Encyclopedia of Russian History

by James Millar

  For ten years the Chronicle of Human Rights gave dissidents a voice the Soviet authorities could not silence. By exposing repressive governmental actions that would otherwise not have come to light, it anticipated the policy of glasnost, or openness, which Mikhail Gorbachev introduced in the late 1980s. See also: DISSIDENT MOVEMENT; SAMIZDAT

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Chronicle of Current Events. (1968-1984). London: Amnesty International. Hopkins, Mark. (1983). Russia’s Underground Press: The Chronicle of Current Events. New York: Praeger. Reddaway, Peter, ed. (1972). Uncensored Russia: Protest and Dissent in the Soviet Union. New York: American Heritage Press.

  MARSHALL S. SHATZ

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Chalidze, Valery. (1974). To Defend These Rights: Human Rights and the Soviet Union, tr. Guy Daniels. New York: Random House. Chronicle of Human Rights in the USSR. (November 1972-March 1973-October 1982-April 1983). Nos. 1-48. New York: Khronika Press.

  MARSHALL S. SHATZ

  CHRONICLES

  CHRONICLES

  Annalistic histories serve as important primary sources for the pre-Petrine period. The earliest chronicle written in Kiev begins with highlights of world history based on the Old and New Testaments (the divisions of the earth into tribes, the story of Christ and his disciples), followed by traditional tales on the founding, first rulers, and Christianization of the Rus lands. Chronologically ordered records organized in yearly entries (hence the Russian title letopis, commonly translated as “annal” or “chronicle”) include documents, hagio-graphical narratives, reports on occurrences of significance for the state and the church; births, illnesses, and deaths of prominent persons; accounts of military and political conflicts; construction of fortifications, palaces, and churches; and notes on meteorological phenomena and wonders. As appanage principalities and ecclesiastical establishments acquired the resources for scriptoria, they initiated new chronicle compilations that borrowed from earlier annals, but devoted special attention to concerns of their own time and locality. Compendious chronicles produced in the central Muscovite scriptorium of the metropolitans include extended hagiographical narratives, correspondence, reports of church councils, details of protocol, and descriptions of important ceremonies involving princes and high-ranking hierarchs.

  The editor of a chronicle constructed his compilation (svod) from an archive of earlier texts, editing and supplementing them as necessary. Because some sources have not survived and compilations are usually not clearly marked by titles, the origins, sources, and genealogical relationships of chronicles must be reconstructed on the basis of internal evidence, paleographical analysis, and synoptic comparison. Alexei Shakhmatov created the methodological foundations of chronicle scholarship. Shakhmatov’s hypotheses, continually revised during his lifetime and still indispensable, were corrected and refined by his successors, chief among them historians Mikhail D. Priselkov and Arseny N. Nasonov. Iakov S. Lur’e greatly contributed to our understanding of chronicle writing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Boris Kloss has done important codicological analysis on Muscovite compilations. Alexei Gippius and Alexander Bobrov have continued to research Nov-gorodian compilations. The evolving views of these chronicle scholars, and their ongoing differences, are registered in the critical apparati of the continuing series known as the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (Polnoye sobranie russkikh letopisei), founded in 1846 by the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences, and in entries for individual chronicles in the multivolume Slovar knizhnikov i knizhnosti Drevnei Rusi.

  Among the most important sources for historians of the period from the founding of Rus through the fourteenth century are the Laurent-ian Codex (containing the earliest surviving copy of the Kievan Primary Chronicle), copied for Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich of Suzdal in 1377; the Hypatian Codex (containing a Kievan thirteenth-century chronicle and a Galician Volynian compilation, copied in the fifteenth century); and the Novgorod First Chronicle, surviving in several versions: the oldest version (starshy izvod) covering up to the mid-fourteenth century and a younger version, preserved in fifteenth-century copies, adding records from the second half of the fourteenth century through the beginning of the fifteenth century.

