Family and the State in Soviet Lithuania

Leinarte's book is an important contribution. It is based on impressive source material… any area specialist, gender researcher or forensic sociologist will be enriched. * Nordisk Østforum *
Focusing on women's lives in Soviet-era Lithuania, Leinarte pinpoints Soviet family and labor policies as two aspects that impinged most strongly on their existences and examines relevant ideological precepts, legal mandates, and policy directives. * CHOICE *
In this book, Dalia Leinarte presents the first detailed study of family policy and gender relations in Soviet Lithuania. Based on both meticulous archival research and sensitive oral history, the work is an impressive achievement. It effectively integrates political, legal, social, and cultural perspectives to produce an analytical survey that is wide-ranging, perceptive and insightful. It is a story of legal principles betrayed, intractable contradictions between policy intentions and outcomes, moral confusion and controversy, and everyday struggles for sufficiency and security. Engagingly and accessibly written, it will be of the greatest interest to scholars and to students at all levels in Soviet and East European studies, social history, women’s history and gender studies. * Nick Baron, Associate Professor of History, University of Nottingham, UK *
Written by a leading feminist scholar, this meticulously researched and clearly written book explores gendered Soviet family policies and the ways they were experienced. Drawing on a wealth of material, including archival sources, letters and newspapers, it traces the construction of “a New Soviet Woman” in Lithuania and related issues, such as Soviet marriage and divorce, battles with tradition, and the Soviet understanding of gender equality. This outstanding, path-breaking work is essential reading for anyone interested in gender issues in the USSR. * Dovile Budryte, Professor of Political Science, Georgia Gwinnett College, USA *
Leinarte’s monograph opens up a bounty of fascinating material about the complexity of the transition from the interwar Lithuanian republic to Soviet Lithuania. The details of the court materials, for example lists of family belongings, will offer readers specific insight into the material possibilities of the era. Those interested in the legal code concerning families in Soviet Lithuania, the way the court system functioned, and the changes in family structure over the Soviet decades will find a valuable source in Leinarte’s monograph. * Besprechungen *