Academic Programs Russian Studies Macalester College

Course Description     Course Requisites     Schedule of Readings    

Schedule and Assignments

Most items listed on this syllabus are readable in electronic form. Items listed with a Library of Congress call number are also available at the reserve desk. To read some of the electronic documents, users will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader software. This can be accessed from the Adobe Acrobat site. Using the most recent version of Acrobat will yield the best results.

Reference Points

Introduction: David Brooks, The Limits of Policy, New York Times, May 4, 2010.

Unit 1. The Grand Narratives

Theory

  • Hayden White, Historical Text as Literary Artifact (1974) in The Tropics of Discourse (1978), 395-407.
  • Keith Michael Baker. Inventing the French Revolution (1990). DC138.B23 1990. Chapter IX

The Grand Narratives: The Rotten Ancient Regime

Questions: What are the reigning metaphors of revolution; does the old regime "rot" or "explode?" Does time stop or race ahead? Does revolution come of the dissatisfaction of the lower classes or the privileged?

  • The Great Hope. Voices of the French Revolution. Chapter I: The Great Hope. DC162 V65 1988
  • Arthur Young. Travels in France (1792)
  • Marie Antoinette. From Voices of the French Revolution.
  • Tocqueville. The Old Regime (1856). Alexis de Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution. DC138.T6335 1978x. Part III, 138-192.
  • Rasputin: The Evil Mesmerist. M. V. Rodzianko, The Reign of Rasputin: an Empire's Collapse (1923), pp. 23-62. DK 262 R6.313 1973
  • Ryszard Kapuscinski, Daguerretypes, in Shah of Shahs (1982), pp. 15-67.
  • South Africa. The National Party's Colour Policy (1948)
  • A. L. Geyer. The Case for Apartheid (1953)

Background

  • Required background: James P. Barber, South Africa in the Twentieth Century: a Political History-- in Search of a Nation State. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 1999. VII. The Wind of Change, pp. 159-205.
  • The Collapse of the Old Order. Shaul Bakhash. The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution. Rev. ed. (New York: Basic Books, 1990). DS318.8 .B34. Chapter I.

Thought Paper 1: The narrative of the "rotten ancient regime" assumes that revolutions occur when societies lose their élan vital, their vital spirit. Thus they collapse of their own weight. Choose a revolution or moment of social change that we will not be studying in this class. Assume the voice of a contemporary (perhaps a journalist, writer or participant), and relate its story to conform to this trope.

The Grand Narratives: The Discontented Rise

Questions: Does revolution come from above or below? Is its chaotic or does it follow historical rules?

  • Cahiers de Doleances of 1789, The Third Estate of Carcassonne.
  • The Bastille. Voices of the French Revolution, 69-74.
  • John Reed. Ten Days that Shook the World (1918). Chapter II: The Gathering Storm; Chapter IV: The Fall of the Provisional Government. Pages 1-14, 26-45.
  • The Improvised Revolution, in Elaine Sciolino, Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran. New York, The Free Press, 2000.
  • Hostages and Fanatics: The Lighter Side. Doonsbury takes on the Ayatollah, 1979-1980.
  • Mapantsula. Dir. Oliver Schmitz. Filmed in Soweto (1988) (104 min.).

Background

  • Simon Schama. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (NY: Knopf, 1989). DC148.S43 1989. Chapter X. Bastille, July 1789. 369-406.

The Grand Narratives: The Leader Returns

Questions: Are leaders the creators of revolution, or simply the fulfillers of the historical inevitability? Can a leader change the course of revolution?

  • Georgii Plekhanov. The Role of the Individual in History (1898). Read highlighted excerpts.
  • Lenin at Finland Station. (April 1917). Read Lenin on Dual Power. You must establish a password for this site
  • Ayatollah Khomeini.The Leader Returns. February 1, 1979. From Ruhullah - Documentary on the Life of Imam Khomeini, Part 6 of 10. 4 min. See excellent BBC report with audio clip of his speech at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran immediately after his return from exile. February 1, 1979, and read the attached comments of participants.
  • Nelson Mandela on Robben Island
  • Mandela at his Trial (1964, sound file).
  • Lafayette, the Forgotten Leader

The Grand Narratives: Terror and the Radical Turn

Questions: Is violence inherent to revolution? Must revolutionaries resort to coercion as they seize power from their oppressors?

  • Maximilien Robespierre: Justification of the Use of Terror, February 1794
  • Edmund Burke. Jacobinism. Reflections on the French Revolution (1790). The Philosophy of Edmund Burke: a Selection from his Speeches and Writings (1960), pp. 231-255. JC176.B8253.
  • Leon Trotsky. Terrorism and Communism (1919). Chapter 4: Terrorism.
  • Victory, Anarchy, and Despotism. Bani Sadr. My Turn to Speak (1991). Chapters XI-XII.
  • Manifesto of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Military wing of the African National Congress), December 16, 1961.

