The Good People: Loyalty and Betrayal in Moscow’s House of Government, 1937–1938

Authors

  • Yuri Slezkine Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22364/luzv.9.10.04

Keywords:

Soviet repressions, Russian revolution, morality in extreme situations, House of Government

Abstract

This essay is an abridged and revised excerpt from the book The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution. It deals with the reactions to mass arrests of 1937–1938 within the House of Government in Moscow, including silence, vigilance, book-burning, soul-searching, and self-sacrifice. The central questions have to do with the puzzle of what constituted moral behavior, what was meant by loyalty and betrayal, and who, and why, could be considered a “good person.”

Author Biography

Yuri Slezkine, Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley

Yuri Slezkine (1956) is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley; Senior Research Fellow at St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford; and Senior Research Associate at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. His books include “The Jewish Century” (Princeton, 2004) and “The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution” (Princeton, 2017) etc.

Jurijs Sļozkins (1956) ir Amerikas Mākslu un zinātņu akadēmijas loceklis, Kalifornijas Universitātes (Bērkli, ASV) profesors, vadošais pētnieks Oksfordas Universitātes Sv. Edmunda koledžā, Krievijas prezidenta Krievijas Tautsaimniecības un valsts dienesta akadēmijas vecākais pētnieks. Vairāku grāmatu autors: “Ebreju gadsimts” (angļu val.) (Prinstona, 2004), “Valdības māja: Krievu revolūcijas sāga” (angļu val.) (Prinstona, 2017) u. c.

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Published

2021-03-24

How to Cite

Slezkine, Y. (2021). The Good People: Loyalty and Betrayal in Moscow’s House of Government, 1937–1938 . Journal of the University of Latvia. History | Latvijas Universitātes Žurnāls. Vēsture, (9/10), 80–98. https://doi.org/10.22364/luzv.9.10.04

Issue

No. 9/10 (2020): Latvijas Universitātes Žurnāls. Vēsture

Section

Raksti | Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Latvijas Universitāte

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