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Post-Soviet Russia

Paul Robinson

in Russian Conservatism

This chapter looks at conservatism in post-Soviet Russia, particularly during the 2010s when there arose a “conservative turn” in Russian politics and society. This was associated with a revival of ... More

This chapter looks at conservatism in post-Soviet Russia, particularly during the 2010s when there arose a “conservative turn” in Russian politics and society. This was associated with a revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, centralization of political authority, growing Russian nationalism, increased tensions between Russia and the Western world, and socially conservative legislation. These phenomena have made Russian conservatism a matter of considerable contemporary importance. The chapter describes multiple types of conservatism and shows that what all these groups have in common is support for a strong centralized state and belief in the need for Russia to protect its sovereignty and develop in an organic fashion, befitting its national traditions. Despite all the differences, as in previous eras, Orthodoxy, a belief in a strong central authority, and variations of nationalism remain at the core of Russian conservatism.Less

Colonization and Diaspora Politics

Jonathan L. Dekel-Chen

in Farming the Red Land: Jewish Agricultural Colonization and Local Soviet Power, 1924-1941

The mid-1920s saw Joseph Rosen and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) establish the core of the Jewish colonization project in Soviet Russia, but the entire Jewish community did ... More

The mid-1920s saw Joseph Rosen and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) establish the core of the Jewish colonization project in Soviet Russia, but the entire Jewish community did not share the enthusiasm of the New York-based philantrophies supporting the project. From 1924 until the early 1930s, institutional politics in the Jewish diaspora was overshadowed by a bitter conflict over the JDC's Joint Agricultural Corporation. Despite its potential benefit for the settlers, colonization sparked new hostility in America. Aside from rivalry with Zionists, the JDC had to convince America's Jews to show commitment of time and assets in Soviet Russia. Its activity in the diaspora was complicated by relations with the Hasidim in the USSR and their sympathizers in America.Less

Origins of the Cold War

Richard C. Hall

in Consumed by War: European Conflict in the 20th Century

The origins of the settlement of World War II began during the actual fighting. This settlement is inseparable from the beginning of the Cold War, the third phase of the twentieth-century European ... More

The origins of the settlement of World War II began during the actual fighting. This settlement is inseparable from the beginning of the Cold War, the third phase of the twentieth-century European conflict. The Cold War began as World War II concluded and prevented a formal resolution to that war for some time. German war aims were fairly straightforward, though they tended toward the fantastical. The Germans wanted to dominate Europe economically and politically as far as the Ural Mountains. This involved the defeat of France in western Europe and the conquest of Soviet Russia for the acquisition of lebensraum in eastern Europe. This lebensraum was partly economic, intended to ensure that Germany would never have to endure economic travails because of a British blockage. It was also partly political: Adolf Hitler wanted to ensure German domination of Europe for 1,000 years.Less

German-Russian War

Richard C. Hall

in Consumed by War: European Conflict in the 20th Century

The realization of lebensraum in eastern Europe and especially in Soviet Russia had always been an important goal of Adolf Hitler's foreign policy. The defeat of France in the summer of 1940 made the ... More

The realization of lebensraum in eastern Europe and especially in Soviet Russia had always been an important goal of Adolf Hitler's foreign policy. The defeat of France in the summer of 1940 made the realization of this goal possible. Even though Great Britain remained in the war, plans for the invasion of Soviet Russia, code-named Operation Barbarossa, began in the fall of 1940. Hitler thought that the defeat of Soviet Russia might encourage the British to come to terms. The Germans were confident of success. After all, they had defeated Russia during the previous war, even with most of their resources engaged on the western front. Although Stalingrad is often perceived as the turning point of the German–Russian war, German plans had already gone seriously awry with their failure to take Moscow the previous year and rapidly conclude the campaign against Soviet Russia.Less

Introduction: Is Russia a Center or a Periphery?

