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Rats and Resentment: The Demobilization of the Red Army in Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50Author(s): Robert DaleSource: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Jan., 2010), pp. 113-133Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40542908 .Accessed: 06/09/2014 20:22

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Journal f Contemporary istory opyright 20 1 The Author. Vol 45(1), 113-133. ISSN 0022-0094.DOI: 1 .1 177/0022009409348964

Robert Dale

Rats and Resentment: The Demobilizationof the Red Army n Postwar Leningrad,1945-50

AbstractThis article eassesses he myth f the heroic homecoming nd successfulrintgration f RedArmy eterans eturning oLeningrad fter 945.Sovietpropaganda reated n official ersion f demobilization, hichpresentedveterans s exemplary itizens ho returned o civilian ifewith elative ase.Thismyth reated he mpressionhat rdinary eningraders elcomed omereturning eteranss heroes. hroughout he wentieth entury he emobiliza-tion f mass onscript rmies eneratedensionsnddifficulties. cross uropethe xperiencef demobilizationnthewakeof ndustrialized arfare reatedresentment, isaffectionnd anger. n contrast o officialmyths, eningrad'sveterans ere ittle ifferent rom heir ounterparts lsewhere. eports asedon veterans' etters ntercepted y the military ensor eveal hat many x-servicemen eredeeply esentful f the reception hey eceivedn postwarLeningrad. he frustrations f demobilization ereblamed n rear-line ats',a term f derision or fficials elieved o have shirked ront-line ervice nfavour f afer dministrative obs.Theseproblems erenot magined ydis-affected eterans. ther ocuments onfirm hat orruption nd bureaucracywerewidespread roblems. espite hese immering esentments,hemyth fa successful emobilizationasremained

emarkablyurable ndcontinues o

beaccepted y historians nd thegeneral opulation.

Keywords: emobilization,eningrad, yth, oviet nion, eterans

On Sunday8July 945 a military arade through he treets f Leningradwasorganized o honour he city's eroicwartime efenders. ensof thousandsof Leningradershronged he treets, xpecting o receive he peciallyhosenguards' egiments n a manner efitting eroes. he spectacle f thousands f

This rticle s derived rom larger hDproject enerously unded y heArts nd HumanitiesResearch ouncil f the United ingdomAHRC). am particularly rateful o the AHRC forsupportingn extended eriod f rchival esearchnStPetersburgndMoscow. would lso iketo thank members f he History ab' seminar t the nstitute f Historical esearch, niversityof London or n opportunity opresent nd discuss n earlier ersion f this rticle. am alsoindebtedothe dvice nd riticism fCatherine erridale ndRichard essel; aturallyhey earnoresponsibilityor he deas ontained ithin his rticle.

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I 14 Journal f Contemporary History ol 45 No I

pristine-lookingoldiersmarching ast ndisciplinedines hrilled he ubilantcrowds. ven he heavy olice presence ailed o dampen he rowd's pirits.The parade received xtensive ocal and nationalpress coverage.Articlesand photographs ecorded omen nd children howering hetroops withbouquets f flowers ndreported oignant asesof oldiers eunited ith am-ilies fter ears f eparation.1he amepomp ndcircumstanceharacterizedthe welcomingeremonies or emobilized oldiers, ho from mid-July 945began rriving n their housands. n the arly aysof mass demobilization,cheering omen nd children rowded heplatforms f railway tations, nx-ious to be reunited ith heir oved nes.2 imilar eremonies ere rganizedincities, owns nd villagescross he oviet nion.

Officially, eturning oldierswerewelcomed ome s heroes,weregivenextensivetate ssistance ndquickly eadapted o normal ivilian ife. n real-ity, ewveterans eceived he heroes'welcome escribed n the press.Manywere isappointedy he eceptionhey eceived.his rticle eeks o challengethe official yths urrounding emobilizationn Leningrad. irst, t sketchesthe ontours f these myths nd contrasts hemwith he xperience f otherdemobilizingrmies nd societies. t then ocuments he esentment rovokedby the difficulties f demobilization, problem argely bscured y Soviet

propaganda. he article ocuses pon the resentments reated y veterans'interaction ith he tate pparatus esponsible or asing heir intgration.Popular pinion ources, orroborated yofficial ocuments, eveal hat hetransition o normal ivilian ifewas far rom imple. ngered nd frustratedby he eality f demobilization,eningrad's eterans lamed orrupt ureau-crats or heirwoes. n making hese rguments nd uncoveringhese argelyforgotten esentments,he rticle raws n a wealth f archivalmaterials ndneglected ublishedources,many ever reviouslyxamined.

In the first eeks of demobilization eningrad's eturning eterans eregreeted ith anfares, unting nd elebrations. his ubilation as not ntirelyspontaneous, ut ather he roduct f n orchestrated ropaganda ampaign.In response o national irectives,heLeningrad arty's ropaganda rgansmobilized heir esources o create he mpression hatdemobilizedoldiersreturned o a heroes'welcome.3ropaganda imed o persuade eningradersof the need o treat eterans ith espect nd surround hemwith are and

1 On 10July 945Leningradskaypravda evoted hree f ts four ages ocoverage f theparade.Leningrad strechaet eroev-gvardeitsev',rasnaya vezda, 0July 945,2; 'Leningradvstrechaet eroicheskikhoinov', rud' 10 July 945, 2; 'Nezabyvaemyien , Leningradskiiuniversitet,3July 945, . Many hanks o the Museum f he History f Saint etersburgtate

Universityor haring newly cquired iary ontaining he eactions f student o the paradeand ts policing.2 'Eshelon rishel z Berlina... eningradtsystrechaiut oinov obeditelei',mena, August1945,1; Vstrecha obeditelei',mena, August 945,1.3 For a more detailed xamination f this process, ee Mark Edele, ovietVeterans f theSecondWorldWar:APopularMovementn n Authoritarian ociety, 941-1991Oxford 008),7-8, 22-38; and Catherine erridale,van's War: The Red Army 939-1945 London 005),310-12.



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Dale: The Demobilization of the Red Army n Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50 I 1

attention. eningrad's omsomol ellsmade rantic reparationso ensure hatthe ity's ailway latforms erebedecked ith anners, lowers, osters ndportraits f Stalin.4 hepropaganda pparatus ncouraged ocal and regionalnewspapers o report pon these elebrations, heenthusiastic intgrationof veterans nto he workplace nd their ontribution o the nation's ocialandpolitical ife. osters nd a new genre f article elebrated he xemplarydiscipline nd productivity f former oldiers.5 he state went o consider-ablelengths o ensure hat veterans ere ware of the benefits vailable othem, ven f hey idnot lways nderstand hefiner etail. emobilizationlegislation nd details f benefits ere publishedwidely n the press ndreproduced n convenient ocket-books. efore oldiers were demobilized,officers nd party gitators xplained ntitlementsn speeches,ectures ndindividual onsultations.6oviet ropaganda sserted hat eterans njoyedspecial tatus nimaginablenthe apitalist est. he national atirical ournalKrokodil' ublished series f cartoons epicting heplight f unemployedAmerican eterans, hich ontrasted harply ith he cheerful epiction fSoviet eterans.7 state-sponsored ublishing ouseevenpublished shortpamphlet or ritish eaders hich emonstratedhe are nd upport avishedon Sovietwar invalids.8 ropaganda resented emobilizations a smooth

process hrough hich eterans erereintegratednto he abourforce, ndwhich emonstrated heir alue s exemplary itizens.Thepropaganda mage f the heroicwelcome nd successful intgration

of Soviet eterans as proved emarkably urable. ora country eeling romthe material nd socialcosts f war, herapiddemobilizationf eight nd ahalfmillion oldiers ythe nd of 1948 was a remarkable chievement. hissuccess as argely bscured he difficultiesnd hardships f demobilization.Few Russians an now remember timewhen eterans f the Great atrioticWar werenot a privileged tratum f society. ver time patriotic ult ofwar developed, hich nshrined he Great PatrioticWar as a foundationalmoment or oviet ulture. nder rezhnev ar veterans ecame alued ndprominent embers f ociety, ewarded ith nhanced ensions nd supple-mentary enefits.9ach and everyMay,whenRussians elebrate heir ictory,4 Central tate Archive f Historical-Political ocumentation f SaintPetersburghereafter'TsGAIPDPb']K-598/5/232/16-17,4/2v/7023/75,8; Vstrechaemorogykh oinov', mena,16July 945, ; Merridale, van'sWar, p.cit., 09-11.5 Russian tate Archive f Social nd Political istory hereafterRGASPI']7/122/147/181-2.Fortypical xamples f the rticles tressing he xemplary ualities f veterans, ee Trudovoivklad', echernyieningrad,0February 946, ; and Zolotoi ond avodi',Vechernyieningrad,4 March1946,1. For examples f propaganda osters, ee N.N. Glushko, elikaya obeda

vozrozhdenie oskvyMoscow 005),44, 51, 62, 79.6 'Politicheskayaabota demobilizyemymi',rasnaya vezda, 3July 945,1.7 Krokodil', 4 (30October 945), 12; 30-31 (October-November946),16; 12 (30April1947),8.8 P.P.Verzhibilovsky,heCareof War ensioners n Russia London 945).9 On the ult f the Great atriotic ar nd the tatus f veterans, ee Nina Tumarkin, heLiving nd the Dead: TheRise nd Fall of heCult f WorldWar I in Russia NewYork 994);AmirWeiner, aking enseof War:The Second World War nd the Fate of the Bolshevik



