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My Life for the State: Mass Practice of Writing Personal Histories (Autobiographies) by Soviet Citizens as Part of Personnel Records
This article examines the widespread practice of writing auto- biographies (forms of extended curricula vitae) by Soviet citizens. Special attention is given to the real social circumstances that fashioned the narrative structure and content of these life stories and the changes prompted by the political and ideological changes in the USSR. The article also examines strategies of composing autobiographies used by individual authors and draws parallels between the practice of writing these autobiographies and the practice of Christian confession. The article’s general conclusion is that these specific personal testimonies were addressed to the Soviet state and that their composition was part of the mechanism of creating “The New Soviet Man.”