On Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More

This is an excellent book, although I’m not sure if I understand it fully. Anyone can please correct me if I’m mistaken but, from what I gathered, Yurchak argues that the Soviet Union eliminated an important called “meta-discourse” around ideology. Essentially, this means contestation of what terms within an ideology. Ideological concepts became immutable, unchanging, and thus detached from the reality of the Soviet system. Because language and thought appear to be inextricably intertwined, this led the majority of the Soviet population to think that the Soviet Union was in a different position than it actually was. Their language mirrored the official language, which existed simultaneously within the Soviet system, and without.

Perestroika was fundamental to the end of the Soviet Union because it re-introduced metadiscourse. This began with Gorbachev’s speeches, where he’d include a seemingly rhetorical question about what the Soviet Union should do about its issues, and opt to look to experts for advice, rather than party leaders. With this, metadiscourse emerged once again, allowing people to realize that their problems were not simply with the “Party bureaucrats,” but that the bureaucracy was the Party, thus putting the entire system in jeopardy.

In the end, nobody knew that the Soviet Union was going to fall because everyday rhetorical constructions masked this, but, at the same time, nobody was surprised when it did fall because of the material realities that everyone experienced.

The anecdotes and stories Yurchak offers are fascinating, although the first few chapters are deeply theoretical and, therefore, quite difficult to understand. I was especially interested in Soviet perceptions of “the West.” Yurchak argues that the West was a glittering space of consumption and funny names to much of the Soviet population. Near the end of the Soviet Union, when citizens could travel to the West, few people were surprised by cars, the glamor, or its wealth. Instead, the thing that shocked them the most was how mundane it was. There was dirt on the streets of Paris, it was possible to get bored in the United States, and ultimately the “West” was not as uniquely special as Soviet citizens thought.

I’ll surely come back to this book at some later point, and I’m sure I’ll gain more then than I do now, as I didn’t have much time to read this piece. This is one book worth taking the time to digest. Highest recommendation.