  Two fifteenth-century annals associated with Novgorod’s St. Sophia Cathedral (Novgorodsko-Sofysky svod) but relatively neutral toward the Moscow princes (who were fighting dynastic wars among themselves) were compiled during the 1430s and 1440s. The Sophia First Chronicle, surviving in an early version (starshy izvod), preserved in the Karamzin and Obolensky copies, ends in the year 1418. A later version, whose earliest witness is the Balzerov manuscript (late fifteenth century), offers sporadic coverage of historical events up to the year 1471; the Tsarsky copy, dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century, extends to the year 1508. The Novgorod Fourth Chronicle also survives in several versions. The earliest version ends in the year 1437. The later version covers events to the year 1447 (the Frolov copy), extending to 1477 in the Stroyev and Synodal copies. Important primary sources on fifteenth-century Muscovy are the Rogozhsky Chronicle, represented in a single mid-fifteenth-century codex covering the period to 1412; the Simeonov Chronicle, represented in a single sixteenth-century copy covering the period to 1493; and the Uvarov Codex, a sixteenth-century manuscript, extending to the year 1492. The Typography Chronicle contains many entries representing the views of the influential Rostov bishops from the period between 1424 and 1481. The Yermolin Chronicle, connected by Lur’e to the “politically independent” Kirillov-Belozero Monastery, provides some unique details

  CHUBAIS, ANATOLY BORISOVICH

  passed over in mainstream chronicles for the period from 1460 to 1472.

  In the sixteenth century, chronicle writing proliferated. The most important compilations were composed in the scriptorium of the Moscow metropolitans and convey their special interests as well as certain biases of the Moscow grand princes. The Sophia Second Chronicle, surviving in manuscripts from the early- and mid-sixteenth century, covers the period between 1398 and 1518. The Nikon Chronicle, compiled in the scriptorium of Moscow Metropolitan Daniel (r. 1522-1539) by 1529, covers the period up to 1520 and lays the foundation for all subsequent chronicles of the sixteenth century. The Voskresenk Chronicle, a key Muscovite source surviving in thirteen copies, was compiled between 1542 and 1544 and contains a number of articles sympathetic to the Shuisky family. These chronicles served as the primary annalistic sources for the first Muscovite narrative history, the Book of Degrees of the Royal Genealogy, compiled between 1556 and 1563. The Illustrated Compilation (lit-sevoy letopisny svod), the most extensive medieval Russian chronicle, consists of ten codices with over 16,000 miniature illustrations. Commissioned (and, some believe, edited) by Ivan the Terrible, the Illustrated Compilation was prepared in the capital of his “state within a state” (oprichnina), Alexan-drovskaya sloboda. Kloss dates its compilation between 1568 and 1576, Alexander Amosov from the late 1570s to the beginning of the 1580s. Among the most valuable seventeenth-century annals are the Novy letopisets, surviving in many copies and covering the period from the end of Ivan IV’s reign to 1630; the Novgorod Third Chronicle, surviving in two versions and providing unique coverage of seventeenth-century Novgorodian affairs to 1676; and the Piskarev Codex, which, compiled by an annalist connected with the powerful Golitsyn clan, covers the period up to the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich (r. 1645-1676). See also: BOOK OF DEGREES; PRIMARY CHRONICLE

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Kloss, Boris M. (1980). Nikonovskii svod i russkie letopisi XVI-XVII vv. Moscow: AN SSSR. Lur’e, Iakov S. (1985). “Genealogicheskaia schema letopi-sei XI-XVI vv.” In Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi liter-atury XL. St. Petersburg: Nauka.

  GAIL LENHOFF

  CHUBAIS, ANATOLY BORISOVICH

  (b. 1955), reform economist and official in Yeltsin government.

  Anatoly Borisovich Chubais was born in 1955. In 1977 he graduated from an engineering-economic institute in Leningrad, and in 1983 he defended a thesis on man
agement problems. His early career was linked to the democratic movement in Leningrad. Following the failed coup in August 1991 (against Mikhail Gorbachev), he resigned his membership in the Communist Party.

  As one of the most prominent of Russia’s “young reform economists,” in November 1991 he was appointed to serve as chairman of the Russian State Property Committee. From that post he would lead and influence the Russian program of mass privatization, personally favoring the use of special privatization vouchers and privatization via auctions. In 1993 he was also elected to the Russian Duma, representing the liberal party Russia’s Choice.

  Following a series of scandals in relation to various privatization deals, in January 1996 Chubais was fired from his post. A month later, however, he returned to the national stage to serve as campaign manager for Boris Yeltsin’s reelection campaign. From there he proceeded to the influential post of head of the presidential administration.

