Enduring Repression

Narratives of Loyalty to the Party Before, During and After the Gulag

Bibliographic Data

ID12299503
AuthorsNanci Adler (NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume62
Issue2
Pages211-234
Publication date2010-02-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEurope Asia Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8136 • E-ISSN: 1465-3427
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09668130903506797
OpenAlexW2044043301
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited38

This article documents the attitudes—especially those of loyalty—among Gulag prisoners and returnees toward the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and seeks to ascertain how their incarceration subsequently influenced those sentiments. It is paradoxical that some prisoners—many of whom were falsely convicted—endured gruelling, barely survivable, lengthy terms of labour camp and prison and emerged maintaining their loyalty toward the system of government that was responsible for their imprisonment. With the materials that have become available, we can now begin to understand this phenomenon. Explanations include the ‘traumatic bond’ (Stockholm Syndrome), communism (the Party) as a surrogate for institutionalised religion, cognitive dissonance and functionalism. This issue may offer insight into the larger question of how repressive regimes are maintained

Cognitive dissonance · Communism · Criminology · Gulag · Imprisonment · Loyalty · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prison · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Law · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social Psychology