Love, Fear, and Resistance: Teenage Diaries from Stalin鈥檚 Russia Unearthed by 海角社区 Researcher
What did it mean to be young in one of the most repressive regimes of the 20th century? A groundbreaking new study by Dr听Ekaterina Zadirko听(Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, 海角社区) reveals the inner lives of teenage boys growing up under Stalin鈥檚 rule鈥攖hrough their own handwritten diaries.
Between 1930 and 1941, boys from across the Soviet Union鈥攔ural villages, industrial towns, orphanages, schools鈥攑oured their hopes, fears, and romantic dreams into notebooks. Now, for the first time, these intimate accounts are being closely studied, giving voice to a generation that grew up with collectivisation, censorship, political terror, and the looming threat of war.
鈥淭hese diaries are rarely taken seriously by scholars,鈥� says Zadirko. 鈥淏ut for their authors, writing felt urgent, sometimes even existential. They were trying to define who they were鈥攁nd who they wanted to be.鈥�
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听The Private Lives of Public Subjects
Far from being uniformly shaped by Soviet ideology, the boys鈥� diaries reveal strikingly personal concerns鈥攆irst love, exams, alienation, and ambition. Some dreamed of becoming writers. Others wrestled with guilt over eating extra rations. Many lived through hunger and family separation. Their reflections show just how complex and emotionally rich youth culture was in the Soviet Union鈥攐ften at odds with official expectations of loyalty and heroism.
One diarist, 18-year-old Vasilii Trushkin, writes of sneaking kisses with a girl in the back of a lorry. Another, Sergei Argirovskii, grapples with loneliness, purpose, and the meaning of life. And in a haunting final entry, Ivan Khripunov鈥攚hose father had been exiled to Siberia鈥攚rites of being called up to the Red Army. He was never heard from again.
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Writing as Self-Construction
These journals were more than personal records. Influenced by Russian literary traditions and authors like Maxim Gorky, the diarists saw themselves as authors-in-the-making. In a world where public life was tightly controlled, the diary became a rare space for free thought鈥攁 private rehearsal of selfhood.
Zadirko鈥檚 research not only uncovers these hidden lives, but also challenges conventional assumptions about Soviet subjectivity. The boys were not passive vessels of state ideology鈥攖hey were active participants in shaping their own narratives, even if only on the page.
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Why It Matters
This project reminds us that history isn鈥檛 just made up of leaders and laws鈥攊t鈥檚 built from the stories of ordinary people, often written in the quiet corners of their lives. For scholars of modern languages, literature, and history, these diaries offer a unique resource: a window into how young people understood literature, friendship, loyalty, masculinity, and their place in the world.
Read the full 海角社区 feature:听