  In March 1997 Chubais capped his political career by being appointed first deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, a post that he would hold until March 1998, when Yeltsin chose to dismiss the entire government.

  Throughout his various posts in government, Chubais became known as one of the most competent but also one of the most controversial of the reformers. While his popularity in Western business and policy circles seemed to guarantee appointments to prominent posts, his standing with the general population and with the political opposition inside his own country was very poor.

  In April 1998 Chubais was appointed to serve as chief executive officer of the Russian power giant Unified Energy Systems (UES). Like his role in government, his way of running UES was surrounded by controversy, earning him much praise but also much criticism. See also: GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH; LIBERALISM; PRIVATIZATION; YELTSIN, BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH

  CHUKCHI

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Aslund, Anders. (1995). How Russia Became a Market Economy. Washington, DC: Brookings. Wedel, Janine R. (1998). Collision and Collusion. New York: St. Martin’s.

  STEFAN HEDLUND

  CHUIKOV, VASILY IVANOVICH

  (1900-1982), Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, and Red Army commander renowned during World War II for his stoic and ruthless defense of Stalingrad and vital role in the capture of Berlin.

  Josef Stalin routinely employed Vasily Chuikov as a “shock commander” in the most difficult sectors of the front. A regimental commander during the Russian civil war, Chuikov graduated from the Frunze Academy (1925) and the Red Army’s Academy of Motorization and Mechanization (1936).

  Elevated to command the 9th Army after its notorious defeat during the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940), on Stalin’s orders Chuikov executed all commanders, commissars, and officers involved in the defeat. After serving as attach? to China (1939-1942), Chuikov commanded the 64th Army during the bitter fighting en route to Stalingrad and, later, the 62nd Army in its bloody and tenacious defense of the ruined city, for which his army earned the designation “8th Guards.” Chuikov commanded the Eighth Guards Army from 1943 through the war’s end, fighting in all major battles in the Ukraine and Poland, and spearheading the final Red Army drive on Berlin in April 1945. After the war Chuikov served successively as commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the Kiev Military District, and the Soviet Ground Forces; Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR; and Chief of the USSR’s Civil Defense. After his retirement in 1972, Chuikov authored seven memoirs related to his military exploits. See also: WORLD WAR II

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Chuikov, Vasily Ivanovich. (1985). The End of the Third Reich. Moscow: Progress. Woff, Richard. (1993). “Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov.” In Stalin’s Generals, ed. Harold Shukman. London: Wei-denfeld and Nicolson.

  DAVID M. GLANTZ

  CHUKCHI

  The Chukchi, one of Russia’s “Northern Peoples,” live in the northeast extreme of Russia. Most (80%) of the approximately fifteen thousand Chukchi live within the Chukchi Autonomous District; small numbers also reside in Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Koryak Autonomous District. Historically, two general groups were recognized: inland and coastal Chukchi. Inland Chukchi herded domestic reindeer, amassing up to several thousands per (rich) family. Reindeer herding required a nomadic lifestyle: herders lived in tents and moved continuously to avoid pasture degradation. Men herded, hunted, and fished, while women gathered plant foods, sewed, cooked, and moved camp. The sociopolitical unit of the inland Chukchi was the herding camp, consisting of four to five families.

  Coastal Chukchi depended on marine mammals for their subsistence, and lived in settled villages. Within villages whaling crews constituted important sociopolitical units. Coastal and inland Chukchi interacted, trading for desired products (e.g. marine mammal fat and hides, reindeer hides).

  The Chukchi language is part of the Chukchi-Kamachatkan group of Paleo-Asiatic languages, and is most closely related to Koryak. Perhaps its most interesting attribute is the gender specific pronunciation: women replace the “r” sound with a “ts” sound. Animism characterized Chukchi cosmology. Both men and women served as shamans who mediated with the spirits who guided the animal world and other realms.

