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Soviet ‘Federalism’

Jeffrey Kahn

in Federalism, Democratization, and the Rule of Law in Russia

Although most scholars were quick to puncture the Soviet Union's sham claims to democracy, too many accepted at face value its claim to be a federal state. The shifting debates about federalism in ... More

Although most scholars were quick to puncture the Soviet Union's sham claims to democracy, too many accepted at face value its claim to be a federal state. The shifting debates about federalism in Bolshevik doctrine and communist theory are explored. The formation, systematization, and stagnation of the so‐called ‘Soviet federalism’ is examined and debunked through analysis of the constitutions and political realities that existed under Lenin, Stalin, and Brezhnev.Less

1916–18: The Beginnings of the “Russian” Civil Wars

Jonathan D. Smele

in The "Russian" Civil Wars, 1916—1926: Ten Years That Shook the World

This chapter seeks to establish that the “Russian” Civil Wars began with Central Asian Revolt of 1916, before going on to argue that subsequent events — the February Revolution, the travails of the ... More

This chapter seeks to establish that the “Russian” Civil Wars began with Central Asian Revolt of 1916, before going on to argue that subsequent events — the February Revolution, the travails of the Russian Provisional Government of 1917, the Kornilov Affair, the October Revolution, and the closure by the Soviet government of the Constituent Assembly — should be viewed as essential elements of the civil wars, not precursors to them. It focuses too on the views on civil war of the Bolshevik leader, V.I. Lenin, the fighting that took place from Belorussia through the Urals to Siberia from 1917 to 1918 and examines early efforts to combat the Bolshevik seizure of power by General M.V. Alekseev and others. It explains also the diverse origins of the Allied intervention in Russia that began in early 1918.Less

Democracy and State Power

Marc Mulholland

in Bourgeois Liberty and the Politics of Fear: From Absolutism to Neo-Conservatism

The arrival of mass suffrage, in countries with governments responsible or irresponsible to elected parliaments, gave rise either to ‘umbrella’ pan-class parties, or sectional parties of class or ... More

The arrival of mass suffrage, in countries with governments responsible or irresponsible to elected parliaments, gave rise either to ‘umbrella’ pan-class parties, or sectional parties of class or nationality and/or religious identity. These gave rise to variations in circumstance determining the likely degree of socialist-liberal cooperation. On balance, socialists and liberals did cooperate, but only to a limited extent. The 1905 Revolution in Russia re-opened the debate about possibilities for overturning entrenched state power. It was also important in revealing the likelihood that liberal revolution could easily displace bourgeois leadership and present opportunities for socialists basing themselves upon the proletariat. Debates on this matter involving Rosa Luxemburg, V.I. Lenin, Karl Kautsky, and Leon Trotsky are examined. Whether militarism and imperialism was inherent in capitalism was debated by Kautsky, Rudolf Hilferding, and Lenin: Lenin's conclusion that bourgeois liberalism was defunct is foreshadowed.Less

Chapter Four Leninism: Revolution as Religion

in Totalitarianism and Political Religion: An Intellectual History

This chapter discusses the introduction of Marxism to Russia and rise of Leninism. First, it discusses Georgy Plekhanov's role in introducing Marxism in Russia and Nikolai Chernyshevsky's influence ... More

This chapter discusses the introduction of Marxism to Russia and rise of Leninism. First, it discusses Georgy Plekhanov's role in introducing Marxism in Russia and Nikolai Chernyshevsky's influence over Russia's revolutionary intelligentsia. Before the advent of Marxism, it was Russia's revolutionary intelligentsia that conceived science, philosophy, education, and art. Inspired by Chernyshevsky, the intelligentsia's belief system combined with Marxism to produce the thought of Plekhanov, ultimately giving rise to the revolutionary doctrines of V. I. Lenin.Less

Impossible Uncanniness: Deconstruction and Queer Theory

Nicholas Royle

in In Memory of Jacques Derrida

This chapter deals with the relationship between deconstruction and queer theory. It is noted that ‘the more fashionable Queer became, the more it was appropriated by those who wanted to be ... More

This chapter deals with the relationship between deconstruction and queer theory. It is noted that ‘the more fashionable Queer became, the more it was appropriated by those who wanted to be fashionable and the more inclusive and meaningless the term became’. In Jacques Derrida's view, deconstruction inherits something of the condemnation of ‘spontaneism’ in V. I. Lenin. Derrida's ‘crypto-communist legacy’ entails thinking of the ‘crypto-’, of the hidden and secret. ‘Queer theory’ would have to do with deferred effect and the incalculable, with what cannot be ‘anticipated in advance’; and indeed that this can and must include the possibility of the disappearance or obsolescence of the term ‘queer’ itself. It then argues that homosexuality and queerness constitute a crucial aspect of all Jonathan Dollimore's novels. If Derrida's work argues for, while enacting, a queering of being, the same can be said of time: deconstruction queers being and time.Less

Slogans and Other One-Liners

Jan Mieszkowski

in Crises of the Sentence

This chapter asks how powerful a single sentence can be. For Hegel, the accuracy and forcefulness of any given statement is less important than the transformations that occur within sentences and the ... More

This chapter asks how powerful a single sentence can be. For Hegel, the accuracy and forcefulness of any given statement is less important than the transformations that occur within sentences and the clashes that take place between them. In contrast, Hegel’s Romantic contemporaries suggest that individual utterances such as aphorisms, fragments, and other so-called “minor” forms gain their authority from their brevity and their often ironic attempt to have both the first and the last word. The chapter goes on to show that Hegelian and Romantic arguments shape Marx’s claim that to know someone’s politics one has to understand what kind of sentences they are trying to write. Ultimately, Marx argues that revolutionary praxis must embrace the slogan, a charge that is taken up by his inheritors, including Lenin and Luxemburg. Finally, the chapter turns to Adorno and Brecht to show that slogans set in motion a signifying dynamic over which we may have little, if any, control.Less