The Eurasian Knot

Soviet dissidents have long been objects of fascination. Who were they? What made them dissent? What did they believe? And what did they endure at the hands of a repressive Soviet state? We now have a clearer picture thanks to Benjamin Nathans’ new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. Soviet dissidents, or as they preferred to be called “rights defenders,” navigated a complicated choreography between the movement, the police, and its supporters abroad. Their approach was a strategy of “civil obedience,” that is pressuring the Soviet government to follow its own laws. Though amounting to around a thousand active participants, their influence grew, especially as they were lionized in the Western media. In this conversation with the Eurasian Knot, Nathans recounts this history, highlighting the often-overlooked role of women, dissidents’ complex relationship with Soviet society, and what their experience can teach us today.Guest:Benjamin Nathans is the Alan Charles Kors Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia. His latest book is To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement published by Princeton University Press.Send us your sounds!Become a patron! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Ian Lanzillotti guides through the history of Kabardino-Balkaria in his book Land, Community, and the State in the Caucasus published by Bloomsbury.The post A Deep Dive into Kabardino-Balkaria appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Erin Hutchinson on her award-winning article, “Gathering the Nation in the Village: Intellectuals and the Cultural Politics of Nationality in the Late Soviet Period” in the January 2023 issue of the Russian Review.The post Soviet DIY Folk Museums appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Guest: Tyler Kirk on After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia's Far North published by Indiana University Press.The post Gulag Memory in Russia’s Far North appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Pavel Khazanov on The Russia That We Have Lost: Pre-Soviet Past as Anti-Soviet Discourse published by the University of Wisconsin Press.The post The Russia That Was Lost appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Ambassador Eric Rubin on the efforts to free Marc Fogel, an American serving 14 years in the Russian prison for possessing 17 g of medical marijuana.The post Free Marc Fogel! appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Marina Mogilner and Ilya Gerasimov on their new textbook, A New Imperial History of Northern Eurasia, 600–1700: From Russian to Global History published by Bloomsbury.The post A New History of Northern Eurasia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Andrea Bohlman on the curious history of the sound postcard in People's Republic of Poland.The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 3 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Valeria Umanets on women in municipal governance in the Soviet Union and under Putin.The post Women in Russian Politics appeared first on The Eurasian Knot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.