Seminar Programme

Unless otherwise indicated, seminars are held in room 1.10 in St Katharine's Lodge, from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. on Thursdays during the first semester.

The weekly seminar reports will be posted on the WebCT discussion-board immediately following the seminar.

In addition to identifying the the main contributors to each seminar, the programme outline also contains reminders of assignment deadlines and links to a selection of key documents available on the World Wide Web.

Week 1

1 October 2009

Introduction

• Organisational meeting devoted to outlining the structure and content of the course and to the allocation of seminar papers and the appointment of rapporteurs.

Week 2

8 October 2009

Dual Power and October 1917

• Seminar paper:   Elizabeth Carter
  

• Position papers:
  • Lenin's success   Laura Sharkey
  • Kerensky's failure   Jessica Owen

• Rapporteur:   Toby Foster

Lenin's April Theses [@ marxists.org]

Week 3

15 October 2009

The Civil War and War Communism

• Seminar paper:   Georgia Wade
  

• Position papers:
  • Trotsky's leadership   Toby Foster
  • Foreign intervention   Andrew Johnston

• Rapporteur:   Robert Cole

Week 4

22 October 2009

The New Economic Policy

• Seminar paper:   Andrew Conner
  

• Position papers:
  • Betraying the Revolution?   Oliver McNulty
  • Lenin's legacy   Lauren Keith

• Rapporteur:   Annabel Philips

Lenin's draft of the Resolution on Party Unity [@ marxists.org]

Week 5

29 October 2009     10.00 a.m. START

Collectivisation and Industrialisation

• Video:   Bukharin and the Terror   (BBC, "Timewatch")
  

• Seminar paper:   Taraneh Naghizadeh
  

• Position papers:
  • Was Stalin necessary?   Tom Sauer
  • Bukharin's alternative   Jessica Owen

• Rapporteur:   Lauren Keith

Lenin's Testament [@ marxists.org]

Stalin's "Dizzy with Success" article [@ marxists.org]

Week 6

5 November 2009    

Foreign Policy, 1917-1941

• Seminar paper:   Tom Sauer
  

• Position papers:
  • World Revolution?   Taraneh Naghizadeh
  • The Nazi-Soviet Pact   James Dudgeon

• Rapporteur:   Grace Proctor

Text of the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union and the Secret Additional Protocol [@ yale.edu]

Week 7

Reading Week   -   no classes

Week 8

19 November 2009     10 a.m. START

The Great Patriotic War

• Video:   Red Star   (Thames Video, "The World at War")
  

• Seminar paper:   James Dudgeon
  

• Position papers:
  • Stalingrad   Georgia Wade
  • "Uncle Joe"   Sarah-Louise Harwood

• Rapporteur:   Laura Sharkey

Maps of World War II (nos. 19-32 concern the USSR) [@ usma.edu]

Week 9

26 November 2009

Post-War Stalinism at Home and Abroad

• Seminar paper:   Annabel Philips
  

• Position papers:
  • Origins of the Cold War   Andrew Conner
  • The nature of Stalinism   Tom Sauer

• Rapporteur:   James Dudgeon

Texts of the Yalta Agreement and the Potsdam Agreement [@ yale.edu]

Week 10

3 December 2009    

The Khrushchev and Brezhnev Years

• Seminar paper:   Grace Proctor
  

• Position papers:
  • "De-Stalinisation"   Annabel Philips
  • Cold War détente   Elizabeth Carter

• Rapporteur:   Oliver McNulty

Extracts from Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" [@ yale.edu]

Extract from a speech by Leonid Brezhnev outlining the Brezhnev Doctrine [@ yale.edu]

Week 11

10 December 2009   10 a.m. START

Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

• Video:   The Second Russian Revolution   (BBC 2)
  

• Seminar paper:   Jessica Owen
  

• Position papers:
  • The "Gorby" phenomenon   Robert Cole
  • The August coup   Grace Proctor

• Rapporteur:     Taraneh Naghizadeh

Week 12

17 December 2009

Overview

• Students complete an individual course evaluation questionnaire and an opportunity is provided for a general discussion critically reviewing all aspects of the course.

Index

Information Tour