Fish Rot from the Head Down: Narratives of Late Soviet Corruption

• In Event: Law and Legality II: Concepts and Narratives of Soviet Legality

Abstract

Corruption scandals defined the late Soviet era for so many citizens. This paper tells the story of one particularly scandalous case of corruption from three different perspectives: a prosecutor in the case, a journalist who helped expose some of the highest-placed criminals, and a popular writer who gathered stories from working-class victims of the crimes. Written in different stages of reflection and hindsight and in very different genres — from tragedy to farce — these stories give us insights into the ubiquity of corruption and the breadth of its repercussions. It also shows the different ways that Soviet and post-Soviet people reckoned with the past and reconciled the roles that they themselves played in a system that by the end seemed to be defined by criminality.

Author

• Rhiannon Dowling, CUNY Lehman College