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the photographs nd newsreels f victory arades, omecomingroops ndjoyous amily eunionsaken nthe ummer f 1945 reappear nnewspapers,on posters nd n television roadcasts. eterans emain t the entre f theritualized elebration fVictory ay (DenPobedy) n 9 May;a dayon whichthey eceive he thanks f local and national oliticians, ifts rom ormeremployersndthe dulation f friends ndrelatives. eterans ere not lwaysso fortunate, ut this ultural ontext makesdiscussing especially ithforeigner the hardships f ate Stalinism, he ack of support fter emo-bilization nd the unwelcomingttitude f Leningradersxtremely ifficult.Officialmyths nd their modern eincarnations ave servedmany eteranswell,helping hem orget hedarkermemories fwar nd the erceivednsultsofdemobilization.10

Soviet, ussian nd western istorians avefound heofficial arrative fdemobilizationeguilingndhavefailed o systematicallyndermine atrioticmyths. he few oviet cholars o examine emobilizationn anydepth on-centrated ponthe ways n which eturning oldiers welled he ranks f theindustrial nd agricultural orkforcesnd ocal party rganizations.11n con-tinuing oportray eterans s highly killed nd motivated xemplary itizens,in termswhich iffered ittle rom he propaganda f the first ew postwar

years, oviet istorians elped einforcefficial yths. his nterpretationtillinfluencesheperception f Great atriotic War veterans oday. rior o the'archival evolution', estern istorians, lthough cknowledgingifficulties,broadly ccepted hat eterans ere apidly nd successfullyeintegratedntothe workforce nd that hey njoyed privileged osition n postwar ociety.Veterans, t wasargued, ere n upwardly obile roup romoted o admin-istrative nd managerial ositions n factories, ffices nd collective arms.Manyenjoyed elative reedom f movement, rivilegedccess oeducationand greater pportunity o ointhe party.12 f course,much f this was trueand has been onfirmed ythe opening f the rchives. he archival ecordis dominated y reports ddressing he official riorities f demobilization,re-employmentnd rintgrationn party tructures. nsurprisingly,rchivalstudies ontinue oargue hat eterans ere beneficiariesf thepostwar eor-dering f Soviet ociety.13n AmirWeiner's tudy f postwar innitsa, eterans

RevolutionPrinceton, J, nd Oxford 001);and Michael gnatieff,SovietWar Memorials',HistoryWorkshop 7 Sprine 984), 157-63.10 CatherineMerridale, Culture, deology nd Combat n the Red Army', ournal fContemporaryistory 1(2) (April 006), 305-24, t 307-9.11 V.N. Donchenko,Demobilizatsiyaovetskoi rmii reshenie roblemy adrov pervye

poslevoennyeody', storiya SSR 3 (1970), 96-102;V.A.Ezhov,Izmeneniya chislennostisostave abochikh eningrada poslevoennyi eriod 1945-1 50gg.)',Vestnik eningradskogoUniversiteta,eriya storii, azyka liter tury (1966),15-21.12 Sheila itzpatnck, ostwar oviet ociety: he Return oNormalcy 945-1953 nSusanJ. Linz ed.),The mpact f WorldWar I on the oviet Union Totowa, J, 985), 129-156, t136-7;Sheila itzpatrick,War nd Societyn Soviet ontext: oviet abour efore, uring ndafterWorldWar , nternational abour nd Working lassHistory 5 (Spring 989),37-52.13 See,for xample, eesBoterbloem, ife nd Death under talin: Kalinin rovince, 945-



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Dale: TheDemobilizationf the Red Army nPostwar eningrad, 945-50 I 1

emerge s a powerful nd assertive roupwho dominated he ocal party.14Mark Edele's recent esearch as provided he most detailed nd roundedportrayal f Soviet eterans o date.15 lthough dele xamines hedifficultiesfaced yreturning eteransndetail, e continues osuggest hat ome groupsof veterans mproved heir ocialposition fter emobilization.16 he mpres-sion of demobilization erived rom entral rchives nd official eports,however, ells nly art f the tory. here re otherways f ooking t Sovietveterans' xperiencefdemobilization. hile ome eterans njoyedmprovedsocialmobilitynthemedium o ong erm, nthe horter erm he xperienceofhomecomingarely elt ike step pthe ocial adder.

The official yth f the RedArmy's uccessful emobilizationitsuncom-fortably longside he xperience f other emobilizingrmies nd societies.Reintegrating arveterans reates ifficultiesor ny ociety, ut hroughoutthe wentieth entury heprocess f demobilizing ass onscript rmies fterthe violence f modern ndustrialized arfare roved xceptionally ifficult.Compared ith heheroic mages ominant n Soviet nd modern ussia, ntheWest isgruntlednd disenchanted eterans trugglingoreadjust o civil-ian ife re more ommon. amaged eterans re ust s familiar rom hehis-tories fwar nd demobilization s they re from iterary ccounts f the irst

worldwaror filmic ortrayals fVietnam eterans.17t s hard o magine owthehistory f he mpact fwar ould bewritten ntheWestwithout eferenceto mental nd physical raumas r the failure f ome veterans oreadjust.

The difficulties xperienced yveterans f the GreatWarhave ttracted hemost etailed nd rigorous istorical xamination. inding ork, omewhereto ive nd readjustingreated ifficulties n ll combatant ations. Many ameto resent perceivedack of support, ecognition nd understanding romwider ociety. rench eterans, ccording o Antoine rost, ften eturned ocivilian ife rritated y the pettymeanness' f officials. 'semi-revolution-ary nger' was directed t the ivilians, hirkers nd new richwhom eturn-ingveterans lamed or he frustrations nd disappointmentsf peacetime.181953 Montreal nd London 999),60-3; and Eric J. Duskin, talinist econstruction nd theConfirmationf NewElite, 945-1953Basingstoke001),17-21.14 Weiner, aking ense, p.cit.15 Edele, ovietVeterans,p. cit.; nd Mark Edele, Generation f Victors? oviet econdWorld War Veterans rom Demobilizationo Organization, 941-1956',PhD dissertation,UniversityfChicago, 004;MarkEdele,Soviet eterans s an Entitlement roup, 945-1955',SlavicReview 5(1)(Spring 006), 111-37;MarkEdele,More han ust talinists: hePoliticalSentimentsf Victors 945-1953', nJuliane rst ed.),LateStalinist ussia: ociety etweenReconstructionnd ReinventionLondon 006), 167-91.

16 See nparticular dele, ovietVeterans, p.cit., 29-49.17 Here am hinkingfpopular ovels,uch s Pat Barker's egenerationrilogy: egeneration(London 990),TheEye n TheDoor (London 993)and The GhostRoad London 995);andSebastian aulks, irdsongLondon 994).On Vietnam eterans nfilm, ee Martin . Norden,'Bitterness, ageand Redemption: ollywood onstructs he DisabledVietnam eteran', nDavidA. Gerber ed.),DisabledVeteransnHistory AnnArbor, I, 2000), 96-114.18 Antoine rost, rans.HelenMcPhail,n the Wake f War:Les Anciens ombattants ndFrench ocietyNewYork 992),32-3.



