Stalinist Terror and genocide

[Elena Gapova]

I am not familiar with any works where Stalin's terror has been theorised as genocide, but it has been metaphorised as such since perestroika (and "counting"). The phrase "stalinskii genocid protiv sobstvennogo naroda" has become a "figure of everyday speech". The interesting thing in this respect is, that this "genocide" was seen as wiping out "the best of the nation(s)":
"за 74 года большого террора десятки миллионов были расстреляны и загнаны в лагеря. Причем десятки миллионов самых талантливых, самых работящих, самых честных, которых Сталин и его последователи заботливо перегоняли в первые ряды. Это был не просто геноцид, это был геноцид, уничтоживший самый ценный генофонд России, Украины, Белоруссии, Грузии, Армении, Азербайджана, Молдавии, стран Прибалтики и Средней Азии." (Анатолий Ромов/ 
Романтика и конспирация времен Большого террора. //«Слово\Word» 2005, №47). 

And, as some literati used to write, as the genocide wiped out the best of the people (the best of the genofond), what can one expect now with what has been left, taking into account the quality of the people ("качество народа"). As the least talented, smart, brave, courageous remained, how can we expect to build a successful social project... Cannot track the texts now, but remember them well.   

Currently the phrase "genocid protiv sobstvennogo naroda" is often used to refer to Eltsin/Gaidar's economic reforms.

e.g.

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Subhash.Jaireth at GA.GOV.AU
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 6:36 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Stalinist Terror and genocide


Hi All,

Picking the thread of the interesting discussion of Stalinka, I was wondering
if Stalinist repression/terror has been theorised in terms of genocide? That
is has someone looked at drawing the parallels between the Jewish Holocaust,
Armenian massacre, Rwandan and Bosnian ethnic cleansing? I dislike the word
cleansing although those who performed such killings tried to justify it in
terms of cleansing the communal body of the nation. Can Stalin-time killings
be called genocide? Is the term genocide appropriate to describe, theorise
and understand those tragic events?

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