Soviet Statistics under Stalinism: Reliability and Distortions in Grain and Population Statistics

Abstract

This essay attempts to understand the history and politics of Soviet grain and demographic statistics, and to show how they were used by the government. It covers the period from Lenin until Stalin’s death. Distortions arose because of over-ambitious planning. Attempts to correct these distortions in 1932 failed because of the cover-up of the famine. Also the results of the census of 1937 were rejected, but the repeat census of 1939 did provide more realistic indicators. For grain, distortions remained to the end of the Stalin period and even increased. The essay argues that the basic statistics available in the archives are reliable and that distortions arose in the reworking of these statistics.     

Stalinism and Executive Power: Formal and Informal Contours of Stalinism

Abstract

One of the key characteristics of Stalinism was the relationship between its formal and informal aspects. This is reflected clearly in the way in which, over time, the formal institutions of rule were supplanted by more informal mechanisms of decision-making. However, although the formal institutions seemed to atrophy, they were not abolished, but continued to become the basis upon which the post-Stalin leadership rested. The essay explains why one of those institutions, the Politburo, was maintained despite its atrophy as a decision-making organ, explaining this principally as a result of both strategic and tactical considerations.     

Secret Public Finance: Revenues and Expenditures of the Soviet Communist Party, 1938–1965

Patterns of the Soviet Communist Party expenditures, major sources of revenue, and patterns of interregional transfers are analysed with special attention to the party's major donors: the army and large cities. Financial records for the period 1938 – 1965 allow us to study the role of the party in the Soviet institutional design and the relationships between central and regional party organisations. In addition to the selection of cadre, supervision of production, and ‘production’ of ideology, the party provided alternative channels for the redistribution of state resources. Empirical evidence suggests that the pattern of the distribution of subsidies through party channels was consistent with investing in political support by creating promotion incentives in the party system.     

Beyond Convictions: Negotiating Procedural and Distributive Justice in Police Response to Sex Crimes Victims

ABSTRACT

Justice for sex crimes is particularly complex due to the differences between victim needs and the operations of the criminal justice system. This study, using 70 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups from Canadian police departments, shows that Canadian police officers use characteristics from both procedural and distributive concepts of justice when responding and dealing with victims of sex crimes. We show that building trust, inclusion in the process, and upholding individual treatment needs are compelling components of police response that garner victim agency and satisfaction. As a result, victims are more satisfied with the process and outcomes of their cases, and through reconstructing success, so are police officers. Our discussion of a pluralistic approach captures how police officers justify and negotiate distributive and procedural justice in their responses to sex crime victims. Unlike research that focuses on the adverse treatment of victims, this paper finds promising changes in Canadian police officers’ conceptualization of justice for victims.     

Stalinism and the demise of old Siberia

James Hughes, Stalinism in a Russian Province: Collectivization and Dekulakization in Siberia. New York: St Martin's Press, 1996, xv, 271 pp. + tables, maps, documents.

Valentin Rasputin, Siberia, Siberia. Translated with introduction by Margaret Winchell and Gerald Mikkelson. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1996, vi, 438 pp. + photographs, bibliography of Western scholarship.

Vasily Shukshin, Stories from a Siberian Village. Translated by Laura Michael and John Givens. Foreword by Kathleen Parthé. Introduction by John Givens. DeKalb: Northern Illinois Press, xlviii, 256 pp.     

Policing the Party: Conflicts between Local Prosecutors and Party Leaders under Late Stalinism

During the late Stalin era, many of the USSR's local party control officials and prosecutors entered into a protracted conflict over who had the right to judge the conduct of communists; prosecutors charged that party committees were shielding communists from prosecution, while control officials claimed that party organs were deferring to prosecutors and abandoning their traditional oversight role. This article will argue that although some party committees were interfering in the courts, the dominant story of party–procuracy relations under post-war Stalinism involved the disengagement of party organs from the oversight of administrative wrongdoing, with long-lasting consequences for the Soviet regime's attitude toward corruption.