Into the Whirlwind Leadership Discussion

Into the Whirlwind is Eugenia Ginzburg’s account of her arrest and imprisonment based on false accusations during the Great Purge of the Stalinist Soviet Union. Ginzburg, as we see through her memoir, is committed to the ideals of the Communist Party throughout the memoir but begins to question very seriously the actions of those carrying out such policy and of Stalin himself. 

  1. Eugenia’s political ideals shift throughout the story. In what ways do her political views change? What parallels can be drawn between her political views to her state of well-being or current predicament?
  2. Eugenia is a very intelligent woman. She is multilingual, speaking French, Russian, and Tatar. In chapter 18, Eugenia converses with Nalya in French in front of her interrogator, Bikchentayev; he is barely able to speak Russian and appears foolish– despite holding a position of power. How does Bikchentayev represent the Soviet Union as a whole (and juxtaposed against Eugenia)? Why is someone like Eugenia particularly dangerous to the Soviet Union? 
  3. Eugenia is a prominently ranking Communist who is committed very much to the party at the time of her arrest. Through Eugenia’s perspective as a victim of the Great Purge, how can we separate the principles of Communism as Into the Whirlwind shows party members understood them from the policies of Stalinism. 
  4. Eugenia states “For the first time in my life I was faced by the problem of having to think things out for myself–of analyzing circumstances independently and deciding my own line of conduct (Ginzburg 74).” How does her role as a writer and educator play into her experiences? Does her education allow her to think and act more boldly?

2 Replies to “Into the Whirlwind Leadership Discussion”

  1. In answer to #1:

    Over time, Eugenia’s political views evolve as she sees first-hand the terror of Stalinist Communism. Though still a devoted Communist, by the end she empathizes with other individuals such as Nadezhda Derkovskaya, a Social Revolutionary, and her son Volodya, who was born in a Tsarist prison. In the prison, everyone suffers. Some more than others, but nonetheless, the dieological divides are somewhat less important. Instead what becomes of increasing concern is who gives information to the interrogators. As her predicament gets worse she seems to drift farther away from Stalin’s Communism, as she sees with her own eyes its lack of fairness, justice, and tolerance.

    In answer to #2:

    Bikchentayev represents the Soviet Union and its leadership in that eh doesn’t care about truth or the actual facts. He, like Stalin, needs people on which to blame shortcomings so as to excuse lack of progress or the greater issues within the USSR. In other words, his ignorance of the damage he is inadvertently doing to the big picture is somewhat irreversible and the cause of many failures. This is because rather than actually critiquing and solving the issues within the USSR, they are ignoring the problems in favor of finding people to vent the frustration of those problems upon. For this reason, Eugenia is quite dangerous due to her educated background and ability to see these errors in judgement. Ironically, if the USSR merely would have acted upon such criticisms and addressed the actual issues it were facing directly, it would have been on much more solid ground to defend its policies, and, would have had a much larger pool of talent to look upon for future leadership and roles in industry.

    1. In response to number one:

      Eugenia is devoted to her beliefs in communism. She facetiously says to the investigator, “What are you charging me with? . . . Is it my morals or my politics?” (Ginzburg, 105). When he replies that it is her politics, Eugenia yells back, “You’ve come to the wrong address, you’ll have to apologize” (Ginzburg, 105). This is just one example of how devoted she is to her beliefs.

      She never abandons her convictions, but as Ian says she does become more sympathetic. After she hears tale after tale of suffering, she realizes that no matter which idealogical belief you had you could undergo serious hardship. She encountered just as many Social Revoultionaires as she does wrongfully convicted Communists. Eugenia realizes everyone is suffering during this time. She doesn’t really move on her beliefs but becomes more sympathetic.

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