Toward an Objective Evaluation of the Complexities of Soviet Social Reality under Stalin

Abstract

John Komlos is one of the leading specialists on international comparative anthropometric history, and Steven L. Hoch is a leading specialist on the Russian peasantry. Their responses to my paper are a little disappointing, for they seem to have failed to grasp the main points of my argument and, despite my warnings, they have continued to view this problem from the standpoint of political interest. They both appear to be more concerned with condemning the Soviet system than with attempting to understand that system. My paper concluded by stating: “It is unfortunate that our academic debates are not used to confronting a complex situation in which secular improvements in welfare and mortality are accompanied by massive short-term crises in welfare and mortality. Instead of concentrating on the question, Who is to blame, we need to know more clearly What really happened? How large was the crisis? What factors were causing or moderating the secular trend?”