Book Launch: Moscow and the Non-Russian Republics in the Soviet Union. Nomenclatura, Intelligentsia,and Centre-Periphery Relations

Editors Li Bennich-Björkman and Saulius Grybkauskas discuss Moscow and the Non-Russian Republics in the Soviet Union. Nomenclatura, Intelligentsia,and Centre-Periphery Relations (Routledge, Basees series, Dec.2021) with Dr. Violeta Davoliūtė,  Professor at Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, and Senior Researcher at the Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute.

This book examines what came to determine the local power and character of the Communist party-state at the level of the national non-Russian republics. It discusses how, although the Soviet Union looked centralised and monolithic to outsiders, local party-states formed their own fiefdoms and had very considerable influence over many policies areas within their republics. It argues that local party-states were shaped by two decisive relationships - to the central Communist party in Moscow and to local constituencies, especially to the local intelligentsia and the creative professions who constituted the local party-states’ biggest potential adversaries. It shows how local party-states negotiated stability and their own survival, and contends that the effects of "Sovietisation" continue to be felt in the independent states which succeeded the republics, particularly in the field of the relationship with Moscow, which remains of immense importance to these countries.

The book launch will be hosting a cheese and wine mingel afterwards.