We are happy to announce the next presentation of the Visegrad Scholarship at OSA. Join the event online by following the link below!
The presentation will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 26, 2023, online. The Zoom link of the meeting is:https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/99369362814?pwd=ZXgrbG05RFh3NDZYVGU3dkF1V1NzZz09
“Seen as Threat by the Soviets”: Leningrad Youth Movements and the Ambiguities of Gorbachev’s Reforms by
Margarita Pavlova, Doctoral Researcher, Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), Justus Liebig University Giessen
This research investigates how the Leningrad youth attempted to shape urban politics during the perestroika era by bringing the issues of heritage preservation and environmental protection to the forefront of the public realm. The first years of the reforms created an atmosphere of civil engagement, resulting in the proliferation of grassroots youth groups, particularly those involved in the preservation of pre-revolutionary sites from destruction. However, the subsequent repressive measures implemented by the Leningrad authorities shortly after the initial successes of the groups revealed an inconsistency in Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies. Challenging the dominant scholarly view of perestroika as a political campaign primarily driven by Gorbachev, this project draws upon archival sources and oral testimonies to present the period as a turbulent and intricate time in Soviet history that cannot be simply characterized as an era of the top-down reforms.