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Gregory Massell. The Surrogate Proletariat. Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-1929.

Biblioteca / 1970-1979

Gregory Massell. The Surrogate Proletariat. Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-1929.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974.

490 páginas.

El intento de modernización de Asia Central por parte del gobierno soviético central en la década de 1920 supuso un dramático enfrentamiento entre unos comunistas radicales, decididos y autoritarios y un conjunto de sociedades musulmanas tradicionales basadas en el parentesco, las costumbres y la religión. Las autoridades soviéticas estaban decididas a socavar el orden social tradicional mediante la destrucción de las estructuras familiares existentes y trabajaron para lograr este aspecto de la revolución mediante la movilización de las mujeres.
El estudio de Gregory J. Massell sobre la interacción entre el poder central y las tradiciones locales se centra en el desarrollo de los roles femeninos en la modernización revolucionaria. En las sociedades musulmanas, las mujeres estaban segregadas, explotadas y degradadas; eran, por tanto, un punto débil estructural del orden tradicional: un proletariado sustituto. Se creía que a través de este grupo potencialmente subversivo podrían generarse intensos conflictos en el seno de la sociedad que llevarían a su desintegración y posterior reconstitución.
La primera parte del libro aísla las tendencias que hicieron a Asia Central vulnerable a la intervención exterior y examina los factores que impulsaron a las élites comunistas a recurrir a las mujeres musulmanas como potenciales aliadas revolucionarias. En la segunda parte, el profesor Massed analiza las percepciones soviéticas de la inferioridad femenina y del potencial revolucionario de las mujeres musulmanas. La tercera parte es un relato de acciones soviéticas específicas basadas en estas suposiciones. La cuarta parte del libro trata de la variedad de respuestas que suscitaron estas acciones.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE

Revolution and Tradition: The Initial Confrontation

1 – IMPOSING A STRUCTURE OF POWER IN CENTRAL ASIA: THE DETERMINANTS OF SOVIET SUCCESS

The Setting: An Overview

The Soviet Conquest: Conditioning Factors

Discontinuity between Local Concerns and Supra-Communal Issues: General Implications

2 – PROBLEMS OF ACCESS AND INFLUENCE IN A TRADITIONAL MILIEU: THE QUEST FOR STRATEGIC LEVERAGE POINTS

Problems of Access and Influence: The Relevance of Leninism

Problems of Access and Influence: Initial Approaches

The Quest for Leverage: The Imperatives of «Action in Depth»

PART TWO

Justification for Action: The Potential Use of Women in Revolutionary Transformation

3 – MOSLEM WOMEN AS A SURROGATE PROLETARIAT: SOVIET PERCEPTIONS OF FEMALE INFERIORITY

Toward a Vision of a Surrogate Proletariat

The Catalogue and Imagery of Female Inferiority

4 – FEMALE INFERIORITY AND RADICAL SOCIAL CHANGE: SOVIET PERCEPTIONS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF WOMEN

Revolutionary Action as Activation of a Surrogate Proletariat: Some Implicit Soviet Assumptions

The Action-Scheme: Soviet Perceptions of Operational Imperatives and Opportunities

PART THREE

Early Soviet Actions, 1924-1927

INTRODUCTION – TOWARD A STRATEGY OF ENGINEERED REVOLUTION

Revolutionary Action as Insurgency by an Incumbent

Alternatives for a Strategy of Engineered Revolution: Revolutionary Legalism, Administrative Assault, and Systematic Social Engineering

5 – TOWARD RADICAL JUDICIAL REFORM: THE PATTERN OF REVOLUTIONARY LEGALISM

Determinants and Objectives

The Drive Against Traditional Legal Structures

The Drive Against Traditional Legal Norms

6 – TOWARD CULTURAL REVOLUTION BY DECREE: THE PATTERN OF ADMINISTRATIVE ASSAULT

Determinants and Objectives

Khudzhum: Head-On Assault on Customs and Taboos

PART FOUR

Responses and Outcomes, 1925-1929

INTRODUCTION – HERETICAL MODELS AND THE MANAGEMENT OF INDUCED TENSIONS

Revolutionary Action as a Tension-Management System

Legalism and Assault as Heretical Models

Responses and Outcomes: Problems of Assessment

7 – PATTERNS OF POPULAR RESPONSE: IMPLICATIONS OF TENSION-INDUCING ACTION

Patterns of Popular Response: Females

Patterns of Popular Response: Males

8 – PATTERNS OF INSTITUTIONAL PERFORMANCE: IMPLICATIONS OF TENSION-CONTROLLING ACTION

Soviet Administrative Apparatus: Native Personnel Behavior

Soviet Administrative Apparatus: Non-Native Personnel Behavior

9 – REASSESSMENT AND RETRENCHMENT: FROM LEGALISM AND ASSAULT TO SYSTEMATIC SOCIAL ENGINEERING

Reassessment: Implications of Massive Enforcement and Repression

Retrenchment: Toward Systematic Social Engineering

Reassessment and Retrenchment: General Implications

10 – SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: REFLECTIONS ON THE LIMITS OF LEGALISM AND ASSAULT AS REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES

BIBLIOGRAPHY