In this remarkable book, Albert Baiburin provides the first in-depth study of the development and uses of the passport, or state identity card, in the former Soviet Union.  First introduced in 1932, the Soviet passport took on an exceptional range of functions, extending not just to the regulation of movement and control of migrancy but also to the constitution of subjectivity and of social hierarchies based on place of residence, family background, and ethnic origin. While the basic role of the Soviet passport was to certify a person’s identity, it assumed a far greater significance in Soviet life.  Without it, a person literally ‘disappeared’ from society.  It was impossible to find employment or carry out everyday activities like picking up a parcel from the post office; a person could not marry or even officially die without a passport.  It was absolutely essential on virtually every occasion when an individual had contact with officialdom because it was always necessary to prove that the individual was the person whom they claimed to be.  And since the passport included an indication of the holder’s ethnic identity, individuals found themselves accorded a certain rank in a new hierarchy of nationalities where some ethnic categories were ‘normal’ and others were stigmatized.  Passport systems were used by state officials for the deportation of entire population categories – the so-called ‘former people’, those from the pre-revolutionary elite, and the relations of ‘enemies of the people’.  But at the same time, passport ownership became the signifier of an acceptable social existence, and the passport itself – the information it contained, the photographs and signatures – became part of the life experience and self-perception of those who possessed it. This meticulously researched and highly original book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Russia and the Soviet Union and to anyone interested in the shaping of identity in the modern world.

Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations List of Illustrations Foreword by Catriona Kelly Preface Introduction PART I: THE HISTORY OF THE SOVIET PASSPORT SYSTEM Chapter 1: The Formation of ‘the Passport Portrait’ in Russia Chapter 2: Fifteen Passport-less Years Chapter 3: The Introduction of the Passport System in the USSR (1932-1936) General Situation The Official Version of the Introduction of Passports Organizational Work Issuing Passports ‘Legal Excesses’ The Second Phase of the Introduction of Passports The Consequences of the Introduction of Passports Chapter 4: Passport Regimes and Passport Reforms Passport Regimes The Hundred-and-First Kilometre The Propiska Registering Natural Population Changes Maintaining the Passport Regime Statutes on Passports and Instructions for Passport Work in 1940 and 1953 Reform Projects of the 1960s The 1974 Statute From the Soviet to the Russian Passport System Part II: THE PASSPORT AS A BUREAUCRATIC DEVICE Chapter 1: The Passport Template and the Individual’s Basic Information The Passport Template ‘Surname, Name, Patronymic’ ‘Place and Date of Birth’ ‘Ethnic Origin’ ‘The Personal Signature’ ‘Social Status’ ‘Liability for Military Service’ Chapter 2: The Notes and Properties of the Passport ‘Who Issued the Passport’ ‘On the Basis of Which Documents is the Passport Issued’ ‘People listed in the holder’s passport’ The Photograph Special Observations Observations about the Propiska Part III: WHAT THE PASSPORT WAS IN PRACTICE: THE EVIDENCE IN DOCUMENTS AND MEMOIRS Chapter 1: Receiving a Passport The Right to a Passport Defining Ethnicity Taking the Passport Photograph How do I sign? The Passport Desk and the Pasportistka Receiving the Passport Chapter 2: Life With – and Without – the Passport Look After It; Should You Carry It With You? The Document Check Changing One’s Name A ‘Clean’ Passport Marriages of Convenience Lost! What it Meant to be Without Your Passport Refusing to Have a Passport ‘The Most Important Document’ and Why it was Needed Conclusion Appendix: Interview Details Glossary Bibliography Notes Index