Sheila Fitzpatrick
Encyclopedia
Sheila Fitzpatrick is an Australian-American historian
. She teaches Soviet History at the University of Chicago
.
(BA, 1961) and received her DPhil from St. Antony's College, Oxford (1969); she was a Research Fellow at the London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 1969–72.
Fitzpatrick is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and the Australian Academy of the Humanities
. She is a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
. In 2002, she received an award from the Mellon Foundation for her academic work. From September 1996 to December 2006, Fitzpatrick was coeditor of The Journal of Modern History
with John W. Boyer
and Jan E. Goldstein
.
Fitzpatrick is the daughter of Australian author Brian Fitzpatrick
. In addition to her research, she plays the violin in orchestras and chamber music groups.
of the 1950s and 1960s.
In her early work, Sheila Fitzpatrick focused on the theme of social mobility
, suggesting that the opportunity for the working class to rise socially and as a new elite had been instrumental in legitimizing the regime during the Stalinist period. Despite its brutality, Stalinism as a political culture
would have achieved the goals of the democratic revolution
. The center of attention was always focused on the victims of the purges rather than its beneficiaries, noted the historian. Yet as a consequence of the "Great Purge
", thousands of workers and communists who had access to the technical colleges during the first five-year plan received promotions to positions in industry, government and the leadership of the Communist Party
.
According to Fitzpatrick, the "cultural revolution" of the late 1920 and the purges which shook the scientific, literary, artistic and the industrial communities is explained in part by a "class struggle" against executives and intellectual "bourgeois". The men who rose in the 1930s played an active role to get rid of former leaders who blocked their own promotion, and the "Great Turn
" found its origins in initiatives from the bottom rather than the decisions of the summit. In this vision, Stalinist policy based on social forces and offered a response to popular radicalism, which allowed the existence of a partial consensus between the regime and society in the 1930s.
". She was the first to call the group of Sovietologists working on Stalinism in the 1980s "a new cohort of [revisionist] historians".
Fitzpatrick called for a social history
that did not address political issues, in other words that adhered strictly to a "from below" viewpoint. This was justified by the idea that the university had been strongly conditioned to see everything through the prism of the state: "the social processes unrelated to the intervention of the state is virtually absent from the literature." Fitzpatrick did not deny that the state's role in social change of the 1930s was huge. However, she defended the practice of social history "without politics". Most young "revisionists" did not want to separate the social history of the USSR from the evolution of the political system.
Fitzpatrick explained in the 1980s, when the "totalitarian model" was still widely used, "it was very useful to show that the model had an inherent bias and it did not explain everything about Soviet society. Now, whereas a new generation of academics considers sometimes as self evident that the totalitarian model was completely erroneous and harmful, it is perhaps more useful to show than there were certain things about the Soviet company that it explained very well."
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. She teaches Soviet History at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Biography
Sheila Fitzpatrick attended the University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
(BA, 1961) and received her DPhil from St. Antony's College, Oxford (1969); she was a Research Fellow at the London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 1969–72.
Fitzpatrick is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
and the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Australian Academy of the Humanities
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...
. She is a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies is a scholarly society dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about the former Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe...
. In 2002, she received an award from the Mellon Foundation for her academic work. From September 1996 to December 2006, Fitzpatrick was coeditor of The Journal of Modern History
The Journal of Modern History
The Journal of Modern History is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering European intellectual, political, and cultural history, published by the University of Chicago Press in cooperation with the Modern European History Section of the American Historical Association...
with John W. Boyer
John W. Boyer
John W. Boyer is an American historian and academic administrator. He is currently the Dean of the College and the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He is also a Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.-Teaching and...
and Jan E. Goldstein
Jan E. Goldstein
Jan E. Goldstein is the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago.-Work:Jan Goldstein obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1978...
.
Fitzpatrick is the daughter of Australian author Brian Fitzpatrick
Brian Fitzpatrick (Australian author)
Brian Charles Fitzpatrick was an author, historian, journalist and one of the founders of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties....
. In addition to her research, she plays the violin in orchestras and chamber music groups.
Research
Fitzpatrick's research focuses on the social and cultural history of the Stalinist period, particularly on aspects of social identity and daily life. She is currently concentrating on the social and cultural changes in Soviet RussiaRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
of the 1950s and 1960s.
