Chernyshova, Natalya. Soviet Consumer Culture in the Brezhnev Era (review)

Abstract

SEER, 92, 4, OCTOBER 2014 786 regarding the impact of the Stalin cult on its bearers (p. 6). But to explain de-Stalinization, is it not important to take into account the mechanisms of ‘Stalinization’, as well as the ways in which some (very few) writers managed to remain relatively immune to the Stalin cult? Indeed, there were writers whose experience of Stalinism was very different from that of Simonov. What was their role in de-Stalinization? Jones does not explain her reasons for focusing on Dudintsev, Paustovskii, Simonov, Bek, etc. I understand that she considers their writings as serious works of memory. One cannot escape the impression that she feels sympathy with Simonov whom she describes as someone who was sincerely interested in historical truth (p. 184). But several important figures are marginalized as a result of this choice. Solzhenitsyn appears only occasionally, Pasternak (whose Doctor Zhivago offers an important perspective on Soviet experience) is mentioned only once, while Akhmatova and Shalamov are not mentioned at all. Other absent names include Iuri Pilar and Boris Diakov, whose ‘politically correct’ accounts of the repressions — Liudi Ostaiutsia Liudmi (1963) and Povest´ o Perezhitom (1966) — were among the very few available readings on the topic in Brezhnev’s USSR. To be sure, the author could not, and did not have to, cover everything. But the book would have profited from a more careful relating of its story to a broader context of Soviet politics and culture. Finally, a minor remark: Furtseva’s first name was Ekaterina, not Elena (pp. 170, 358). School of History, Technology, and Society Nikolay Koposov Georgia Institute of Technology Chernyshova, Natalya. Soviet Consumer Culture in the Brezhnev Era. BASEES/ Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies, 90. Routledge, London and New York, 2013. xviii + 259 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Note on sources. Index. £95.00. In recent years, scholars have begun to revise the image of the Brezhnev era as one of ‘stable stagnation’, delving into the ways in which acceptance of that image has concealed a state that adjusted its policies in response to social changes and pressures from below and an increasingly educated, diverse population fragmented by material differences. Natalya Chernyshova’s book extends this historiographical trend, presenting a regime whose very attempts to fulfil the promises of previous generations of Communist leaders ultimately undermined it. The book examines ‘as a package’ (p. 6) Soviet consumers’ attitudes and practices and their interactions with the state to argue that during the ‘long 1970s’ the ‘Soviet consumer finally came of age’ (p. 2). She further argues that the same policies that helped engender the Soviet consumer also bred frustration and individualism and gave rise to a ‘self-assertiveness’ that REVIEWS 787 eventually brought about the collapse of Communism and prepared Russians for capitalism (p. 202). Presenting evidence from an array of consumer and economic surveys, she demonstrates that the population’s living standard reached an unprecedented level, and she credits the Brezhnev government for this development. Khrushchev’s housing campaign, which continued into the 1970s, brought separate, private dwellings to more than 200 million people. Moreover, policies that kept prices artificially low, increased wages and imported more and more foreign goods afforded many urban consumers the opportunity to enjoy an arrayofconsumergoodssimilartothosethatcitizensinWestGermany,France, Britain and the United States were also enjoying for the first time. This set of policies, she argues, raised expectations, conditioning consumers to be more discriminating and to reject the poorly-made, unfashionable goods that many state enterprises churned out. In her version, the regime’s attempts to improve living conditions worked all too well. She is quick to point out, however, the real limits of this ‘consumer boom’ (p. 3), noting that the wardrobes and home interiors of Soviet citizens never matched those of consumers in the West in terms of fashion, quality or quantity. The strongest and most satisfying chapters of the book illuminate some of the vexing paradoxes of the Brezhnev era. Chernyshova explains why, for example, as the number of radios, washing machines and furniture sets increased, consumers often complained that ‘there is nothing to buy’ (p. 139). As it turns out, the Brezhnev leadership promised to produce more consumer goods without...