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ManyBritish eterans ere destabilized ythe dissonance etween eal ndimagined ivilian ife',which ed to feelings f frustration, nger, esentmentand confusion.19lthough he mage f demobilized erman eterans eturn-ing to the scorn f civil ociety s largely alse,many eterans elieved hemyth hat ngrateful ivilians ailed o welcome hem ome.20 hedifficultiesof demobilization tretched eyond urope. American, anadian,Australianand New Zealand veterans f the first orld warencounteredimilar rustra-tions nd expressed isappointment,nger nd resentment.21rrespective fnationality, he roblems f readjustment eremagnified or he wardisabled,who had to face he dded frustration f obtaining ensions nd the greaterpotential or dministrative njustices.22The failures oreintegrate eterans fter 918 loomed arge verplanningfor massdemobilizationuring he econdworldwar. Although he econdworldwar continues o evokepride nd be presented s the goodwar', nboth Britain nd America herewasgenuine oncern hatdamaged nd dis-affected eterans ould reate widespreadocialproblems.23n 1944the eamof ociologists orking or he USArmy esearch ranch redicted:

an increase n expressionsf the feeling hat iviliansmadeno real acrifices nd that heyhad no real ppreciationf / what he oldier ent hrough nd would orget imnowthedanger aspast.24

In March1944, n a paper ntended or broadcasters ransmittingo Britishforces, ieutenant .F.Mainanticipated hat emobilization ouldbe charac-terized ygrumblingbout nfairness,mpatience,ndiscipline,epressionnd'epidemics f ealousy nd resentment' irected gainst ivilians.25

19 DanTodman, heGreatWar:Myth nd MemoryLondon ndNew York 005), 11;DenisWinter, eath'sMen: oldiers f heGreatWar Harmondsworth979), 36-51.20 Richard essel,The Great War n GermanMemory: he Soldiers f the FirstWorldWar,Demobilisationnd Weimar olitical ulture', ermanHistory (1) (January 988), 20-34;Richard essel, ermanyfter he irstWorldWar Oxford 993).21 Alistair hompson, nzacMemories: ivingWith he Legend Oxford 994); DesmondMorton nd Glenn Wright, inning he econd Battle:CanadianVeterans nd the Return oCivilian ife, 915-1930Toronto 990).22 Prost, n the Wake f War, p. cit, 8-9;Deborah ohen, he War ComeHome:DisabledVeteransnBritain nd Germany, 914-1939Berkeley,A,2001).23 Joanna ourke, Going ome : he Personal djustmentfBritishndAmericanervicemenafter he War', n Richard essel nd Dirk chumann eds),Life fter eath:ApproachesotheSocialHistory fEurope uring he 940s nd 1950s Cambridge003),149-60;Joanna ourke,An ntimate

istory f Killing:ace to Face

Killingn the Twentieth

entury London 000),345-68;David A. Gerber,Heroes nd Misfits: he Troubled ocialReintegrationf DisabledVeteransn heBest ears f OurLives',nGerber ed.),DisabledVeteransnHistoryAnnArbor,MI, 2000),70-95, t 70-2.24 b.A.Courier ed.),LheAmericanoldier, ol. (Princeton, NJ,?4?), >z-J.25 Quoted n Barry urner nd TonyRennell,When addy CameHome:HowFamily ifeChanged orever n 1945 (London1995),42-3; and Julie ummers, tranger n the House:Women's tories fMenReturning rom he econdWorldWar London 008), 10.



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Dale: The Demobilization of the Red Army n Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50 I 1

Making omparisons ith the Decembrist prising f 1825, conductedby disaffected fficers f the NapoleonicWars, everal istorians ave sug-gested eterans f the Great PatrioticWar were feared s potential neo-Decembrists'.26lthough heubiquitous ropaganda ampaign asdesignedto forestall esentment,oncerns bout the potential or pposition mongstveterans ere onfined oStalin, isruling ircle nd the ecurity ervices. ta lower evel here eems o have beennopublic nd ittle rivate iscussionfthe potential ifficulties osedby disaffected edArmy eterans omparablewith iscussions ntheWest.Given he historical recedentsvailable o ocaladministrators,lanners ndparty eaders, t s surprising hat he esentmentsdemobilizationreatedwere neither redicted or discussed n detail.TheRussian mpire ncountered ifficulty eintegratingeterans nd their ami-lies from he eighteenth entury, f not earlier.27 ontemporaries ight avedrawn irect omparisons ith vents ithin ivingmemory. he revolutionsof 1905 and 1917 and the Kronstadt prising f 1921,keymoments n theBolshevikonsciousness,urely emonstratedherisks. he chaotic emobi-lization f veterans f the first orld war and Russian CivilWar reated ealsocialproblems nd frustrations nd resulted n the militarization f widerSoviet ociety.28t s hard o believe hat eningrad'seaders, epresentativesf

a party tate orgednthe rucible f war, overning city t the ery entre ftheBolshevikevolution, ere ntirelygnorant f he hreats osedbydiscon-tented oldiers. ontrary opatriotic yths, nofficial oviet ropaganda edArmy eterans ere ot mmune rom he disappointmentsndfrustrations ofrequentlyxperienced y x-servicemenhroughout he wentieth entury.

Theexperiencesf veterans eturning o,or arriving n, Leningrad nd itsenvirons epresentedn extreme xample f the difficulties acedby Sovietveterans f the Great atriotic ar, ut lso European eterans f twentieth-century otalwarfare. our ongyears f brutal warfare rought rofounddisruption or ities cross he SovietUnion.Manycities uffered normouslosses o their re-war ousing tocks. etween 941and 1945 Smolensk ostapproximately8 per cent f ts housing, oronezh 3 per cent nd Rosto -

26 Elena Zubkova,trans. Hugh Ragsdale, RussiaAfter he War: Hopes, Illusions ndDisappointments, 945-1957 (Armonk,NY, and London 1998), 25; Elena Zubkova,Poslevoennoeovetskoe bshchestvo:olitika povsednevnosf 945-1953 Moscow 000), 32;E.S.Senyavskaya,Dukhovnyi blikfrontovogo okoleniya:storiko-psikhologicheskiicherk',Vestnik oskovskogo niversiteta,eriya Istoriya (July-August992),39-51,at 50-1;E.S.Senyavskaya,rontovoe okolenie:storiko-psikhologicheskiessledovanie,941-1945Moscow1995),91.27 EliseKimerling irtschafter,SocialMisfits: eterans ndSoldiers' amilies nServile ussia',

TheJournal fMilitary istory 9(2) (April 995),215-35, t 228.28 AllanK.Wildman, heEndof the Russianmperial rmy, ol.1, The Old Army nd theSoldiers' evolt March-April917) Princeton, J, 980), ndvol.2, TheRoad to Soviet owerandPeace Princeton, J, 987);MarkvonHagen, oldiersn the roletarian ictatorship: heRedArmy nd the oviet ocialist tate, 917-1930 Ithaca,NY,and London 990), 127-58;Sheila itzpatrick,TheLegacy f the CivilWar', n Diane P. Koenker t al. (eds),Party, tate,and Societyn the Russian ivil War: xplorationsn SocialHistory Bloomington,N, 1989),385-98.



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120 Journal f Contemporary History ol 45 No I

on-Don 5 per ent.29n Novgorod efore hewar here ere 346 residentialbuildings; y February 944only 15 were habitable.30emobilized oldiersreturning oStalingrad ouldhavefound city educed o rubble, heir ami-lies iving n basements r dugouts.31eterans verywherexperienced on-siderable ifficultyn readjusting o civilian ife.Although eningrad's rbaninfrastructureuffered essdamage hanmany laces, heSovietUnion's ec-ondcitywasamongst heworst ffected fmajor oviet ities. WhileKiev, orexample, uffered reater estruction,t had to assimilate onsiderably ewerdemobilized eterans. yJanuary 947a total of 44,571veterans ad beendemobilizednKiev, ompared ith 11,199 nLeningrad.32n addition o thegreater ressure f numbers, he ity's nique xperience f war nd blockadecombined o make he difficultiesf demobilizationnpostwar eningrad ar-ticularly cute.Veterans cross he oviet nion noticed he disparity etweenthe reality f civilian nd official ropaganda, ut hese ifferences erepar-ticularly pparent nLeningrad.

