Wojciech Materski’s book Tsars, Soviets, Putin: A study of Russia’s politics of history gives a synopsis of the politics of history practiced by Russia from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. He shows how irrespectively of the period in its history, Russia’s politics of history have always been used as a tool to integrate the country’s inhabitants, reinforce the cult of their leader, cultivate the social attitudes and stereotypes its rulers wanted the people to embrace, and relativize their mistakes and crimes. He describes the mechanisms at play, which while modified or subject to change over time, nevertheless have always been applied in Russia’s home policy to control its people, and in its foreign relations to pursue its imperial policy by means of a manipulated version of historical discourse. Over the centuries, Russia has been adjusting its historical narrative to suit current needs, as Materski shows in the chapters of this book, from the centuries under the tsars, through revolution and Stalinism, rule by successive Party secretaries from Khrushchev to Chernenko, followed by Mikail Gorbachev and finally the period since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the presidencies of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.
Probably the most complex study of Russia’s politics of history
Materski appreciates the value of an interdisciplinary approach and examines his subject also from the point of view of sociology and political science. His style is reader-friendly, coherent and easy- to-follow over the complex issues making up his subject-matter. He uses a very broad range of source materials, especially Russian and Soviet items, printed documents, diaries, memoirs and interviews, all subjected to his thorough-going criticism and supplemented with a prolific and carefully selected bibliography of reference works and newspaper articles.The broad perspective Materski adopts provides a very substantial supplement to earlier work on the subject, or in fact takes the time range he considers much further, offering the latest, highly original and thoroughly researched synthesis of Russia’s politics of history from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. Earlier contributions to the field (e.g. Black, 1986; Dallin, 2009; Nikžentaitis, 2018; Romańczuk, 2019; and de Graaf and Verpoest, 2022) were not as broad and comprehensive; while Materski’s book summarizes the work in Soviet studies done hitherto on the Soviet/Russian politics of history and extends the field of view he examines, with new findings obtained over many years of research.
You have to know the past to understand the present (Carl Sagan)
All these qualities, alongside the current geopolitical situation overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, make Wojciech Materski’s book an attractive book not only for historians, political scientists, sociologists and specialists in international relations, but also for students and non- specialists looking for information on Russia’s history and foreign policy. Contemporary Russia is proficiently applying manipulated historical arguments to pursue its neo-imperial operations, and want of trustworthy information is preventing Western elites and societies from successfully countering Russian geopolitical intents.
About the Author
Professor Wojciech Materski is a distinguished Polish historian, political scientist and sovietologist affiliated with the Department of East-Central Europe and Post-Soviet Studies in the Institute of Political Science at the Polish Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the history of the Soviet Union and Polish‒Soviet relations, the history of international collective security institutions, and the transformation of the post-Soviet region after 1991. He is the author or joint author of over 500 publications including over 30 books on contemporary history, and has received numerous prizes, including the 2023 Janusz Kurtyka Award for this book. His work has been published in Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Belarus. His holistic approach to Russian politics of history includes Russia’s relations and conduct with respect to the nations and countries which over the centuries have been the targets of its imperialism.
About the Janusz Kurtyka Award
The aim of the Competition for the Janusz Kurtyka Award is to select and highlight the
best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. The award-winning book is
expected to contribute to the commemoration and nurturing of Polish culture and
history, and, most crucially, disseminate knowledge about the history of Poland beyond
its borders. The winning book is translated into foreign languages and distributed
abroad.
Books published as part of the Janusz Kurtyka Award
As yet, as part of the Janusz Kurtyka Award, the Janusz Kurtyka Foundation has published following books:
Wolsza T., Encounter with Katyn: The Wartime and Postwar Story of Poles Who Saw the Katyn Site in 1943, Janusz Kurtyka Foundation, Carolina Academic Press, Durham 2018, ss. 421, ISBN 978-1-5310-1537-4.
Buy: https://cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781531015374/Encounter-with-Katy?srsltid=AfmBOopqwOHAMZ8GhIWo0Yh3P8sBEXWeuSAkdt04hBwMmcqTowGs45iK
Chwalba A., Der Krieg der anderen. Die Polen und der Erste Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Peter Lang, Janusz Kurtyka Stiftung, Warschau 2021, ss. 442, ISBN 978-3631831281.
Buy: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1117800
Chwalba A., The People of Poland at War: 1914-1918, Peter Lang, Janusz Kurtyka Foundation, Warsaw 2021, ss. 426, ISBN 978-3631838457.
Buy: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1117796
Markowski D. K., Zwei Aufstände. Die Schlacht um Lemberg 1918, Peter Lang, Janusz Kurtyka Stiftung, Warschau 2021, ss. 456, ISBN 978-3631829738.
Buy: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1117825
Markowski D. K., Lwów or L’viv? Two Uprisings in 1918, Peter Lang, Janusz Kurtyka Foundation, Warsaw 2021, ss. 412, ISBN 978-3631829721.
Buy: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1117819
Nowak A., Das vergessene Appeasement von 1920. Lloyd George, Lenin und Polen, De Gruyter, Oldenbourg 2024, ss. 398, ISBN 978-3-111-33188-1.
Buy: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111331881/html?srsltid=AfmBOorSy6QWX4J3ElMhi-Cj7k-VJFpuE2iocuo75qKnWa-VS8KvZNp1
Benken P., The Mysterious Death of Jan „Anoda” Rodowicz, Peter Lang, Janusz Kurtyka Foundation, Warsaw 2023, ss. 280, ISBN 978-3-631-90854-9.
Buy:https://www.peterlang.com/document/1452570
Nowak A., The Forgotten Appeasement of 1920: Lloyd-George, Lenin and Poland, Routledge, London 2023, ss. 408, ISBN 978-1032434636.
Buy: https://www.routledge.com/The-Forgotten-Appeasement-of-1920-Lloyd-George-Lenin-and-Poland/Nowak/p/book/9781032434650?srsltid=AfmBOoo71SMHV4gtB4cXjb5HjMTeTWT4C50ECxbQWo7Cu2jBPYXVod5W
Publication of the book by Professor Materski is part of a larger project entitled Internationalizing Polish Historiography through the Promotion of the Best Books on Polish History (2023- 2025), conducted by the Janusz Kurtyka Foundation and financed from Polish
government funds within the framework of the „Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II”
(Scholarship and Social Responsibility) program conducted by the Polish Minister for
Science and Higher Education. The project combines several of the Foundation’s
activities connected with its fundamental initiative as developed in the Janusz Kurtyka
Award.
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