In her early work, Sheila Fitzpatrick focused on the theme of social mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
, suggesting that the opportunity for the working class to rise socially and as a new elite had been instrumental in legitimizing the regime during the Stalinist period. Despite its brutality, Stalinism as a political culture
Political culture
Political culture is the traditional orientation of the citizens of a nation toward politics, affecting their perceptions of political legitimacy.Conceptions...
would have achieved the goals of the democratic revolution
Democratic revolution
A democratic revolution is a political movement or revolution which institutes a democracy and abolishes a non-democratic government.-Concepts:It involves revising a country's constitution to allow for the people to have the power to have:...
. The center of attention was always focused on the victims of the purges rather than its beneficiaries, noted the historian. Yet as a consequence of the "Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
", thousands of workers and communists who had access to the technical colleges during the first five-year plan received promotions to positions in industry, government and the leadership of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
.
According to Fitzpatrick, the "cultural revolution" of the late 1920 and the purges which shook the scientific, literary, artistic and the industrial communities is explained in part by a "class struggle" against executives and intellectual "bourgeois". The men who rose in the 1930s played an active role to get rid of former leaders who blocked their own promotion, and the "Great Turn
Great Turn
The Great Turn or Great Break is the radical change in the economic policy in the Soviet Union in 1928/1929, which primarily consisted in abandoning the New Economic Policy and the acceleration of collectivization...
" found its origins in initiatives from the bottom rather than the decisions of the summit. In this vision, Stalinist policy based on social forces and offered a response to popular radicalism, which allowed the existence of a partial consensus between the regime and society in the 1930s.
Historiographic debates
Fitzpatrick was the leader of the second generation of "revisionist historiansHistorical revisionism
In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
". She was the first to call the group of Sovietologists working on Stalinism in the 1980s "a new cohort of [revisionist] historians".
Fitzpatrick called for a social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
that did not address political issues, in other words that adhered strictly to a "from below" viewpoint. This was justified by the idea that the university had been strongly conditioned to see everything through the prism of the state: "the social processes unrelated to the intervention of the state is virtually absent from the literature." Fitzpatrick did not deny that the state's role in social change of the 1930s was huge. However, she defended the practice of social history "without politics". Most young "revisionists" did not want to separate the social history of the USSR from the evolution of the political system.
Fitzpatrick explained in the 1980s, when the "totalitarian model" was still widely used, "it was very useful to show that the model had an inherent bias and it did not explain everything about Soviet society. Now, whereas a new generation of academics considers sometimes as self evident that the totalitarian model was completely erroneous and harmful, it is perhaps more useful to show than there were certain things about the Soviet company that it explained very well."
Books
- The Commissariat of Enlightenment. Soviet Organization of Education and the Arts under Lunacharsky, 1917–1921. Oxford University Press, 1970.
- (ed.) Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1928–1931. Indiana University Press, 1978.
- Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union, 1921–1932. Cambridge University Press, 1979.
- The Russian Revolution. Oxford University Press, 1st ed., 1982/3; 2nd revised ed. 1994; 3rd revised ed. 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-923767-8
- The Cultural Front. Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia. Cornell University Press, 1992.
- Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization. Oxford University Press, 1994.
- (ed. with Robert Gellately). Accusatory Practices: Denunciation in Modern European History, 1789–1989. University of Chicago Press, 1997.
- Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Oxford University Press, 1999.
- (ed. with Yuri Slezkine). In the Shadow of Revolution: Life Stories of Russian Women from 1917 to the Second World War. Princeton, 2000.
- (ed.) Stalinism: New Directions. Routledge, 2000.
- Tear off the Masks! Identity and Imposture in Twentieth-Century Russia. Princeton University Press, 2005.
- Political Tourists: Travellers from Australia to the Soviet Union in the 1920s–1940s. Eds. Sheila Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Rasmussen. Melbourne University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-522-85530-X
Articles
- "Vengeance and Ressentiment in the Russian Revolution," French Historical Studiesformat 24:4 (2001)
- “Politics as Practice: Thoughts on a New Soviet Political History,” Kritika 5:1 (2004)
- “Happiness and Toska: A Study of Emotions in 1930s Russia,” Australian Journal of Politics and History 50:3 (2004)
- “Social Parasites: How Tramps, Idle Youth, and Busy Entrepreneurs Impeded the Soviet March to Communism,” Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique 47:1–2 (2006).
- “The Soviet Union in the 21st Century,” Journal of European Studies* 37:1 (2007)
External links
- Official Faculty Biography at the University of Chicago
- William Harms, Fitzpatrick one of five distinguished scholars to receive Mellon grant
- William Harms, Steve Koppes, & Jennifer Carnig, Five faculty members elected as fellows of American academy
- William Harms, Graduate Teaching Award