Background

  • Shaul Bakhash. The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1990). Chapters V-VI: Bani-Sadr: The Devoted Son as President; The Destruction of Bani-Sadr.

The Grand Narratives: Thermidor; or, the Second Generation?

Questions: Is reaction inherent to revolution? Does state-building necessarily stop the revolutionary process? When terror is directed at former revolutionaries, is the revolution betrayed, or does power pass to another generation?

  • Thomas Carlyle. Thermidor (1837). In Carlyle. The French Revolution; a History. Book VI: Thermidor. 669-695. DC 161 C3
  • Leon Trotsky. The Revolution Betrayed (1937). Chapter 10.
  • The Great Terror (1936)
  • Iran: The House Divided. Shaul Bakhash. The Reign of the Ayatollahs. Chapter IX: Terror and Consolidation.

Background

  • J. Christopher Herold, The Age of Napoleon (1963), pp. 104-139. DC201 .H45
  • Nicholas Timasheff. World Revolution or Russia? From Timasheff, The Great Retreat : the Growth and Decline of Communism in Russia (1946). DK266 .T5 1946. Chapter VII, pp. 151-191.

Thought Paper 2: Critically analyze one of the narratives we have read above. Pay attention to the position (social, political, ideological) or the writer, and examine the strategy behind their particular narrative choices. Observe what they describe and do not describe; how they depict the motives and agency of their actors; and how they sequence events in the interests of their narrative strategy.

Unit 2. Preludes: Ideologies

Questions: How do ideas inspire revolutions? What is the relationship between the ideas and the revolutionaries; between the ideas and the final results?

Theory and Analysis

  • What is Ideology? Terry Eagleton, "What is Ideology," in Ideology, an Introduction. London, Verso, 1991. B823.3 .E17 1991
  • Ideology as a Social Product: William H. Sewell Jr. "Ideologies and Social Revolutions: Reflections on the French Case," Journal of Modern History 57 (1985), 57-85

France and the Philosophes

  • Rousseau: "The Social Contract," "Emile, or Education," in French Thought in the Eighteenth Century. Rousseau, Voltaire (New York: D. McKay, 1953), 43-69. B1911 F73
  • Voltaire: Candide (1759). Chapters 1-6, 14, 17-23, 27-28, 30. In French Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 147-178.
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789). Or see: Voices of the French Revolution, p. 83 (and frontispiece).

Marxist Ideology and the Bolsheviks

  • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848).
  • Vladimir Ilich Lenin. What is to be Done (1902)

Background Readings

  • Red Star: A Bolshevik Utopia (1908). Aleksandr Bogdanov. Red Star: the First Bolshevik Utopia (1984), pp. 59-86.

Iran: Islam and Revolution

  • Imam Ruhollah Khomeini. Islam and Revolution (1985). Part I. Islamic Government, pp. 55-80 (excerpted). DS318 .K427 1981. Velayat-al-faqih.
  • Ayatullah Mahmud Taliqani. Society and Economics in Islam (1982), pp. 23-59. BP25 .T2613 1982.

Background Readings

  • Islam and Political Power. Daniel Pipes. In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power (New York: Basic Books, 1983), pp. 29-69. Chapters II-III: Islamic Sacred Law and Politics; The Medieval Synthesis. BP173.7 .P56 1983
  • Islamic Spirituality. Islamic Spirituality: Foundations, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (New York: Crossroad, 1987), pp. 3-23, 64-130, 160-178. BP161.2 .I8827 1987. Chapters V: The Life, Traditions and Sayings of the Prophet (Life of the Prophet, Sunnah and Hadith). Chapter IX: Twelve Imam Shi'ism.
  • Islam and Politics. John Esposito. Islam and Politics (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1991). Chapter I: Religion, Politics and Society. BP63.A4 M533 1991.
  • Economics of Shi'i Islam. Ali Rahnama. The Secular Miracle: Religion, Politics, and Economic Policy in Iran (London: Zed Books, 1990). Chapter IV: The Economic Subsystems of Shi'i Islam, pp. 128-165. DS318.825.R34 1990

South Africa: Revolution Without Ideology?

  • African National Congress. Historical Documents. Strategy and Tactics of the ANC (1969)
  • Scenes from the South African Revolution: from Have You Heard From Johannesburg (2010). 18 min.

Unit 3. Constructing Revolutionary Institutions

  • Skocpol. States and Social Revolutions. Based on Theda Skocpol. States and Social Revolutions (Cambridge University. Press, 1979).
  • Lenin. The State and Revolution (September 1917). "Withering Away" of the State
  • Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979). Articles 1-4, 6-8, 12-14, 19-24, 57-61, 107-110.
  • The Islamic Constitution. Shireen Hunter. Iran after Khomeini (1992), pp. 14-31.