Demobilizationn Leningrad as anything ut a return o normality.33Veterans ould not even rely upon returning o their re-war omes ndfamilies,et lone heir obs.Atotal f 3174buildings ith iving-spacef 3.3million quaremetres ad been estroyed. pproximately000buildings ere

dismantled orfirewood. further .2 million quaremetres, pread cross7143buildings, ere o severely amaged s to be uninhabitable.34 etween500,000 nd 1 million eningraders eremadehomeless ywartime estruc-tion.35 utside he ity, he ountryside esembled war one. Vast wathes fthe Leningrad egionwere aid waste. Anestimated 1,843residential uild-ingsweredestroyed,eavingmany ural istricts nrecognizable.he townsof Mga,Kolpino nd Tosno tood n ruins, osing espectively 7.5, 85 and70per ent f their ousing.n theTosnenskii istrict lone,169villages nd12,811homesweredestroyed.36espite xtensive fforts o rebuild ousing,29 MarkB.Smith,Rubble o Communism: heUrban ousing rogramme n he oviet nion,1944-1964', hDdissertation,chool f Slavonic nd EastEuropean tudies, niversity ollege,London, 007, 48;Jeffrey .Jones,PeopleWithout Definite ccupation: he llegal conomyand Speculators n Rostov-on-the-Don,943-48', in DonaldJ. Raleigh ed.), ProvincialLandscapes:ocal Dimensionsf oviet ower, 917-1953Pittsburgh, A, 001),236-54.30 RGASPI/88/313/126.31 John teinbeck, Russian ournalLondon 949),120.32 hdele,A Generationr Victors? op.cit.,Appendix ,5X5-6.33 On normalityfter hewar, eeFitzpatrick,Postwar oviet ociety', p. cit., 29.34 V.l. Piliavskii,Arkhitektura stroitel'stvo',n Ocherki storii eningrad, ol.6 (Leningrad1970),207-30,at 207;A.Z.Vakser, eningrad oslevoennyi 945-1982gody St Petersburg2005),71.

35 Vakser, eningrad, p.cit., 1, 76; andVo

slavy odnogo oroda', eningradsay pravda,7 November 947,3.36 RGASPI/1/8 /3 3/26-7. stroitel'stve hilykh omovkolkhozmkov roizvodstvennykhpostroek olkhozov ul'turno-bytovykhdanii raionakh eningradskoiblasti, odverdav-shikhsyatnemetskoikkupatsii', eshenie eviatoiessii eningradskogoblastnogooveta ep-utatov rudyashchikhsyat 9-10avgusta 945goda Leningrad 945),3-12,at 3;Propagandaagitatsiya 6 August 945), 0-8; NovoeKolpino Vorozhdenieoroda', echernyi eningrad,16February 946, .



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Dale: The Demobilizationf the Red Army n Postwar eningrad, 45-50 1 1

many eterans eturned o find heir omes estroyed r occupied yothers.Reconstruction ould akemany ears.Leningrad,he rucible f revolution nd bastion f he working lass,was a

shadow f ts ormerelf. here were isibly ewer eople.n 1945Leningrad'spopulation asapproximately third f ts pre-war evel.Over700,000resi-dents tarved r froze o death during heblockade, nd around .3 millionLeningraders ereevacuated.Many never eturned.37 utside he city, hepopulation f the Leningrad egionwas reduced rom ,506,400 n January1941to 414,900 nOctober 944. 8Nothing asquite he ame nthis uinedanddepopulatedandscape. ot only id t ook different, ut t was home odifferent eople,who behaved n different ays.The arrival f hundreds fthousands f rural migrants elped epopulate hecity.NativeLeningradersoften lamed hese ewcomers, hoallegedlyxhibitedower cultural' evels,for declining ostwar tandards n manners, ygiene nd labourdiscipline.39However, eningradershemselves ere ransformed y he raumatic xperi-ence f war;former easantswere convenient capegoat or eeper hangesinpostwar ociety. he horrors f massdeath nd starvation ardened lock-ade survivors. he unique ircumstancesf the blockade reated ew ocalpractices, odes f association nd networks. peculationn foodstuffs nd

basicgoodsbecamewidespread. orruption rept nto ocal administrationat almost very evel.Demobilizedoldiers ound ostwar eningrad n alienenvironment.

The death nd destruction rought pon Leningrad nd its peopleandthe mpact f wartime iolence pon combatantsmade t difficult o sus-tain he myth hat eturning roops amehome o popular cclaim. ostwarLeningrad asa colder, arder nd harsher lacethan veterans emembered.Few Leningraders fforded eturning ormer oldiers ny form f specialtreatment. ost peoplewerepreoccupied ith esolvingheir wn problemsrather han welcoming ome ex-servicemen. lockade urvivors, eturningevacuees,migrants nd demobilized eterans ere n competition or obs,housing nd the tate's meagre esources.orthevastmajority f veterans hepublicdiscourse f a citywelcoming ome ts proud defenders ratedwiththe reality f demobilization.he state ncouraged eterans o forget boutthe horrors f war and the njustices f demobilizationnd geton with heirlives.Kirschenbaumven rgues hat he tate's amnesiac genda' xtended sfar s reconstructinghe ity na waywhich bliterated hysical emindersfthewar.40or ndividuals,orgetting aspreferable oendlessly eliving ain-37 Vakser, eningrad, p. cit., 10; ElizabethWhite, After he War was Over: The Civilian

Return oLeningrad', urope-Asiatudies 9(7) (November007), 1145-61, t 1145-7.38 A.R. Dzeniskeviched.), z raionov blasti oobshchaiut...:vobodnye t okkupatsii aionyLeningradskoiblasti godyVelikoi techestvennoi oiny: 941-1945. bornik okumentovStPetersburg007),510-11.39 Blair . Ruble,TheLeningrad ffair nd he rovincializationfLeningrad', ussian eview42(3)(July 983), 01-20, t 304-8;andWhite,After heWarwasOver', p.cit., 158.40 Lisa A. Kirschenbaum,heLegacy f the iege f Leningrad, 941-1945:Myth,MemoriesandMonumentsCambridge006),116-7.



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fulmemories.41hemyth hat eterans ere eintegrated ith ittle ifficulty,like he onstruction f a heroic myth f the blockade nd the designation fLeningrad s a 'Hero City',was part of a wider ttempt o create usablenarrative f the wartime ast.42n the mmediate ftermath f war,however,many eterans ere nable o forget. ontrary o the ropagandamage f x-servicemensexemplaryitizens, eningrad's eterans ere eeply esentfulftheir reatment uring nd after emobilization.

The frustrations nherent ndemobilizationeganwhilemany oldiers erestill nuniform. any oldiers ould have o wait months, fnotyears, eforethey inally eturned ome. Rather han he points-based ystems avouredby the British nd Americans,heRedArmy as demobilized y age group.The demobilizationawpassedon 23 June 945applied othe 13 oldest gegroups men orn etween 893 and 1905).43elativelyew oldiers f his gegroup emainedn armed ervice. uri Popovrecalled he daywhen he awwasannounced o the massed anks f hisregiment. hesoldiers o whom helawappliedwere rdered o take paceforward; herewere nly our.44n25 September 945 demobilization as extended o the next en birth ohortsand soldierswho had completed igher, echnical r agricultural ducation,former eachers nd lecturers, tudents, eoplewho had sustained hree r

more wounds, oldierswith even or more years' ontinuous ervice, ndwomen.Afurther ecree, assed n 20 March 1946,the hird ave of demo-bilization, pplied o soldiers orn etween 916 and 1921. Theyoungest gegroupswaited ntil he pring f 1948 before ecoming ligible or elease.45By1946 the bunting, hronged rowds nd military rchestras ad ong incedisappeared. he majority f returning oldiers ever xperienced nythingapproachinghepublic cclaim f the ummer f 1945.46

Irrespectivef he hardshipsnpostwar eningrad, oldiersonged o returnhome.47etters ritten o families nd wives n the period f imbo prior odemobilization erecharacterized y an impatience o escapethe clutches

of the army nd regain ontrol f their wn ives.Before his ong-awaitedmoment rrived, number f frustrations ndhumiliations adto be endured.Shortage f uniforms eant hatmany eterans eturnedn ncompleter tat-41 Catherine erridale,Deathand Memory n ModernRussia',HistoryWorkshop ournal42 (Autumn 996), 1-18, at 12;Catherine erridale, ight f Stone:Deathand MemorynTwentiethCentury ussia London 000),251.42 Here have n mind omething imilar o the creation f publicmemory n the FederalRepublicfGermany,s describednRobert .Moeller,War tories: he earch or Usable astin the ederal epublic f GermanyBerkeley, A,2001).43 'Zakon - demobilizatsiitarshikh ozrastovichnogo ostavadeitvuiushcheirmii',

Leningradskaypravda, 4June 945,1.44 'Na voine pasal umor', rgumentyfakty Peterburg 9 2007),4.4S U demobilizatsiitoroi cheredi ichnogo ostavaKrasnoiArmn, Lrud Zb September1945,1;Edele, Generation fVictors? ', p.cit., 2-8; Edele, ovietVeterans,p.cit., 3.46 Merridale,van'sWar, p. cit., 12.47 BorisMikhailov, a dne lokadyvoinySt etersburg000), 36-42;Evgenii . Moniushko,trans. legSheremet,d. DavidM. Glantz, rom eningrad oHungary: otes f RedArmySoldier, 941-1946NewYork 005),220-1.



