Petrov, Petre and Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara (eds) The Vernaculars of Communism: Language, Ideology and Power in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 531 Kulish’s synthetic view of language lost out to the growing vernacular trend cultivated in both SW/Galicia and SE Ukraine. This is a well-researched, meticulous and erudite analysis that offers a wealth of information on the development of literary Ukrainian and Kulish’s lasting contribution to the effort. It is a remarkable achievement and a welcome contribution to Ukrainian studies. Department of Slavic Languages George Mihaychuk Georgetown University Petrov, Petre and Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara (eds). The Vernaculars of Communism: Language, Ideology and Power in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe, 21. Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2015. xiv + 229 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £100.00. One of the first signs of the ‘thaw’ that began in much of the USSR after the death of Stalin was the publication of Vladimir Pomerantsev’s rambling essay ‘about sincerity in [Soviet] literature’. Without spelling it out, he questions whether not only numerous writers and literary critics but also agricultural workers and members of the legal profession really meant and believed some of what they wrote for publication and/or said at official meetings. Naturally, one can question how sincere Pomerantsev himself and his editors at Novyi mir and in Glavlit were while preparing this text for final publication — there are not only some long, wooden sentences but entire stilted paragraphs that give the impression that all the intelligent people involved were playing a game for the supposed good of their cause (as Solzhenitsyn later put it). Their end may well have justified their compromises, as, in any especially low-trust and not very free society, who could then (and who can now) expect most people to reveal all their real thoughts and opinions? This situation has enormous implications for the use, misuse and abuse of language in all countries. One of the fictional works that seems to allude to Pomerantsev’s essay is Aleksandr Iashin’s short story Rychagi (Levers), which came out a little while later. Whereas the former has a section on whether it is better to treat people as objects or as human beings, Iashin shows how Russian agricultural workers think and speak like human beings before and after their local CPSU meeting, but, almost without realizing it, turn themselves (or are turned) into levers (without, however, having much leverage) while they discuss Party business, falling into (the Party) line for what is assumed to be the good of the cause. Clearly, this sort of bilingualism has serious implications for both SEER, 95, 3, JULY 2017 532 the development and the degradation of language as such, and it is against this background that the valuable book under review should be read. For better or for worse, the nine scholars whose work is represented here generally refrain from indulging in sociological and psychological speculation. However, these aspects are relevant for post-Communist language use as well, as is shown, for instance, by two Russian journalists, both called Andrei Kolesnikov. One of them is well aware of President Putin’s ability to slip, in moderation, colloquial Russian turns of phrase into his official speeches, which may well be one of the causes of his current popularity. The ‘other’ Kolesnikov posted an article, ‘“We went skiing”: How the Kremlin Lost the Ability to Speak Normally’, on the Carnegie Moscow Center’s website as recently as on 5 April 2017. One might assume that if Russia is ever to become a ‘normal’ country, its leaders will have to make more progress in treating its citizens less as ‘objects’ and ‘levers’ and more as independent individuals whom they, the leaders, are serving. Neither Pomerantsev nor Iashin is mentioned in this book, and neither are Andrei Siniavskii and Aleksandr Zinov´ev. However, Victor Klemperer’s highly relevant work on what happened to the German language during and, to an important extent, after the Nazi period is referred to by three of the contributors. Orwell and newspeak also crop up here and there. Moreover, although this collection is inevitably Russia orientated, Călin Morar-Vulcu discusses some of the (not very surprising) shifts over time in the Romanian Communist official discourse, James...