The Russian Boar: Animals, Masculinity and the Production of Power in the Soviet Political Elite

Abstract: Focusing on the history of hunting by members of the Soviet political elite, this article analyses the use of animals in the rituals of masculinity that took place during hunting outings and were central to power production in the Soviet Union. Framed by gender theory, the article demonstrates how animals were used to assert the hunter's dominance over and subordination of both nature and other members of the hunting party and thus justify claims to leadership. Alive, animals created a challenge to overcome; dead, they served as symbolic manifestations of the sexual and physical prowess of the hunter. Furthermore, animals were extensively used by Soviet commentators to construct meaning about particular cultural/political moments or to reflect on the nature of leadership and the qualities that leaders had to espouse. In post-war Russia, widely circulated animal-centred hunting anecdotes about Khrushchev and Brezhnev expressed the scathing opinion that the public had about their leaders and the critique of the system they created. In these anecdotes, the animals often failed to adhere to the roles prescribed to them, upending the hunting rituals of performative masculinity as they had been carefully planned by supporting staff. The animals thus, rather than humans, exposed the hollowness of the Soviet political system.