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Dale: The Demobilization of the Red Army n Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50 1 3

tered niforms. nhismemoirs, vgenii oniushko ecalled hat nthe utumnof1945 soldiersnhis egiment ere tripped f heir niforms ndfootwearnorder o clothe hose bout o be demobilized.48 eports ritten yLeningrad'smilitary rosecutor eveal hat hroughout 945 and 1946 privileged KVDtroopswere ften eleased without hepayments, upplies r equipment heywerepromised y officers nd agitators nd to which heywere entitled.49Similar roblems ere eported cross heSovietUnion.For proud oldiers,shortages f underwear nd the onfiscation f personal roperty ere eeplyhumiliating.50

Repeated elays nd disappointments ade the waiting nbearable. neveteran emobilized t the end of March 1950, interviewed s part of myresearch, ecalled feeling f disbelief hen he was finally eleased.Waitingat the platform or he train ome, wo of his comradeswerehauledback,having eenmistakenly onsidered or elease; or he rest f the ourney eexpected omething imilar o happen o him.51 he ourney ome nvolvedfurther elays nd discomfort. ismanagementnd the dilapidated ailwaynetwork ed to long ourneys n cramped reight agons, whichwereoftenhalted nexpectedlyor number f days.Manyveterans asedthe boredomwith vodkaor industrial pirit, hich n occasion esultedn mass alcohol

poisoning. iolent rawls nd disturbances elped unctuate eeminglynd-less ourneys.52he reality f demobilization as a world away from hepropaganda f homecoming eroes howered nglory nd plaudits.

Having inally rrived nLeningrad,hefrustrations f demobilization erefar rom ver; n manyways heywere bout o begin. oldiers, n the writerKonstantin imonov's lassic hrase, imaginedife fter he war as a holidaythat wouldbeginwhen he ast shot was fired.' eacetime as imaginedinrainbow olours', hichwere uickly evealed o be a fantasy. erhaps ormersoldiers id not expect o return o a flourishing ountry, ut they ertainlyhoped hat ife would mprove.53ope quickly urned o disappointment,sthe full xtent f the dissonance etween artime reams nd harsh ostwarrealities ecame pparent. eterans ound hemasses f red apecharacteriz-

48 Moniushko, eningrad oHungary, p.cit., 20.49 Central tate Archive f Saint PetersburghereafterTsGASPb']9260/1/27/122,137nd9260/1/30/76-7.50 StateArchive f he Russian ederation hereafterGARF']R-8131/37/2266/61-9.51 As part of my research, conducted number f oral history nterviews ith veterans,arranged hrough eterans' rganizations,t Petersburg emorial nd a charitable oundationlinked o the Elektrosila lant.Here, nterview eld 1 March 008,Disc No. 10,author's wncollection.

52 RGASPI/17/121/427/123-5;dele, ovietVeterans, p. cit., 2-30; V.A.Kozlov,Massovyebesporiadki SSSRpri krushchevebrezhneve1953- nachalo 980kh) Novosibirsk 999),60-1;A.V.Vinogradovnd A.V.Pleizhereds),Bitva a Leningrad syd'bakh hiteli orodaoblasti vospominananiyaashchitnikovzhitelei lokadnogo oroda okkypirovannykherri-torii) StPetersburg005),267.53 Zubkova,Russia fter he War, p. cit., 34-5; Geoffrey osking, ulers nd Victims:The Russians n the oviet Union Cambridge, A,and London 006), 236; and Moniushko,LeningradoHungary, p.cit., 48.



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ingdemobilizationery rustrating. btaining ork, ousing, ood, lothing,pensions nd healthcare equired eeminglyndless orm-fillingnd queuing.The blamefor he pidemic f bureaucracy nd corruption indering emo-bilization as laid upon rear-line ats' tylovye rysi), term f derision oradministratorsccused f hirking ilitary ervicenpreferenceor afe obsatthe ear. hese allous ureaucrats ecame ne of he main argets or eterans'resentment.

Veterans' ngry eactions o the rats' wererecorded n reports ritten yLeningrad's ilitary ensor, art f the regional ecret olice dministration,and preserved n the secret rchive f the Leningrad oviet.Thesereports,headed special ommunications'spetssoobshchenie),erebasedon excerptsof ntercepted rivate etters ritten yveterans otheir riends nd families.During hewar nd for ome ime fterwards,etters ritten y nd addressedto soldiers ere outinelypened ndreadby hemilitary ensor. urprisingly,the military ensor ontinued o monitor x-servicemen's orrespondence.Manyof these petssoobshchenieontain etailed vidence f veterans' ni-mosity owards he rear-line ats'.Outraged etters omplainingf orruptionandbureaucracyevealwidespread esentmentowards dministrators.

The military ensor's ensitive ork remains hrouded n secrecy. few

clues an be garnered rom esearchbout perlustrationn the arly ears fSoviet ower nd the memoirs f a veteran ecruited o work or he militarycensor n Chita nFebruary 946. V.A. vanov, scholarwith ccess o closedarchives y virtue f his position t the St Petersburg inistry f InternalAffairs niversity,s perhaps heonlyhistorian ohaveexamined he workof the military ensor n anydepth.54erlustrationn wartime eningrad asa major undertaking. etween 941 and 1945 Leningrad's ilitary ensoremployedpproximately 40people*.etween ay 1943and December 945the military ensor xamined 52 million etters, elegramsnd small pack-ages.Over109,000 temswere onfiscated nd sections xcerpted rom .5

million tems. eningrad's ilitary ensorwas literallydrowning' nder heweight f correspondence.55espite vanov's esearch,ittle s known boutthemechanismsywhich pecial ommunications ere ompiled, r what hecensorwas looking or, ut several road points re discernible. he censoraimed o intercept etters hich ontained nformation erceived o damage

54 V.S. zmozik,Perluistratsiyapervye ody ovetskoi lasti', oprosystorii (1995), 6-35;V.S. zmozik, laza ushi ezhimaosudarstvennyioliticheskiontroVa naseleniemovetskoiRossii 1918-1928godakh St Petersburg 995);PeterHolquist, Informations the AlphaandOmega f Our Work : olshevikurveillancen tsPan-Europeanontext', heJournal f

Modern istory 9(3)(September997),415-50;Leopol'dAvzereg,la vskryval ashi is'ma...Iz vospominaniiyvshegoainogo senzora GB',Vremia my 5 (1980),224-53,56 (1980),254-78;V.A. vanov, issiya rdena:Mekhanizm assovykhepressiiSovetskoi ossii kontse20-kh 40-kh g. namaterialakhevero-ZapadaSFSR) StPetersburg997); ndV.A. vanov,'Voina tsenzurafil'tratsiyaozunga o nerazryvnoivyazi eningradskogoronta tyla periodvelikoi techestvennoi oiny 941-1945 g.', n R. Sh. Ganelii ed.),Otechestvennayastoriyaistoricheskaya yi' Rossii XIX- XXvekov StPetersburg006),474-81.55 Ivanov, issiya rdena, p.cit., 83-4.



