Contemporary History in the Soviet Mirror (1964) is devoted to a critical examination of Soviet writings on contemporary history. The demands of the Communist Party, striving following the death of Stalin to replace the old myths with new ones, encountered the opposition of individual historians. The needs of the ‘ideological front’ clashed with their professional conscience about historical facts. Yet the Party’s claim to be the infallible interpreter of historical truth would be undermined if its authority about the past could be challenged; now, as before, ‘he who controls the past controls the present.’ In Krushchev’s Russia, however, it was not only the image of the past, but the degree of control over it which was modified.
Introduction John Keep. 1. Historiography and Change Merle Fainsod 2. Party Histories from Lenin to Krushchev Bertram D. Wolfe 3. Continuity and Change in the New History of the CPSU Leonard Schapiro 4. Western Post-War History in the Soviet Mirror John Keep 5. Soviet Historiography after Stalin S.V. Utechin 6. Soviet Historical Sources in the Post-Stalin Era George Katkov 7. The National Bourgeosie Walter Z. Laqueur 8. Soviet Historians and the Sino-Soviet Alliance Mark Mancall 9. Socialism in Current Soviet Historiography Adam B. Ulam 10. Trends in Soviet Historiography of the Second World War Matthew Gallagher 11. Diplomacy in the Mirror of Soviet Scholarship Vernon V. Aspaturian 12. Soviet Historiography and America’s Role in the Intervention George F. Kennan 13. Soviet Historians and American History Max Beloff
Biography
John Keep taught Russian history at the University of London before being appointed professor of Russian history at the University of Toronto. The authors of these essays include several distinguished specialists in Soviet affairs.
