152 SEER, 8i, I, 2003 Kuntzel, Kristina. Von Jfiznj JNovgorod zu Gor'k#. Metamorphosen einerrussischen Provinzstadt. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des ostlichen Europa, 6o. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 200I. 3I8 pp. Illustrations.Tables. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography.Index. ?69.oo. OVER the lasttwo or threedecades the historyof Russia'stownsandprovinces has been gradually receiving more attention, and this book is a welcome additionto the trend.It concentrateson certainaspectsof Nizhnii Novgorod's life:the Pecherskiimonastery,the annualtradefairand the greatexhibition of I896, the Sormovo works and the cultural and educational institutions. Kuntzel shows how the city developed as a commercial centre thanks to its ideal situation at the confluence of the Oka and Volga rivers, and its good communications in all directions, including eastwards to the Urals and Siberia. During the annual fair, Nizhnii became a microcosm of the empire, with traders and manufacturers from Poland, the Baltic, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia rubbing shoulders. Industry established itself at Sormovo, on the left bank of the Oka, with shipbuildingfor the Volga, and waslaterextended with theproductionof locomotives, tracksand rollingstock for the railways.The combination of industryand trade ensuredthat Nizhnii did not go through the economic depressionwhich beset most Russian cities after I892, but continued to grow and to develop its municipal services. In 1905-I906, though, for the same reasons, Sormovo was a major centre of workers'unrest. Kuntzel suggeststhat, as in Moscow, the conflictscaused by economic injusticewereexacerbatedbythelargenumberofrecentimmigrants fromthe countryside,nearlyhalfof thepopulation, stillimperfectlyintegrated into the city. The Soviet period began with a double expropriation. First the church schools were subordinated to Narkompros, the churches themselves were robbed of theirvaluables and the monasteriesdeprived of funds till they had to close. Secondly, the trade fair was suspended, though the products of cottage industry and specialist goods from regions such as Siberia and the Caucasus continued to be bought and sold in the city, especially duringJuly and August, when the fair had takenplace. It was reopened in I922, and for severalyearsplayed a majorrole in inter-regionalcommerce, but the turnover was much lower than before 19I4. The fair stumbled on till 1929, supported by those in the Soviet leadership who wanted to revive the economy by encouraging private, co-operative and foreign trade. With the coming of the totally planned economy, however, it was reckoned altogether superfluous. Kuntzel maintainsthatwith itsclosurea majorfocus of inter-ethnictradewas lost, and much of the distinctivenessof Nizhnii disappeared(p. 201). Nizhnii Novgorod now became Gor'kii,in honour of the great proletarian writer who had become first chairman of the new Soviet Writers' Union. Sormovo was a focus of the workers'protest movement of i 9 I9 against food shortages, low wages, single-party rule and the privileges being given to Communists. A few years later, as Krasnoe Sormovo, it became one of the Soviet Union's leading producers of armaments, warships and later atomic submarines.According to Kuntzel the publishedrecordsgive a pale and semianonymous picture of the factory. Strongly integrated into the city before REVIEWS I53 I9I7, and a constant object of concern to the municipality,it was now subject wholly to the centralplanning agencies and industrialministriesin Moscow. Kuntzel argues that in the Soviet period Nizhnii lost its significance as a religious and commercial centre, and its lively cultural life was also undermined . Once a forum for internationalmeetings and exchanges, it became a closed city, and even passenger ships had to pass it at night if they had foreignerson board.During the Sovietperiod it gainedmany new educational institutions,but lost its lively theatre and the animated intellectualdiscussion groups. This historydoes not fulfilall the expectationsit might arouse. The Nizhnii archives are among the richest and best catalogued provincial collections in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the author has used them only sparingly, the former party archives not at all. Her list of sources does not referto archivematerials,and she does not provide a descriptionof the fonds she has used, though it would have been very useful to later scholars. Her account of institutions and economic life quite often relies on official handbooks rather than on the memoirs or oral recollections of real people. Not even Gor'kii is quoted as an eye-witness. There are strange omissions: thus, on page I56 we are told...
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Mar 19, 2022
Jonathan M Bullinger 