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military r civilian morale, uchas references o hunger r destruction nd'harmful' olitical iews. urthermore, blacklist f suspect orrespondents,whose etters ere outinelypened,was maintained.56

Interceptedetters onfirm hat he propaganda laims f widespread areand concern or he glorious efenders f the motherland ontrasted iththe reality f feeling eglected nd unwanted y wider ociety. ne veterandescribed isdisappointmenthus:

Allmy lans orwhat o do when was n he rmy avebeen roken, ndwhen was demo-bilizedife rogressedy different ath,which didn't want t o go down).57

Manyveterans learly id not expect hecold-edged ureaucracy hat heyencountered. t the beginning f August 945 another eteran rote o hisfamily nTbilisi:

I never xpected uch loathsome nd outrageous ttitude oward he demobilized,utrather hewise nd fair equirementsf he demobilization]aw. n me boils ll of his ngeranddisgust,nd ust hink ow struggle,hout nd nform verybodybout hese utrages,but ll the ame t's 'voice allingnthewilderness'.58

Anotherx-serviceman

xpressedis

ngerna letter o a friend:

I amdisappointed ith ife. Warhas ruined eople, verywhere here re bribes, ull blat]and ies. wasn't ble o mmediatelyolve ne trifling roblem ow wanted, ithout sca-padeswith ifferent astards.59

Veterans ated he endless ureaucracy,engthy ueuesand beingdivertedfrom ne office o another. s one veteran ut t:

You can't ind n end nywhere;hey nlywrite hat here severythingor he emobilized.Yougoto one nstitution,nd they endyou o another nd so on. And oyou ravel rom

one nd f he ity o the ther ithout nd.60

These ngry eactions ere ypical f the new ssertive ype f citizen orgedon the front ines.Manyveterans elieved hat pilt lood nd wartime acri-fices ntitled hem o speak heirminds, ang heir ists n desks nd complainabout he reatment hey eceived,ven f t had ittle ffect.61 ncouraged o

56 Zubkova. nslevoennneovetskoe bshchestvo.n. cit.. 157 TsGASPb/7384/36/187/168.

58 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/46.59 TsGASPb/734/36/16/79. latwas a peculiarly oviet orm f string-pulling.or a moredetailed efinition f blat nd ts mportances an informal eans f exchangen an economydefined y shortage, ee SheilaFitzpatrick,Blat in Stalin's ime', n Stephen ovell,AlenaLedeneva nd Andrei ogachavskiieds),Bribery nd Blat n Russia: Negotiating eciprocityfrom heMiddleAges o the 990s London 000), 166-82.60 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/83ob.61 Weiner, aking ense, p.cit., 7; andMerridale, ight f tone, p.cit., 47.



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think f themselves s victors nd believing hat military ervicewould berewarded, any adexpected oreturn s heroes.Returning oldiers, owever, ere n a position oanticipate oth he dif-

ficulties f demobilization nd the behaviour f callous and unscrupulousadministrators. espite hebest fforts f the military ensor, heRedArmywasnot hermeticallyealed rom ommunication ithwider ociety. ensitiveinformationnevitably scaped he ttention f overworked ensors. n addi-tion, he ensor id not have monopoly pon hedelivery f etters. oldiersfrequently assed etters etween hemselves,o be delivered y hand by acomrade n leave or recuperatingt the rear. urthermore, hewritten ordwasnot the only ource f nformation. ew recruits r soldiers e-enlistedhaving ecovered rom heir njuries elated aluable nformation bout thehomefront. lose-knit rontline ommunities erefertile reeding roundsfor umours bout hoseback home. Rumours, or xample, hatJewsweresitting ut the war in cushy obs' (teplyemestechki) erewidespread.62tis hard to believe hat oldierswere ompletelynsulated rom r ignorantof the difficultieshat heir amilies aced. ervice amiliestruggling o sur-vivewereparticularly ulnerable o corrupt ureaucrats. he socialwelfareorganizations esponsibleor ssisting ervice amilies nd the war disabled,

for xample,werenotoriously orrupt nd inefficient. ifts f clothing ndfootwear elivered rom merica ere requentlycommandeered'y dmin-istrators, ather han eing assed o the needy.63opsecret petssoobshchenieforwarded o the USSR state rosecutor, asedon letters ritten t the nd of1944 and beginning f 1945,reveal he buse and beatings oldiers' amiliessuffered t the handsof collective-farmhairmen nd village oviets.64 ellbefore emobilizationegan, oldiers eld range f preconceiveddeas ndprejudicesowardrear-line ats'.However, s ex-servicemenonfronted hese'loathsome' reatures ace oface heir esponsesecamemore ggressivendresentful.

One of he main ources f ension or eturningoldiers as the ifficultyffinding mployment. fficially nemployment as not problem or eturningveterans. number f he men interviewed ere teadfast ntheir upport fthe fficial yth hat nemploymentidnot xist nthe ostwar oviet nion.Statisticsnly eem o support his ssertion. etween uly 945 andthe nd of

62 G.V.Kostyrchenko,ainaya olitika talina: Vlasf anti-SemitismMoscow2001), 243;RebeccaManley, Where hould we resettle he omrades ext? he Adjudicationf HousingClaims ndthe Constructionf he Post- arOrder', nJuliane rst ed.),LateStalinist ussia,Society etween econstructionndReinventionLondon 006),233-44, t 240;MaryM.Leder,

ed. LaurieBernstein, y Life n Stalinist ussia:AnAmerican ooks Back BloomingtonndIndianapolis,N, 2001),252.63 TsGAIPD Pb/25/1/66/9 -3 nd TsGAIPD Pb/25/12/123/26-44obIam ndebted oTatianaVoronina or ringinghese iles omy ttention); ARF/A-43/1/1 90/23-30; ynthia ooper, Darker BigDeal :Concealing arty rimes n the Post-Second orldWar ra', n JulianeFrst ed.),Late Stalinist ussia, ociety etween econstruction nd Reinvention London2006), 142-63, t 146.64 GARF/R-8131/37/2473/58-61,8-81, 16-119.



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Dale:The Demobilization f the Red Army n Postwar eningrad, 45-50 1 7

June 947 a total f267,253veterans ere emobilizednLeningrad. f these258,548 96.7per ent)were e-employed.65further 3,334disabled eter-ans were egistered ith he ity's ocial ecurity dministration y hebegin-ning f January 947,of whom 7.3 per centwereworking r in educationor training.66owever,nthe hort erm many eterans ound he mechanismsby which heywere e-employednd the obstheyweregiven rustrating rdisappointing. anyblamed herear-line ats or bstructing heir intgra-tion nto he workplace.n hisunpublished emoirs, leksei onchukov asshocked y he eception e received rom is pre-war mployers,hegiganticKirov ngineeringlant: went ack o my actory, nd maginemy urprise,when hedeputy irector or ersonnel oldmewith ureaucratic ase that hefactory ouldn't ffer eanything.'67

Letters ntercepted ythe military ensor eveal hat number f veteransbelievedmploymentllocation o be corrupt. nMay1946 E.I. Garisonwroteabouthisexperience ith he CityOffice or he Allocation nd Distributionof Labour Forces raspredburo), he dministration esponsibleor ssigningwork o demobilized oldiers s well s re-evacuees.

Well, here it uch oathsome ittle eople, hey o with eoplewhat heywant nd sendthemwhere heywant, hey on'thave single rop f humanity,t's ll facts with hem- this nd that iece f paper . . Oh, 'm tiredwith ll this ureaucracy,hese ormalitiesand tuffy aperwork . . nearly verybody as ost heir onscience.

Unemployedndpenniless, eexpected etter.68 ritingnFebruary 946,G.I.Dorokhin xpressed similar oncern hat eningrad ad been orrupted:

Leningrad s a city, ike all other ities has its bad side, n order o get a job one needs a lotof acquaintances r so-called pull [blat] or a colossal quantity f money .. If you don't havemoney nd many acquaintances then they won't send you to work in a profession ut towork on seasonalemployment.69

Seasonal mployment as a euphemism orunpopular, ow-paid nd back-breakingobs n construction,griculture nd forestry. ormer oldiers, spe-cially ative eningraders, eredisappointed o find eningrad, city withproud evolutionaryeritage, educed o a placewhere verything as done'byblat nd formoney'.70

The nflux f ssertive eteransnto he ity, longside hewaves f returningevacuees, laced ureaucrats nder normous ressure. hiswasespeciallyhecase n the llocation f housing nd the dministration f housing isputes.A combination f wartime estruction, assive opulation isplacementnd

mismanagementreated genuine ousing risis n postwar eningrad, ar65 TsGA Pb/7384/36/226/208.66 TsGAIPDSPb/24/2v/8230/l.67 TsGAIPDSPb/4000/18/333/159.68 TsGA Pb/7384/36/186/81.69 TsGA Pb/7384/36/186/78.70 TsGA Pb/7384/36/186/83.



