Law and Legality III: New Histories of Soviet Law

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the functioning of Soviet criminal justice after World War II. The first two papers examine individual court cases. The paper by Juliette Cadiot, which focuses on investigations by the political police, reveals the unexpected collaboration and sharing of values and ideas among investigators of the MGB and of the Procuracy. It also suggests that careful study of trials and investigations can help us understand not only norms of justice among officials but also among ordinary citizens, especially in their capacity as witnesses and defendants. The second paper, by Franziska Exeler, based on the 1947 Chernihiv trial, asks what counted – and counts – as a reliable historical source – and for whom? It assesses what types of information on the war were available to members of the 1947 Chernihiv military tribunal, what was selected by the procurators as evidence, and what status can be assigned to these materials by scholars today? The paper connects the trial to more theoretical discussions on law in authoritarian regimes – and what could be called degrees of “legal illiberalism”– as well as to questions of knowledge production. The final paper by Yoram Gorlizki assesses the internal dynamics of the criminal justice agencies and the degree to which they were shaped by ideas grounded in the Soviet Constitution. This panel is part of a themed series on Law and Legality.

Sub Unit

• Politics/Law

Chair

• James W. Heinzen, Rowan U

Papers

• Rapid Punishment: Retaliatory and Efficient Justice in the USSR after World War II - Juliette Cadiot, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (France)

• The 1947 Soviet Military Trial at Chernihiv and Some Reflections on the Nature of Soviet Postwar Justice. - Franziska Exeler, Freie U Berlin (Germany)

• A Soviet Rule of Law: Justice and the Constitution in Soviet Russia - Yoram Gorlizki, U of Manchester (UK)

Discussant

• Benjamin I Nathans, U of Pennsylvania