good intro article on early Soviet race attitudes?

[Anne Fisher]

hello all,

I'm translating The Twelve Chairs (written in 1928) and the editors are
raising some issues around Ilf and Petrov's (admittedly offensive and
outdated) description of Ellochka the Cannibal:

According to researchers’ calculations, William Shakespeare’s lexicon
comprises twelve thousand words. The lexicon of a Negro from the
cannibalistic tribe Mumbo-Jumbo comprises three hundred words. Ellochka
Shchukina got by easily and freely with thirty.

I am unwilling to jump on the Mark Twain bowlderizing bandwagon by taming
the authors' original language, but I am putting in a footnote explaining
the context of this usage - that it goes against contemporary rhetoric
(often quite condescending in tone) about the unity and equality of all
"brother nations," but in doing so it actually accurately reflects the
widespread contemporary phenomenon of everyday racism.

I don't want readers to have to take my word for it, though, I'd like to be
able to refer them to some article explaining the ins and outs of early
Soviet race relations. Can anyone suggest such an article that talks about
"brother nations," or the disconnect between a) official rhetoric about
race/ethnicity and b) actual mindsets/attitudes?

Many thanks,

Annie
-- 
Anne O. Fisher, Ph.D.
Russian Interpreter and Translator
anne.o.fisher at gmail.com
440-986-0175

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