Presentations by Stream

Bolsheviks’ ambition to create a New Soviet Person during the first two decades of Soviet rule has received ample scholarly attention. We know much less, however, about the place of the New Soviet Person in Soviet ideology after World War II. This panel seeks to remedy that and explore the meanings of the New Soviet Person from late Stalinism to Perestroika. Yulia Chernyavskaya will focus on the postwar efforts to make people into conscious communist builders by providing them with accessible scientific information. Alissa Klots will analyze the drive to engage retirees in raising the new generation of the Soviet youth under Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Irina Roldugina will consider medical discussions of male homosexuality in the 1970s. Finally, Courtney Doucette will examine the place of the New Soviet Person in Perestroika ideology.