize veterans as a group worthy of special privileges or as an
organization. They were not a group conceived of in
Marxist-Leninist theory, there was suspicion about their political
loyalty, and the leadership worried about the costs of affording a
special status to such a large population group. These
preconceptions were overcome only after a long, hard struggle by a
popular movement that slowly emerged within the strict confines of
the authoritarian Soviet regime.