Institutional Staying Power

  • The Rise of the Pasdaran: Assessing the Domestic Roles of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. By Frederic Wehrey et al. Rand Corporation, 2009 (browse).
  • South Africa: Jacob Zuma Could Wreck the Dream. Gwynne Dyer, New Vision, 20 December 2007.
  • Could Zuma Be What South Africa Needs? Time Magazine. By Alex Perry, Dec. 7, 2009.

Background

  • The Islamic State. John Esposito. Islam and Politics (1991). Chapter 4: The Modern State.

Midterm Paper Assignment
Describe the ideology of the Islamic revolution and state (or any other revolution of your choice). Be attentive to the interconnections between personalities, events and institutions; and note tensions and contradictions within the ideology. Be clear about your own definition of ideology, and how it is reflected in practices.

Unit 4. Representing the Revolution: The Arts

Questions: What role does art have in revolution? What can artists do to inspire? What happens to revolutions when "represented" by others?

France

  • Images of Revolution: Jacques Louis David. Online Museum. View images between 1784-1794.
  • Songs of Revolution: Ça Ira; Marseilles
  • The Marseilles. Voices of the French Revolution, 148-149.

Background

  • Harold T. Parker. The Cult of Antiquity and the French Revolutionaries (New York: Octagon Books, 1937). DC 138 P3 1937

Russia

Iran

  • Islamic Revolutionary and Patriotric Pop Songs
  • The Islamic Republic and the Process of Islamicization. Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi. Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution (1994). P95.82.I7 S68 1994. Chapter X.

Unit 5. Representing the Revolution: The Emergent Media

  • Media and Revolution. Jeremy Popkin, "Media and Revolutionary Crisis," Media and Revolution, Comparative Perspectives (1995), 12-30. PN4751.M43.1995

The Palais Royal Journalists

  • Philippe Egalité (36-37); Censorship (54-55). In Voices of the French Revolution.

Revolutionary Cinema in Russia

  • The Birth of the Propaganda State. Peter Kenez. The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929 (1985). DK266.3.K43 1985. Chapter I.
  • KINO: Creating a Socialist Cinema
  • The Battleship Potemkin. Director, Sergei Eisenstein (1925). 72 min. Media Services: PN1995.75 .B388 1988.

Khomeini and the Tape Recorder Revolution

  • Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi. Small Media, Big Revolution (1994). P95.82.I7 S68 1994. Chapter VIII: The Heavy Artillery: Small Media for a Big Revolution.

Music and the Public Sphere in South Africa

  • Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002). In-class viewing.

    Unit 6. Creation of the Nation

  • Voices of the French Revolution, from Chapter III: Remaking France. DC162 V65 1988
  • Eugen Weber. Peasants into Frenchmen, 1870-1914 (1976). Chpt VII: France, One and Indivisible, 95-115. HN425 W4.2
  • Richard Pipes, The Establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In The Soviet Nationality Reader: The Disintegration in Context 1992 JN6520.S8 S7 1992. 35-48, 60-80. Class presenter should read pp. 35-85.
  • Making Central Asia Soviet (1929). View "Destroying the Old Life," "Turksib," all images and photoessays.

Educating the Nation(s) in South Africa

  • Reader's Digest Illustrated History of South Africa: the Real Story (1989). Boer, Zulu and Khosa and the origin of a country.
  • Takalani Sesame (South Africa): Kami the HIV-Positive Muppet.
  • Takalani Sesame: Pollution Song.

Unit 7. Justice after the Fall

Revolutionary Tribunals

  • France: The Revolutionary Tribunals and the Committee of Public Safety. Voices of the French Revolution, 179-181.
  • Louise Bryant. Six Red Months in Russia (1918). Chapter XIX, Revolutionary Tribunal, 193-199.
  • Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Amnesty Committee. Application of Johan Van Eyk and Hendrik Gerber (AC/96/0002). Amnesty denied.

Unit 8. The Person in the Revolution

Style and Revolution

  • Timeline: Fashion in the French Revolution. Slide show.
  • Jean Robiquet. Daily Life in the French Revolution (NY: Macmillan, 1938). Short sections on: Paris Theaters and CafŽs; Revolution and Fashion; French as she is Spoke; Revolutionary [Sexual] Liberties; Marriage and Children, pp. 39-86.
  • Lev Trotsky, "The Struggle for Cultured Speech," 185-191, in Bolshevik Visions (Ardis, 1984).
  • Afshin Molavi. Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran (Norton, 2002). The Politics of Personal Appearance, 87-96.

Has the Revolution Changed My Life?

Optional: Tsotsi [2005]. Movie. Made from Athol Fugard novel, 1983. 92 min.
 


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