Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe by Roger D. s> Petersen (review)

Abstract

768 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 The book sounds at times a little simplistic, viewing events from the perspective of the Catholics themselves with occasional comparisons to the Orthodox. Zugger also believes that, in contrast to Nazi atrocities, those perpetrated by the Soviet authorities 'have garnered nowhere near as much attention' (p. xvii) and maintains that many people still refuse to believe accountsof the sufferingimposed on thepeoples of the SovietUnion -hardly a position seriouslyadvanced today. Perhaps inevitably with such a diverse range of sources, there are inconsistenciesin spellingsof names, as well as too many smallmistakesin the bibliographyover spellings,titlesand dates. More significantly,Zugger'sfailureto use Soviet archivalresourcesopened in the past decade and recent research by Russian, Ukrainian and other scholarsusing NKVD case files (such as that by Irina Osipova) is the biggest weakness. However, he has partiallymade up for that by trackingdown an astonishing range of eye-witness and other accounts by and about Soviet Catholicsneverpreviouslyused. Some of the subject material has been well-covered previously by such historians as James Zatko (on the early attacks on Catholics), Hansjakob Stehle (on the Vatican's Ostpolitikand the secret consecrationsin the 1920S) and Antoine Wenger (on Western Catholics' involvement in sustaining the Catholic Churchin the Soviet Union). YetZuggerhas unearthedmuch thatis new and brought together in one volume what is likelyto remain as the most balanced and thorough surveyof Catholic life in the Soviet Union up to the death of Stalin. Let us hope he fulfilshis desire to produce a second volume bringingthe historyup to the end of the Soviet Union. London FELIX CORLEY Petersen, Roger D. Resistance andRebellion. Lessons fromEastern Europe. Studies in Rationalityand Change. CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridgeand New York, 2001. XV+ 321 pp. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. [40.00: $59.95. IN this study, Roger Petersen sets out to capture the dynamics of resistance against repressiveregimes. In theoretical terms, his main concern is to find out what motivatesordinarypeople to rebel in the face of overwhelmingodds. Empirically, the focus is on the popular reaction to the Soviet and Nazi occupationsof Lithuaniaduringthe I940s. Here, Petersendrawson interviews with fortyelderlyLithuaniansand a thoroughreviewof secondarymaterialto offer some fascinating if at times harrowing -insights into the events of theseyears.Locatingthiscore Lithuanianstudywithinthe broadertheoretical literature, Petersen constructs a template of mechanisms 'specific causal patterns that explain individual actions over a wide range of settings' (p. 296) thatserveto initiate,catalyseand sustainrebellion.He thenapplies his hypotheses to a variety of differentcases, in order to test the validity of these mechanismsacrossspace and time. As Petersen notes in his introduction, studies of resistance and rebellion that takethe stateor nation as the sole level of analysiscannot possiblyconvey REVIEWS 769 the tremendous variations in individual behaviour found within these large units. Conversely, those studies that reduce individual calculus to a choice between rebellion and non-rebellion afterdue consideration of the attendant pay-offs tend to obscure rather than elucidate reality. Petersen's own framework appears at once more flexible and sophisticated. It subsumes rational choice approaches, treating instrumental rationality as only one mechanism among many, rather than the be-all-and-end-all. Above all, it conceptualizes rebellion as a process in which an individual typically passes througha spectrumof differentroles.Most attentionis given to the movement from neutrality(0)throughunarmed and unorganizedopposition (+ i) to the formation of more organized structuresof resistance(+ 2). In explaining the initial shiftaway from neutrality,Petersenemphasizesthe emotional factorof resentment formation heavily influenced by perceptions of ethnic hierarchy and offersan interestingdiscussionof how culturalsymbolsprovide a focal-point mechanism for transformingthis resentment into action. This frameworkis used to explain the contrastingresponsesby ethnic Lithuanians to the Soviet and German occupations of I940-44 (includingthe readinessof some sections of the titularpopulation to collude with Nazi policies towards theJewish minority). Petersen'sworkmakesextensive use of thresholdand 'tipping'mechanisms derivedfromgame theory -the logic of 'I will rebelifX percent of the others also rebel' (p. 22). Whereas society as a whole constitutesthe most important referencegroupforindividualsduringthefirstphase, it is the local community that acts as the locus for the formation of more organized resistance. The study of anti-Soviet resistance in 1940S Lithuania highlights the central role played by 'strong communities' and the norms of reciprocity found within them. In this regard, particularattention is given to rural communities, yet reference is also made to...