Edith W. Clowes

in Russia on the Edge: Imagined Geographies and Post-Soviet Identity

This introductory chapter considers the links between spatial discourse and national identity in post-Soviet Russia. Since the early 1990s powerfully opposing views about what it means to be ... More

This introductory chapter considers the links between spatial discourse and national identity in post-Soviet Russia. Since the early 1990s powerfully opposing views about what it means to be “Russian” have taken shape. Some focus nostalgically on reinstating Moscow as the imperial center, while others apply “eccentric” ideas of margin, periphery, and border to rethink the meaning of Moscow and to move away from the old tsarist and Stalinist paradigms and their homogenizing, russifying cultural values. In the Soviet era official identity relied on images of time, but post-Soviet public discourse has since preferred the alliance of Russianness with concepts of geographical and geopolitical space. The chapter shows how these spatial metaphors have shifted from previous Soviet hopes and anxieties and at the same time positions the post-Soviet moment among other “post” events—postmodernism and postcolonialism.Less

Russia and the British Intellectuals: The Significance of The Stalin-Wells Talk

Matthew Taunton

in Russia in Britain, 1880-1940: From Melodrama to Modernism

When H.G. Wells published an interview with Stalin in the New Statesman in 1934 a controversy resulted, and two other leading intellectuals of the day–George Bernard Shaw and John Maynard Keynes–were ... More

When H.G. Wells published an interview with Stalin in the New Statesman in 1934 a controversy resulted, and two other leading intellectuals of the day–George Bernard Shaw and John Maynard Keynes–were invited to respond in a subsequent issue of the journal. This chapter explores the contested position of the Soviet Union in the imaginations of the British intelligentsia in the 1930s by focusing on the attitudes of these writers, contrasting their accounts of visits to the USSR before analysing the publications surrounding the Stalin-Wells talk. After his visit in 1920 Wells had criticised what he perceived as Lenin’s despotism, but he proved more receptive in his 1934 interview with Stalin. Shaw predictably suggested that the interview did not go far enough in its support for Stalin, while Keynes implied that it was the failure of Fabian economics that had led Shaw to offer political support to a demagogue.Less

Building Socialism

Sean McMeekin

in The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willy Munzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West

This chapter explores the reasons behind the collapse of Soviet Russia's economy as a result of Bolshevik policies. Much as agricultural production sank to near zero when the Kremlin stepped up its ... More

This chapter explores the reasons behind the collapse of Soviet Russia's economy as a result of Bolshevik policies. Much as agricultural production sank to near zero when the Kremlin stepped up its war on the peasantry after defeating the White armies in the Civil War, so too did the output of industrial and consumer goods in Russia experience an abrupt drop in response to Moscow's efforts to ban market activity by force. A series of Soviet decrees between 1918 and 1920 outlawed private trade and retail, while nationalizing not only agriculture but also industry, mining, banking, and joint-stock companies that held concessions for foreign distribution and sales. Even money was formally abolished, and the private possession of hard currency, jewels, and other valuables was outlawed.Less

Lawlessness in Russia? Rethinking the Narratives of Law

Kathryn Hendley

in Everyday Law in Russia

This book examines how ordinary Russians experience the law and the legal system. Russia consistently ranks near the bottom of indexes that measure the rule of law, an indication of the country's ... More

This book examines how ordinary Russians experience the law and the legal system. Russia consistently ranks near the bottom of indexes that measure the rule of law, an indication of the country's willingness to use the law as an instrument to punish its enemies. The book considers whether the fact that the Kremlin is able to dictate the outcome of cases seemingly at will—a phenomenon known as “telephone justice”—deprives law of its fundamental value as a touchstone for society. Drawing on the literature on “everyday law,” it argues that the routine behavior of individuals, firms, and institutions can tell us something more about the role of law in Russian life than do sensationalized cases. Rather than focusing on the “supply” of laws, the book concentrates on the “demand” for law. This introduction discusses the perceived lawlessness in Soviet Russia and the dualism that lies at the heart of Russians' attitudes toward law and legal institutions. It also provides an overview of the book's chapters.Less

Creating the Leninist Party

A. James McAdams

in Vanguard of the Revolution: The Global Idea of the Communist Party

This chapter examines the challenges of creating a ruling party as well as the powerful personalities who were involved in making it. For much of the 1920s, a group of so-called Right Bolsheviks led ... More

This chapter examines the challenges of creating a ruling party as well as the powerful personalities who were involved in making it. For much of the 1920s, a group of so-called Right Bolsheviks led by Nikolai Bukharin and Joseph Stalin, and largely supported by Lenin before his death, had the upper hand in this endeavor. They pressed for a party with the capacity to lead Soviet Russia out of the turmoil of war and international strife. Another group, composed of left-wing Bolsheviks including Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, and Grigory Zinoviev, favored a militant party that was attentive to the social and economic roots of the revolution and determined to drive the country toward the eventual realization of socialism. By the late 1920s, the Left opposition was soundly defeated. But this was a pyrrhic victory for the advocates of sobriety, especially Bukharin. Once one set of rivals was eliminated, a suddenly uncompromising Stalin turned on his former allies and transformed the party into a rigid organization that was expected to carry out an orchestrated revolution from above.Less

