La fabrique du soviétique à travers le quotidien d'une famille de ci-devant

Résumé En

This article demonstrates, through an analysis of family letters, the extent to which the Soviet authorities went to manufacture the new Soviet man and woman. The letters in question were written between a noble women bora in 1885 and living in Leningrad, and members of her family (her daughter, one of her sons, and three grand-daughters, all living in Manchuria). In total, 312 letters penned between 1927 and 1933 - a crucial period in Soviet history - are examined. In the first part of our article, we analyse the various ways in which the "Sovietisation" of everyday life took place in Russia. This includes the emergence of communal apartments, and the disappearance of basic foodstuffs from shops (together with the interminable queues that such shortages inevitably engendered). Then we go on to look at how the regime crushed all forms of resistance. The various means employed included selective food rationing, draconian working conditions, and arbitrary arrests and deportations. What emerges from our analysis of these letters is the fact the Soviet state interfered in every aspect of its citizens' daily lives.