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The Labour Party’s socialism changed dramatically in the 1980s. Neil Kinnock’s restructuring of Labour occurred at the same time as the international socialist movement moved away from the statist model of economics and turned, in varying degrees, to more market-orientated ideas. This chapter assesses the ways in which Labour’s political thought adapted both to New Right realities and to the fact that much of world was adopting free market economic ideas. The particular focus here is the development of Kinnock’s ideas in light of the changes in Soviet socialism after Mikhail Gorbachev introduced his reform programme. The Soviet Union had long influenced Labour’s ideology in both positive and negative ways, and this chapter shows how it continued to do so in 1980s. It examines the relationship between Kinnock’s Labour and Gorbachev’s USSR, and it shows how the changes introduced by both leaders began to lead to a convergence of ideas between Eastern and Western European versions of socialism.

From 1923 to 1930, we witnessed the first half of korenizatsiia, that is, Soviet indigenization for the national minorities. Already there were major attempts to dismantle this program. Vladimir Arsenev called for the total deportation of the Koreans in 1928. Comrade Geitsman called them “aliens” to Soviet socialism, even those Koreans who were Soviet citizens. However, this did not deter the Koreans. Khan Myon She, a local Soviet Korean leader called out local Communist Party leaders for “ethnic chauvinism.” He was soon replaced by Afanasii Kim. Young educated Korean activists in the organization INKORPORE battled for equal land and rights for Korean farmers and settlers. Several regiments of local Red Army including one regiment led by Pen Khva Kim fought for the Red Army during the brief Sino-Soviet War (1929).

There were five main components to the construction of each Soviet nationality during korenizatsiia (indigenization). These were: representation (through Soviet cadres), economic life, citizenship, land and territorial autonomy and receiving a Soviet education to inculcate “class consciousness.” The Soviet Koreans excelled in every measure and campaign in order to show and prove their loyalty to “Soviet power.” But they never received a large autonomous territory which was commensurate to their population. Thus, the Soviet claims of “real and legal equality” for all nationalities fell short of reality when it came to the Koreans.

In the postwar era, the problem of identity in Hungarian music became even more complex. This chapter notes that the Communist regime in Hungary had to balance its desire for a specifically Hungarian art music, in which Bartók's legacy would certainly play a role against its desire to root out modernism. It shows how, as a result of conflicting aims, Bartók became central to the debates about musical style that accompanied Hungary's transition to Soviet-style socialism between 1945 and 1950.

This concluding chapter examines the ongoing tensions between military intelligence organs and the state security departments assigned to monitor the military. It describes the security police's role in the last major purge campaigns of Iosif Stalin, especially against Leningrad Party leaders. It also discusses the MGB's role in the intensifying anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist policies and purges under Stalin. The keys to the power of Iosif Stalin were the NKVD, OGPU, MGB, and NKGB. State and social aspects of Stalinism continued to develop towards the end of the era examined in this book. The evolution to a new era in the Soviet Union and to a new phase of Soviet socialism accelerated after the death of Stalin.

This chapter focuses on the abrupt change from Soviet socialism. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was an amalgamation of identities that brought together Soviet identification, in which the Russian language and culture played a central role. However, the unraveling of the Soviet state resulted in the challenges of Homo sovieticus. Russian legislators had to determine the identity behind the Russian people. The fragmentation of the institution of citizenship resulted in dissatisfaction with citizenship laws and public insecurity. In 1991, the first Russian citizenship law expressed two sets of ideas: characteristics of Russia's primacy among republics and Western principles of globalization, human rights, and late modernity trends.

The Afterword brings together the various strands of the complex encounter between the Black Atlantic and the Red October. It argues for the dynamic and mutually complementary connection between the ideals of social and economic justice put forth by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the emancipatory aspirations of the historical victims of Western racism and imperialism. The relationship between the Soviet experiment and the experiences of the Black Atlantic was far from unproblematic. There were numerous points of convergence, especially when it came to the critique of European and North American racism and colonialism. Yet the appeal of the Soviet claims to colour-blind internationalism and the class-based analysis of history had its limitations, as it would come to compete with a variety of other emancipatory visions, which privileged racial solidarity and black nationalism. It is common to talk about the impact of the Russian Revolution on the colonised majorities in the developing world and the racial minorities in the West. However, the encounter was certainly not a one-way street – it functioned as a vehicle for the forging of Soviet Socialist identity, but it also generated its fair share of challenges to the Soviet status quo. Many of the actors and sojourners of the Black Atlantic found themselves inspired by the Soviet rhetoric of anti-racism and anti-colonialism, but their very engagement with this discourse could, on occasion, put pressure on the Soviets to modernise and to encourage Soviet society towards change and even reform.

This chapter opens with a scene from Pogodin’s Daring (1930)—a play set in an urban commune. This acts as a Mise en abyme (a story within the story) to recap the aims, challenges, and evolution of the urban commune phenomenon. The reader is also reminded of the contemporary importance of the urban communes. The leadership’s subsequent desire to avoid the appearance of ‘alternative pathways to socialism’ is presented as the main reason for the urban commune being written out of Soviet history—until now. It is also revealed that some of the activists discussed in the book went on to have successful careers in the Soviet Union. To the end, the urban communards are shown to embrace and engage the ideological concerns of their day. Through the construction, outlook, and demise of the urban communes, the reader can see the everyday formation of Soviet socialism and Soviet identity.