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GOLFO ALEXOPOULOS (Tampa, FL, U.S.A.) THE RITUAL LAMENT: A NARRATIVE OF APPEAL IN THE 1920s AND 1930s1 The Bolshevik Party in Russia claimed to represent not only a working class but an underclass, those who under the Old Regime were subject to se- vere hardship and exploitation. For this reason, in the 1920s and 1930s peo- ple presented themselves as worthy subjects before Soviet authorities by demonstrating their proletarian origin and working-class achievements, and also by making a claim of hardship. Implicit in the latter style of self-presen- tation was the belief that a hard life entitled someone to political membership in the new proletarian state. As one woman described: "I cannot exclude my- self from the working class because my sufferings and deprivations are identi- cal with theirs...."2 If before the Revolution Russia's tsars and patriarchs promised redemption for those who suffered, the Soviets granted a significant reward to certain suf- ferers as well. The disenfranchised (lishentsy) were condemned as members of the bourgeoisie, exploiters, persons who engaged in private trade, worked as commercial middlemen or former tsarist policemen, used hired labor or lived off unearned income, or were religious servitors of all denominations (priest, rabbi, mullah).
Russian History – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1997
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