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1 8 Journal f Contemporary istory ol 45 No I

surpassing ifficultiesn Moscow. t would take manyyears ountangle heinterlocking eb of entitlements nd build ufficient ousing o make goodwartime osses. y18February 947approximately9,000families,ncluding12,000veterans' amiliesnd3000 families fdisabled eterans, ere n wait-ing ists o receive ousing.71n the ourse f 1946 a total f 22,967casesofadministrativeesettlement,hemechanism ywhich ontested ccupancy asresolved, erebrought n Leningrad.72vercrowded, ilapidated nd unsani-tary ousing emainedhenorm n postwar eningrad. et dequatehousingheadedveterans' ist of expectations. hen hese xpectations ere ruellydashed, orrupt nd officious esk-rats ere lamed or housing hortages.

M.I.Krylov ad lived n Leningrad ince1935,had goodreferences romhis employers nd had spent woyears nd eightmonths n the front ine.Fivedays fter is rrival nthe ity, letter ntercepted y hemilitary ensorcaptured ismood. am n deepdespair, efending hemotherland earnedthe benefit f deprivation f our family oom.'Facedwith he prospect fmoving isfamily nto hostel or ingle eterans e expressed heburningrage ypical f resentful eterans:

all of his veterans'ntitlementsndrights] emainsmpty ords, hanks othosewho avedtheir kins eep n the rear amouflagedrom he hreat f death,who accumulated ize-ablecapital nd now having eturned ome et hebest partments, e who ived hroughthe horrors f the hardest ays f the waronce gainhave o wander round s if we areunworthy f ociety, or he alvation fwhich e pilt urblood nd overed hemotherlandwith he verlastinglory fvictory nd ll that o turn pdiscarded n the dge f ife.73

It wasn't ust angry oungmen who had learnt o 'speakveteran'.74 ninterceptedetter ritten y female eteran n 1 August 945expressed erequallyowregard or ureaucrats. n hermind oncern or eterans xtendedno further han lean floors nd a vase of flowers t demobilization oints.

When began ospeak othe prosecutorbouthowmy iving-space ad beendemolishedandthat had nowhere o ive, e tried o change he onversation oany ther ubject,fonly oescape sorepoint. havewritten lot, nd been round the elevant ffices]great eal,but have not received positive nswer rom nybody. ood- damnable.twouldhavebeen etter ohave ome ack arlier, onot eturn ome oseethese isgustingbureaucrats, hich uring hewarwere ble to firmly ntrench hemselvesnthe ear, ndarrange heir wn well-being,ndnow ake p prominent ositionsnorder o support heirown xistence.75

Judging y he etters eportedn special ommunications,ureaucracyndcorruptionnhousing llocation ere widespread. ritingnJune 946, vet-

eranwas convinced hat Thequeuefor eceivingiving pace xists s a screen,71 TsGA Pb/73 4/25/24/1.72 TsGA Pb/73 4/25/24/7.73 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/47ob.74 Here borrow nd deliberately isquote tephen otkin's hrasespeaking olshevik';eeStephen otkin, agnetic ountain: talinisms a CivilizationBerkeley,A, 1997),198-237.75 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/47.



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while pace sgiven ut byblat nd bribes. t s only ossible oget wometresof and n death.'76 anyveterans ere onvinced hat he ystem as stackedagainst hem, eportinghe ndless ribes nd bureaucracyhey ncountered.

Oh, f nly ou knewwhat hey o with partments ere. f youhave en housand ndyougive t to the building dministrator,hen ouwill mmediatelyeceive room, ut f youlikeus arrive rom he rmy on't hink ouwillget room, ven fyouhad a room herebefore hewar.77

Estimates f he ize ofbribes assing ands o obtain ccommodation angedfrom 000 to

25,000 roubles,ut all of them

grumbledbout the

inkypedants'whohad tied verything p nred ape.78Thestrongest xpressions f animosity nd resentment mongst x-service-

menwererecorded mongst hewar disabled, groupwho were speciallyangry bout unscrupulous dministrators nd bureaucrats. hroughout hetwentieth entury isabled eterans ave been pushed o the margins. eenas a nuisance, mbarrassmentr burden, heir eeds haveoften een gnoredor neglected. hiswasespeciallyrue n postwar eningrad. s a prominentreminder f the horrors f war, disabled x-servicemen ere n unwelcomepresence n a city truggling o forget. ntercepted etters ritten o friends

and relatives eveal disabledveterans' eep disappointment. s AlexandraErmakova rote:

Itwasn'tworth ightingo become n nvalid,norder fter hewar o obtain his ind f ife.Whenwefought hey romised severything,nd how we earned t, but nowthey iveusnothing.f warhappened ow wouldn't ight gain, etter o shootmeonthe pot.79

Asanother ar nvalid ut t, We fought nd spilt ur blood and now ourchildren tarve. don't want o ive.'80

During nd after he war, overnmentnstitutions nd their taff isplayed

a particularly allous attitude owards war invalids.Moskvin, disabledveteran iving n the outskirts f Leningrad, ummed p the frustrations fmany: Whenwe were healthy, hen hey ound s, and sentus to the frontandcrippled s,and now throw s into rbitrary ates . . while he govern-ment oes not provide ny help.'81 nother eteran, riting n an interceptedletter, uestioned he vailability f state upport, nd described ropagandaas 'just blowing moke n your yes'.82isabledveterans, erhaps venmorethan able-bodied eterans, ere acutely ware of the dissonance etweenpropaganda nd everyday ealities. he process f applying or nd claim-ing disability ensions onflicted ith he official ronouncementsf state76 TsGA Pb/7384/36/l6/89.77 TsGA Pb/7384/36/186/74.78 TsGA Pb/7384/36/l6/90 nd TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/46ob.79 TsGASPb/7384/36/187/55.80 TsGA Pb/7384/36/l7/54.81 TsGA Pb/71 9/53/10/21.82 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/4.



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1 0 Journal f Contemporary History ol 45 No I

assistance. pplications or ocial ecurity ayments ere epeatedlyejected.Hobblingnto district ocial ecurity ffice ncrutches, neveteran oped odemonstrate iseligibility or ension. he administrator oldhim: see thatyour eg hasbeen mputated, utwe won't aybenefits hile oudon'thavecertificate.'83iven uch reatment,t s hardly urprising hedisabled eteransreactedwith nger, esentmentnd threats. n January 945 a policereportrecords ar nvalid ilippov ecoming mbroiled n an angry onfrontationwith he employees f the Os'minskii istrict ocialsecurity ffice. ngeredat being ent back to work,he became ggressive, eclaring:That's t. 'veearned he right o work nd that's ll, youwait,when he frontline oldiers[frontoviki]eturn ome heywill how yourear-line piders tylovye aukyi]what'swhat.'84

Disabledveteransmight aveexpected etter reatment rommedical rsocial care administrations.n the summer f 1946 Leningradsay pravdapublished series f articles ased on war nvalids' etters f complaint boutthe reatment hey eceivedrom echnicians nd doctors esponsibleor ro-ducing nd fitting rostheticimbs. hipakov, n amputee, rote:

Theemployeesf the factory aveforgotten hat hey re dealingwith iving eople, ndareonly oncerned ith omehow nockingogether prosthetic. hether t s suitable orhim, r whether he nvalid s able to walk on t, ittle nterests hem. he prostheticlimb]prepared ormewassignificantlyonger han t needed o be. Thefitting s[too]wide.But twouldhavebeen asy o avoid fwhile was beingmeasuredhe echniciannd doctor adpaid henecessaryttention.

Otherwar nvalids ere ssued with egs hatwere ive entimetres ooshort,or right rms nstead f left.85 he uncaring ttitude f public fficials asparticularly pparent n the depressing esidential omes reated o housedisabled eterans ithout amilies r alternative eans f upport. nJanuary1946Soboleva,heheadof the Leningrad egionalocial ecurity dministra-

tion, ccuseddirectors f embezzling unds ntended o feed disabled eter-ans. Alongwith ther elegates, he repeatedly eminded irectors f theirresponsibilitiesoward living eople' placed n their are. Suchneglect nlyreinforced isabled eterans' eelingsf worthlessness.86

Leningrad's isabled eterans esented eing ushed side sometimes it-erally by heartless fficials, ut lso bywider ociety. heir onsciousness ftheirmarginalizationnthepostwar orld, orwhich hey ad sacrificed heirhealth, asespeciallyainful.87n a letter o a friend newar nvalid xplainedhisfrustration t being gnored:83 TsGA Pb/7384/36/1