The Reception of Marxism in China

Ishikawa Yoshihiro

in The Formation of the Chinese Communist Party

This chapter traces the beginning of Marxism in China. The start of Marxism in China coincides with the May the Fourth Movement in 1919, during which the country's major newspapers and magazines ... More

This chapter traces the beginning of Marxism in China. The start of Marxism in China coincides with the May the Fourth Movement in 1919, during which the country's major newspapers and magazines devoted large amounts of space to introducing socialist ideas. In relation to this event, the Marxism that spread across the major cities of China gained strong support in Soviet Russia and of the Comintern, culminating in the formation of the Chinese Communist Party. This widespread acceptance can be attributed to the two waves of “knowledge revolution” that Marxism brought in China. First, Marxism appeared as an all-inclusive ideology in the confused intellectual realm of China in the May the Fourth era. Second, the acceptance of Marxism brought a new revolutionary movement.Less

Viliui Sakha of Subarctic Russia and Their Struggle for Environmental Justice

Susan Crate

in Environmental Justice and Sustainability in the Former Soviet Union

This chapter examines the impact of environmental injustices on post-Soviet Russia’s indigenous peoples, particularly the Viliui Sakha. It discusses the environmental history of the Viliui regions ... More

This chapter examines the impact of environmental injustices on post-Soviet Russia’s indigenous peoples, particularly the Viliui Sakha. It discusses the environmental history of the Viliui regions and the citizen activism and corporate activities and compares the situation of the Viliui Sakha with the indigenous peoples in the diamond-mining districts of Canada’s Northwest Territories. This chapter also describes the factors or conditions that can help promote environmental justice including an effective legal infrastructure to implement and enforce law and a transparent economic development process.Less

Stalin's Cultural Counterrevolution

Robert Daniels

in The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia

Joseph Stalin helped Soviet society become a stable, albeit very tense, structure. Since Stalin rose to power, the Soviet system developed largely independent of Marxian sociology. Economic forces ... More

Joseph Stalin helped Soviet society become a stable, albeit very tense, structure. Since Stalin rose to power, the Soviet system developed largely independent of Marxian sociology. Economic forces depended on the state as the prime mover of history, instead of shaping the basic form and development of society. The Stalin regime insisted that its new ideology was the only correct interpretation of Marxism and denounced all other versions as being representative of counterrevolutionary treachery. Until 1929, intellectuals in Soviet Russia enjoyed a remarkable degree of freedom. In social policy under the New Economic Policy, the Communist Party remained committed to the ideals of the revolution. However, Stalin's dictatorship and counterrevolution radically transformed Soviet cultural and intellectual life. The imposition of extreme Marxism had devastating effects on various fields, from literature and the arts to history, psychology, education, religion, and law. Stalin adopted a new official line for literature called Socialist Realism. Absolute economic determinism in part characterized the kind of historical thought imposed by Mikhail Pokrovsky in the name of the party.Less

Revolutions: The Big Science of Visionary Biology

in A Martian Stranded on Earth: Alexander Bogdanov, Blood Transfusions, and Proletarian Science

This chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about Russian physician and science fiction writer Alexander Bogdanov. This volume shows that the three different vocations of Bogdanov which ... More

This chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about Russian physician and science fiction writer Alexander Bogdanov. This volume shows that the three different vocations of Bogdanov which include Marxism, science and literature are intertwined and mutually reinforced one another. It also explores his work in blood transfusion and his science fiction novels and highlights the interrelations between the life sciences and Marxism in Soviet Russia during Bogdanov's time.Less

The Avant-Garde of System-Cybernetic Governmentality

Eglė Rindzevičiūtė

in The Power of Systems: How Policy Sciences Opened Up the Cold War World

This epilogue addresses the complex question of the link between system-cybernetic governmentality and the neoliberal transformation of post-Soviet Russia. Although the system-cybernetic ... More

