The knowledge front: Politics, ideology, and economics in the Soviet book publishing industry, 1925--1935.

摘要

The Bolshevik (or Communist) project of creating a modern, industrial, socialist society in the Soviet Union in the shortest time possible required the circulation of knowledge on an unprecedented scale. Knowledge (including the arts) was necessary to train millions of professionals and technical specialists, to build political support for the Bolsheviks' agenda, and to facilitate the transformation of people's consciousness. Books and journals played a central role in the Bolsheviks' plans, providing an inexpensive means for the broad dissemination of knowledge.; This dissertation looks at the development of the Russian-language book publishing industry in the Soviet Union during the formative period of 1925 to 1935, when Soviet society moved from NEP to Stalinism. I show how the work of the publishing industry was conditioned by two important factors. One was a lack of material resources, which limited production. The other was the Bolsheviks' ideological beliefs. Knowledge was not a neutral category for the Bolsheviks, and the success of their plans depended both on the circulation of "good" knowledge in the appropriate amounts and the suppression of "corrupt" knowledge.; I examine how the combination of these material and ideological pressures created serious tensions between the long-term development of socialism and the Bolsheviks' immediate political needs, and between specialized knowledge and the Communist Party's central ideological guidance. I explore how the Party's leadership and publishing officials sought to reconcile these tensions within the publishing industry, both institutionally and through the development of editorial, critical, and censorship practices. Although these tensions remained constant, the strategies employed to defuse them changed over time, reflecting larger political and economic shifts. I also show why the attempt to reconcile these tensions was largely abandoned in 1932, when the Party's short-term interests and ideological authority were given absolute priority. The examination of these questions suggests new ways of thinking about the role of ideology in Soviet history, as well as the dynamics and meaning of the "Cultural Revolution" which occurred between 1928 and 1932. It also demonstrates the importance of institutions and categories in understanding Soviet development.