Book Review: The Taproot of Soviet Society
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| Author | John Greer Nicholson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800123 |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEW
111
THE
TAPROOT
OF
SOVIET
SOCIETY.
The
Impact
of
Russia's
Peasant
Culture
upon
the
Soviet
State.
By
Nicholas
P.
Vakar.
Introduction
by
Harrison
E.
Salisbury.
1961.
(New
York:
Harper
and
Bros. xiii,
203pp.
$4.75.)
Nicholas
Vakar
is
Professor
of
Russian
Civilization
at
Wheaton
College
in
Massachusetts and
in
his
book
he
seeks
our
assent
to
the
following
thesis:
"In
the
Soviet
Union
...
the
archaic
family
pattern
has
been
a
source
and
main
support
of
the
totalitarian
political
system
. . .
The
closed
society
of
the
Soviet
type
...
is
modeled,
both
actually
and
psychologically,
after
the
culturally
isolated
village
in which
so
many
of
the
leaders
of
Stalinist
times grew
up."
However
cautious
Vakar
may
be in
his
reasoning,
however
well-documented
many
of
his
points
are,
he
is
nevertheless
asserting
that
Soviet
com-
munism
is
"peasant-shaped"
and
that
its
ideology
consists
of
"peasant
concepts
wrapped
in
ritualistic
words."
Before
we
can
accept
this
view
we
must
be
sure
that
the
author's
argument
is
consistent.
Unfortunately,
it
is
not.
One
inconsistent
feature
is
this:
If
the
peasants
took
over
in
the
USSR
("former peasants
engrossed
political
power,"
as
Vakar
says), why
have
the
Soviet
communists'
greatest
difficulties
been
ex-
perienced in
handling
their
own
kind-the
peasants?
Also,
Stalin,
a
Georgian educated
in
a
seminary,
was
hardly
a
typical Russian
peasant.
Another
difficulty is
this:
Why should
the
accession to
power
of
the
theoretically
"genuine"
peasant
Khrushchev
coincide
with
a
movement
away
from
the
totalitarian
and
"archaic
family
pattern"?
While
he
recognizes
that
the
word
"peasant"
itself presents
a
semantic
problem,
and
insists
that
what
he
says
"about
the
peasant"
is
not
said
"against
him",
Professor Vakar
is
nevertheless
clearly
shocked
by
the
"crudity
of
the
new
world." He
traces
to
peasant
origins
the
bad
manners
shown
by
many
Soviet citizens.
In
his
most
stimulating
chapter
entitled
"Creeds
and
Credentials"
Vakar
notes
the
tendency
of
present
Soviet
leaders
to
be
pragmatic.
He
calls Mr.
Khrushchev
the
"practical man
of
rural
upbringing."
However,
pragmatism
is
not-
more
closely
linked
with
rural
than
with
city life.
Indeed,
even
to
say
that
the
"peasants"
have
taken
over
is
not
to
say
anything
very
startling,
for half
of
all
living
Russians
are
peasants,
and
three
quarters are
the
children
of
peasants. Negotiat-
ing
with
the
Soviet
Union
may
resemble
the
bargaining
session
between
village
kulaks.
It
may
just
as
well
resemble
the
city
poker game.
In
his
bibliographical notes
Professor
Vakar
states
that
there "has
developed a
quite
unexpected
affinity
among Russian,
Chinese,
Congo-
lese,
and
Cuban
souls."
This
statement
has
been shown
wrong
by
events.
The
old
national rivalries,
rather
than
"peasant
affinities", seem
more powerful
medicine
nowadays.
Although
the
burden
of
Vakar's
argument
remains
unproved,
his
book
does
not
fail
to
stimulate thought.
Inconsistency
in
the
argument
does
not
detract
from
such
descriptive
gems
as
the
thumb-nail
sketch
of
Mikhail Suslov ("a medicine
man"
and
"chief
augur").
The
bibliographical notes
and
bibliography
are
excellent..
McGill
University
JOHN
GREER
NICHOLSON
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