  Nonnative people-Russian explorers and traders, followed by American traders-began to penetrate Chukchi space in the seventeenth century. The Russians claimed the territory but were unable to subdue it, due to fierce Chukchi resistance. Eventually (1778), the Tsarist government signed a peace treaty with the Chukchi. It was the Soviets who brought massive change, imposing new economic forms on the Chukchi, wresting decision making from them and attempting to settle the nomadic population. Some coastal villages were annihilated and their populations moved to larger centers. Meanwhile the Chukchi homeland underwent extensive mineral exploitation, accompanied by massive immigration. In 1930, natives constituted 96 percent of the population; by 1970 the number was reduced to 13 percent. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and withdrawal of northern subsidies, many nonnatives have left. The Chukchi have established a local organization to

  CHUKOVSKAYA, LYDIA KORNEYEVNA

  fight for increased rights, and are attempting to revivify their traditional activities, but they are plagued by high levels of unemployment, high mortality, declining reindeer herds, antiwhaling campaigns, and a moribund local economy. See also: NATIONALITIES POLICIES, SOVIET; NATIONALITIES POLICIES, TSARIST; NORTHERN PEOPLES

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Kerttula, Anna M. (2000). Antler on the Sea: The Yup’ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Krupnik, Igor. (1993). Arctic Adaptations: Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eurasia. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. Schweitzer, Peter P., Patty A., and Gray. (2000). “The Chukchi, and Siberian Yupiit of the Russian Far East.” In Endangered Peoples of the Arctic: Struggles to Survive and Thrive, ed. Milton M. Freeman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

  GAIL A. FONDAHL

  Akhmatova (Zapiski ob Anne Akhmatovoi), a two-volume account of their conversations. In 1960 she published a collection of essays on the art of editing entitled In the Editor’s Workshop (V laboratorii redaktora).

  Over time, Chukovskaya became active in the dissident movement. Her efforts on behalf of Joseph Brodsky, Andrei Sinyavsky, Yuly Daniel, Andrei Sakharov, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn led to her expulsion from the Union of Soviet Writers in 1974, which she chronicled in The Process of Expulsion (Protsess iskliucheniia).

  During her final years, she eulogized her father in To the Memory of Childhood (Pamiati detstva) and established a museum at the Chukovsky dacha in Peredelkino, outside Moscow. See also: CHUKOVSKY, KORNEI IVANOVICH

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Holmgren, Beth. (1993). Women’s Works in Stalin’s Time: On Lidiia Chukovskaia and Nadezhda Mandelstam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

  JACQUELINE M. OLICH

  CHUKOVSKAYA, LYDIA KORNEYEVNA

  (1907-1996), novelist, editor, memoirist, dissident, daughter of writer and
critic Kornei Chukovsky.

  Born in St. Petersburg, Lydia Chukovskaya studied literature at the Institute of the History of Art. She worked as apprentice editor to Samuil Marshak at the children’s literature section of the Leningrad State Publishing House from 1927 until the section was shut down during the purges of the 1930s.

  Chukovskaya became one of the most powerful writers to emerge from the Stalinist experience. Chukovskaya’s husband, Matvei Petrovich Bron-shtein, died in Stalin’s purges. Written clandestinely during the winter of 1939 to 1940 and finally published in the Soviet Union in 1988, Chukovskaya’s first novel, Sof’ia Petrovna, tells the story of a mother who loses her only son in the purges. Chukovskaya’s second novel, Going Under (Spusk pod vodu) similarly features a female protagonist traumatized by Stalinist repression.

  Chukovskaya preserved and edited literary treasures. She saved some of Anna Akhmatova’s poems by committing them to memory. Chukov-skaya kept a journal of her meetings with her friend during the purges and published Notes on Anna

  CHUKOVSKY, KORNEI IVANOVICH

  (1882-1969); pseudonym of Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov; best known as author of children’s fairy tales and poetry; also a journalist, translator, editor, and literary critic and scholar.

  Kornei Chukovsky grew up in Odessa, where he began his career in 1901 as a correspondent for Odesskie novosti (Odessa News). He spent 1903-1904 in London, where he immersed himself in British and American literature. Returning to Russia, he settled in St. Petersburg and wrote literary criticism for the journal Vesy (Scales), although his satirical publication Signal led to his arrest and brief detention. In 1907 he published a translation of Walt Whitman’s verse and translated the works of many other English-language writers after 1918. Until the mid-1920s, Chukovsky also wrote numerous books of literary criticism. In 1914 he completed Poetry of the Coming Democracy, which for political reasons was not published until 1918. Chukovsky was also the foremost authority on Nikolai Nekrasov, writing approximately eighty publications on the poet and editing the 1926 edition of Nekrasov’s collected works.