Ideology and Ritual: How Stalinist Rituals Shaped The Thaw in the USSR, 1953–4

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between a few Soviet writers, the leadership of the Writers’ Union and administrators at the Central Committee as they navigated a new landscape using old forms of Soviet political ritual. Throughout 1953–4, writers demanded a Writers’ Union based on discussion (diskussiia), a ritual taken from Stalinist times. They argued that decision‐making should come not from Central Committee bureaucrats, but from the writers themselves. Understanding writers’ meetings as Stalinist rituals allows us to see the limits of criticism and the confusion among the Party leadership. Without the Party defining the content of the ritual or determining a winner at the end, old practices quickly became vehicles for challenging the Party’s bureaucratic control mechanisms.