The Sixth Soviet-American Historical Colloquium was held in Washington at Meridian House September 24 to 26 on the topic “The Effects on Society of World War II.” Participants, several of whom had taken part in the previous editions of this program, judged it to be the most successful conference ever in the series.
Eleven Soviet historians specializing in the period were present in Washington. Many of these scholars were also participating in a major conference on overall relations between the USSR and the USA since 1941. The Soviet/US relations conference was held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the Smithsonian Institution for the two days preceding the Colloquium.
The Soviet delegation was led by Academician A. N. Shlepakov of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and by V. L. Malkov of the Institute of World History, USSR Academy of Sciences. The American participants and their program were assembled by Alexander Dallin of Stanford University and James T. Patterson of Brown University. As is customary at the colloquium, half of the Soviet historians and half of the American historians prepared papers on topics relating to World War II and Soviet society, and the other half did papers relating to World War II and American society.
American participants were Barbara Anderson, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan (“Socio-Economic Consequences of WWII on the Population of the USSR”), Yaroslav Bilinsky, Political Science Department, University of Delaware (“Impact of WWII on the Nationality Question in the Soviet Union”), William Chafe, Duke University (“American Women during WWII”), Robert M. Collins, University of Missouri-Columbia (“The American Economy during WWII”), Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Texas (“Labor, Mobility, and Social Stratification in the War Years” in the USSR), Steven Lawson, University of South Florida (“The Second Front at Home: WWII and Black Americans”), Nelson W. Lichtenstein, Catholic University of America (“The American Working Class in WWII: Social Tensions and Political Consciousness in a Patriotic Era”), Condoleezza Rice, Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (“Impact of the War on the Status of the USSR Military”).
The series of colloquia between Soviet and US historians began in Moscow in 1972. They take place every two years (more or less) under the aegis of the International Research and Exchanges Board and the Soviet National Committee of Historians as part of the continuing program of exchanges in the social sciences negotiated between the ACLS and the Soviet Academy of Sciences and authorized in biennial protocols agreed to by the two bodies.
The American Historical Association, while not a direct player, is involved since most of the US historians participating are members who represent all fields of historical specialization, and the executive director serves as the chair of the IREX subcommission on history.
The Meridian House meeting was outstandingly successful in that the quality of papers on both sides was unusually high, compared to earlier colloquia. The dialogue between historians on both sides of the conference table was more intimate and more productive. Despite the great ideological gulf that separates unquestioning Marxists from individualistic and less dogmatic historical colleagues, there was a clear consensus that the Great Patriotic War—World War II—made a prodigious impact on the peoples of the two leading Allied participants. While the effects on the United States were more subtle, they were still profound and long-lasting.
Clearly the least-liked American paper for the Soviet participants was Professor Bilinsky’s, which focussed on the fracture lines between the various ethnic groups in the USSR. lt evoked heat ed responses and denials. Professor Fitzpatrick’s paper by contrast, based on a profound knowledge of Soviet historiography and with copious citations from these sources, proved exceptionally well liked.
On the Soviet side Dr. Malkov’s careful look at the interaction between American domestic politics and US foreign policy was much admired by the US participants as was Dr. V. V. Sogrin’s (Institute of World History) excellent analysis of US historiography and the movement he perceived from neoliberalism to neoconservatism in US thought.
A welcome part of the two-and-a-half day conference was the accompanying social schedule. A tour of the White House, arranged for the Soviet historians, quite fortuitously, included witnessing through the windows of the Red Room the departure of the President from the South Lawn by helicopter. The numerous luncheons and dinners also provided ample opportunity for nurturing friendships and for informal professional exchanges. As always at the Soviet-American historical colloquium, corridor conversations and informal exchanges were as stimulating and informative as the formal sessions.