This epilogue addresses the complex question of the link between system-cybernetic governmentality and the neoliberal transformation of post-Soviet Russia. Although the system-cybernetic governmentality and economic neoliberalism did not share institutional origins, they were linked during the post-Soviet transformation as a result of historical momentum: the members of the Soviet systems approach community were best positioned to conduct the transfer of the models of the market economy from the West at a time when neoliberal ideas on the free market economy were gaining popularity. However, this should not mean that the pre-1980 history of system-cybernetic governmentality should be tainted as neoliberal; rather, this reveals the extent to which scientific governance can be appropriated by different economic and political regimes. If anything, the pre-1980 history of system-cybernetic governmentality is a history of a rather liberal governmental technology, underscoring the conditions of autonomy, self-regulation, and government at a distance.Less

Introduction

in Music from a Speeding Train: Jewish Literature in Post-Revolution Russia

This book studies Jewish literature and culture by situating authors from Isaac Babel and David Bergelson to Osip Mandelshtam, Perets Markish, Dina Rubina, and Inna Lesovaia in the same literary ... More

This book studies Jewish literature and culture by situating authors from Isaac Babel and David Bergelson to Osip Mandelshtam, Perets Markish, Dina Rubina, and Inna Lesovaia in the same literary universe in which the framework for creativity is provided by modernism and socialist realism, revolution and catastrophe, as well as traditional Jewish writings such as the Hebrew Bible. It discusses Yiddish literature and the terms “Soviet Yiddish,” “Russian-Jewish literature,” and “Jewish literature in Russian”—that is, Russian-language work with Jewish themes written by Jews. Because it addresses cultural production in Soviet Russia in general, the book considers works written by Jews without any apparent Jewish content and examines the question of what constitutes Jewish literature. It also explores the socialist realist manipulation of time, narrative, and memory, focusing mostly on prose. In particular, it offers readings of poetry by Markish, Mandelshtam, Boris Slutskii, Semen Lipkin, and Il'ia Sel'vinskii.Less

Preserving the Peace, Undermining the Peace

Richard C. Hall

in Consumed by War: European Conflict in the 20th Century

The peace settlement achieved at Paris was fragile from its inception. Britain would not be a major supporter. The elimination of the German High Seas Fleet and the U-boats assuaged British security ... More

The peace settlement achieved at Paris was fragile from its inception. Britain would not be a major supporter. The elimination of the German High Seas Fleet and the U-boats assuaged British security concerns, while the responsibilities of a global empire placed increasing demands on Britain's flagging energies. Immediately after the war, the Irish quest for independence provided a major distraction from continental affairs. Italy, largely because of its contention that its rewards did not match its losses in the war, was a problematic advocate for preservation of the peace. Germany, though exhausted and defeated, remained demographically and economically the main power in Europe. The Paris Diktat found few supporters there. Defeated by Germany in the war and shunned by the Entente Powers at Paris, Soviet Russia had little reason to support the peace settlement.Less

Happily Ever After…?

Ailsa Wallace

in Hermynia Zur Mühlen: The Guises of Socialist Fiction

This chapter shows how Zur Mühlen politicised the Märchen — the most popular contemporary children's genre — in order to raise social awareness and promote class consciousness to a future generation ... More

This chapter shows how Zur Mühlen politicised the Märchen — the most popular contemporary children's genre — in order to raise social awareness and promote class consciousness to a future generation of potential Socialist supporters. She was aware that the popular ‘classical’ Märchen were written in such a way as to stabilise, conserve and perpetuate bourgeois beliefs, laws, values and norms. This chapter shows how she sought to subvert this ideology and counter the increasing influence of right-wing children's literature by appropriating the trademark motifs and plot devices of diverse Märchen traditions in her own proletarian-revolutionary fairy tales. These tales establish many of the thematic concerns that continued to occupy Zur Mühlen throughout her career, and reflect how her politics, at that time, were defined increasingly by the Communist Party and by her belief in Soviet Russia as the model of Socialist success.Less

God and Mammon: Trust in the Modern World

Geoffrey Hosking

in Trust: A History

In this chapter the two systems of religion and money are interrelated. Religious faith tends to weaken with economic development where other symbolic systems are working effectively. But in the ... More

In this chapter the two systems of religion and money are interrelated. Religious faith tends to weaken with economic development where other symbolic systems are working effectively. But in the modern world this is often not the case, which is why secularization has not proceeded as smoothly as some theorists once expected. Religion retains a strong hold where economic development has proceeded abruptly and rapidly, creating social dislocation and polarization, and where people have been uprooted within and between nations, hence have to adjust to an unfamiliar and unsettled way of life. The chapter offers an analysis of how trust and distrust operated in the depression of the 1930s, in post-Soviet Russia, and in the financial crisis of 2008.Less