7/102; eningradblast tate Archiven

Vyborg hereafterLOGAV']R-3824/4/53/4.84 TsGA Pb/7179/53/110/21ob.85 Soveshchameo voprosu protezirovannLeningradsay pravda, 8 June 946,4;'Pochemy nvalidpolychaet olokhoi protez', Leningradsay pravda, 30 June 1946, 3;'Spravedlivyerebovaniyaobzor isem)', eningrads ay pravda, 8July 946,3.86 LOGAV/R-2798/l/65/7ob,0,42,44.87 Joanna ourke, ismemberingheMale:Men'sBodies, ritain nd the GreatWar Chicago,



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Dale: The Demobilization of the Red Army n Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50 1 I

You hear byradio that verythings]simply plendid, ou think hat veryones pleasedto see you, ut s youbegin to ettle n]you ren't eeded y nyone, either igor smallbosses ayyou ny ttention nd f you tart oargue, ou will betold] hat ouhave neleg nd urvived nd that ou hould ay] hank ou hat ouremainedlive.88

Despite he tate's fforts oreintegrate isabled eterans nto he workplace,ordinary eningradersame, ver ime, oresent he resence f ngry nddis-affected ar nvalids. secret olice eport ecorded akeev, disabled eter-an ivingntheLuzhskii istrict f he Leningrad egionoblasf), omplainingthat whenhe returned eople ookeduponhim like heywould dog'.89he

warden f one university ormitory egregated ix disabledveterans romother tudents yplacing hem n oneroom.Allsix were mputees ho hadlost ne ormore rms. he desire o avoid he mbarrassment,iscomfortndreminders f the horrors f war which isfigurednd mutilated odies ftenprovoked requently verrode isabled eterans' ealneeds.

Demobilizedeterans' omplaints bout rear-line ats'reflected genuineconcern bout the difficulties f dealingwith he problems reated ywide-spread ureaucracy nd corruption. any ections f the bureaucratic ppa-ratus esponsibleor ransformingx-servicemennd ex-servicewomenntoordinary ivilians ad become ncreasinglynefficient, ureaucratic nd cor-rupt.90 eterans' ccusations f orruption nd bureaucratic isdain, ontainedinopinion eports, re onfirmed nother ources. petssoobshchenieeflectedmore han he ttitudes f disaffected inority f veterans, r censors' ver-active maginations.hey eflectedhe eality hatmany emobilizedeteransencounteredallous fficials nd corrupt ureaucratsn theprocess f adapt-ing o civilian ife. n the mmediate ostwar ears he ocalpress requentlycontained eports f corruption n nstitutions ithwhich eterans ad activedealings. everal nstances f corruption n Offices or the Allocation ndDistribution f Labour Forces raspredburo), esponsibleor roviding eter-ans with work ssignments, ererevealed.91eterans' omplaints bout thedifficulties f obtaining esidence ermits propiska) nd finding omewhereto live were upported y procuracy nvestigations hich ncovered ases ofhousing fficialsssuing ocuments r allocating acanthousing n exchange

IL,1996), 6-74;Tumarkin, heLiving nd the Dead,op.cit., 8-9; Merridale,van'sWar, p.cit., 14; Zubkova, ussia fter heWar, p.cit., 4;Senyavskaya,rontovoe okolenie,p.cit.,32.88 TsGA Pb/7384/36/149/4.89 TsGASPb/7179/53/110/20ob.

90 For discussion f orruptionn he ost-war oviet nion ee James einzen, CampaignSpasm ,Graft nd the Limits f the Campaign gainst ribery fter he Great atriotic ar',in Juliane rst ed.),Late Stalinist ussia, ociety etween econstructionnd Reinvention(London 006), 123-4;James einzen,TheArt f theBribe: orruption nd Everyday racticeand the Late-StalinistSSR', lavicReview 6(3) (Fall2007),389-412;andHooper, DarkerBigDeal ',op.cit.

91 Leningradskaypravda, 6 March 945, . See lsoWhite,After heWarwasOver', p.cit.,1153;Sud zhuliki', echernyieningrad, 8July 946, .



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for bribes.92lthough hemilitary ensor ttempted o intercept rivate or-respondence hich attacked rear-line ats', bureaucracy nd corruptionremained ublicknowledge. ccording oWhite, he ity ovietwaswaginga publicwar with ts housing epartments n the pagesof Leningradskaypravda nd Vechernyieningrad, ith ccusations f bureaucracy,orruptionandrudeness ppearingn lmost very ssue.93he etters ages fnewspapersregularly eported heprotracted ureaucratic attleswaged by veterans oreclaim r obtain housing.94ompared ith he disaffectednd disenchantedvilification f interceptedetters, etters f complaint ublished n the presswere mild orm f Bolshevikelf-criticism.eterans eeply esentedhefactthat ueues, elays ndred ape ouldbe avoidedwith he orrect onnectionsand the necessaryums ncash.

Theexperience f demobilization,or he majority f veterans eturning oLeningradnd the urrounding egion, as far rom mooth. emobilization,of ourse, reated oth winners nd osers.Alucky ewwere ble to return otheir amilies, omes nd workplacesnd resume heir iveswith minimumof disruption. n even maller umber f veterans erepromoted o mana-gerialpositions nd benefited rom ncreased ocial mobility nd enhancedsocialstatus. ut mostveterans ound he process f resuming ormal ives

extremelyifficult.

lthoughormer oldiers ere

heoreticallyuaranteedwiderange f privileges,npractice heywere arely rotected rom he harshrealities f everyday ife n postwar eningrad. emobilized eningraderscomplainedhat rivilegexisted n paperwellbefore he majority f entitle-ments ndprivileges ere ancelled nSeptemberndDecember 946.95Worsestill, eningrad's eterans, ike heir ounterparts cross he SovietUnion, rfor hat matter urope, esentedmen who had escapeduniformed ervice.Grumblingbout hirkers as ust s much art f he ulture f he RedArmyand tsveterans s anyothermodernmass onscript rmy.Whenhomecom-ingfailed o ive up to expectations,rear-line ats'became he capegoats or

disenchantedeterans. ublic ttacks nd denunciationsf bureaucrats arriedin local and regional ewspapers urther ncouraged eterans o vent heirspleens t minor tate unctionaries,ather han he party eaders f the ovietpolitical ystem. ontrary o what ne reads nthepostwar ress r what hefew urviving eterans ight ellyoutoday, eturning eterans, egardlessfage,gender r disability, eredisoriented nd disenchanted ythe welcomethey eceivednpostwar eningrad.

The postwar istory f Leningrad nd its former oldiers s shrouded nmyth. ather han ringing eople ogether,hewar's egacy ontinued o dam-agesocial ohesion nd create eeply ooted ensions. heanimosity irectedat rear-line ats'was ust neexample f thewartime ivisionshat immered92 TsGA Pb/7384/36/227/44-5.93 White, fter heWarwasOver', p.cit., 155.94 'Zatyanuvsheesyaelo', mena, 5 October 945, ; Trimesyatsaolokity', eningradskaypravda, 5August 946, .95 Edele,Soviet eterans s an Entitlement roup', p. cit., 25-6.



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under he urface f ate Stalinist ociety. lthough he tory f the durabilityof ordinary eningraders n the faceof mass death nd starvation emainshumbling nd the narrative f postwar econstructionontinues o impress,the ity nd ts peopleweredeeply haken y he xperience f war.The costof he war ould not imply e measured n a balance heet f ives ost,moneyspent nd infrastructure estroyed. et the social costs of war have argelybeen bscured y heheroic ostwarmyths. he official mage f veterans sexemplary itizens as proved emarkably urable. he images f bunting,bouquets ndcheering rowds nd themyth f 'Hero City' nbroken ywarweremuchmore alatable han he eality fwidespreadnger ndresentmentamongst eterans.With he passing f time he frustrations nd disappoint-ments f demobilizationradually ubsided. ythe ime hat ormer oldiersfinally eceived he recognition hat heyhad expected n their eturn heywere lready ntering ld age.Thedevelopingult f war, teadily mprovingwelfare ayments nd mprovingocialwelfare ecured eterans' upport orthe fficial ersion f demobilization. ythology elpedmany eterans akesense f hehorrors fwar ndof heir ives. or he ver-dwindlingumber fGreat atriotic ar veterans hebattle ines ad been edrawn. atriotic ythsno onger rovoked ngry eactions ut ffered enewedomfort nd pride.

Robert Daleisa PhDstudent t QueenMary, niversity f London.He is work-

ing n a thesis xploring hepostwar daptation f RedArmyveteransnLeningrad etween 945 and 1950. He currently olds

a Dissertation ellowship rom heHarry rankGuggenheimFoundation.

rats and resentment.pdf

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