Majesty and Tragedy of the Soviet "Experiment"

Majesty and Tragedy of the Soviet "Experiment"


Krasin Yu.A.,

Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Professor, honorary Dr. of Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, krasinyua@yandex.ru


elibrary_id: 250827 |


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2017.01.03

For citation:

Krasin Yu.A. Majesty and Tragedy of the Soviet "Experiment". – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No. 1. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.01.03



Abstract

Almost a century has passed since the events of October 1917, which encourages us to estimate “from a distance” the Soviet experience born by the Russian revolution. The Soviet system emerged at a crisis stage of development of industrial society in the capitalist guise. In Russia, where contradictions of violently developing capitalism were tangled in Gordian knot with semi-feudal archaic, an alternative of development emerged, perceived by Bolsheviks as “socialism” and “dictatorship of proletariat”. The independent organizations that spontaneously grew up “from bottom” – the Soviets of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies – appeared as an original form of “downstream” democracy. Their ambivalent symbiosis with the authoritarian “party of a new type” formed the Soviet statehood. The antinomic ambiguity of the Soviet system is a thread that runs through the entire history of the Soviet Union, defining duality of the Soviet experience’ estimation. On the one hand, there is greatness in people’s deed – the transformation, which presented an alternative to capitalist alienation and which forced capitalism to social modification. On the other hand, there are authoritarian trends of Soviet power, which resulted in a totalitarian canalization of the revolutionary enthusiasm, while the energy of mass creativeness was strangled in clutches of the ideological myths and political repressions. The Soviet experience is appealing because it embodies the mass solidarity around “the common cause” of creating a new society free from exploitation. This great idea captured mass consciousness and prompted people to “storm the heaven” in spite of regime’s despotism. It is a complicated question whether it was possible to reform the Soviet system, while saving its best traditions. However, a quarter of a century after the collapse of the USSR, the Soviet legacy hasn’t been neglected: there is still a crave for a greater “common cause” in Russian transforming society, and the Russian reformation is far from over. 

Keywords
democracy; authoritarianism; Soviets; statehood; antinomic character of the Soviet system; democratism of “common cause”; Russian reformation.


References

Alexander J. Robust Utopias and Civil Repairs. – International Sociology. 2001. Vol. 16. No. 4. P. 579‑581.

Aristotle. Collected Works. (Russ. ed.: Aristotle. Sochineniya v 4-kh t. Vol. 4. Moscow: Mysl’. 1983. 830 p.)

Berdyaev N.A. Istoki i smysl russkogo kommunizma [Origins and Meaning of Russian Communism]. Moscow: Nauka. 1990. 224 p. (In Russ.)

Carr E. A History of Soviet Russia. The Bolshevik Revolution 1917‑1923. (Russ. ed.: Carr E. Bol’shevistskaya revolyutsiya 1917‑1923. Kn. 1. Istoriya sovetskoi Rossii. V 2 kn. Moscow: Progress. 1990. 768 p.)

Chayanov A.V. Venetsianskoe zerkalo [Venetian Mirror]. Moscow: Sovremennik. 1989. 235 p. (In Russ.)

Dvadtsat’ let reform glazami rossiyan: opyt mnogoletnikh sotsiologicheskikh zamerov. Pod red. M. Gorshkova, R. Krumma, V. Petukhova [Twenty Years of Reforms Through the Eyes of Russians: the Experience of Many Years of Sociological Measurements. Ed. by M. Gorshkov, R. Krumm, V. Petukhov]. Moscow: Ves Mir. 2011. 304 p. (In Russ.)

Kara-Murza S.G. Sovetskaya tsivilizatsiya. V 2 t. T. 1 [The Soviet Civilization. In 2 vols. Vol. 1]. Moscow: Algoritm. 2001. 265 p. (In Russ.)

Keane J. Democracy and Civil Society. (Russ. ed.: Keane J. Demokratiya i grazhdanskoe obshchestvo. Moscow: Progress-Traditsiya. 2001. 400 p.)

Keane J. The Life and Death of Democracy. N.Y.-L.: W.W. Norton and Co. 2009. 992 p.

Krasin Yu.A. The State and the Society: Shifts in the Power Field. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No. 5. P. 51‑58. (In Russ.)

Lenin V.I. O nashei revolyutsii (po povodu zapisok N. Sukhanova) [On Our Revolution (About the Notes by N. Sukhanov)]. – Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (5 izdanie). Tom 45 (Mart 1922 – mart 1923) [Complete Works (5th ed.). Vol. 45 (March 1922 – March 1923)]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury. 1970. P. 378‑382. (In Russ.)

Lenin V.I. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (5 izdanie). Tom 12 (oktyabr’ 1905 – aprel’ 1906) [Complete Works (5th ed.). Vol. 12 (October 1905 – April 1906)]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury. 1968. 576 p. (In Russ.)

Milyukov P.N. Vospominaniya [Memories]. Moscow: Politizdat. 1991. 528 p. (In Russ.)

Obshchestvennoe mnenie – 2015. Ezhegodnik [Public Opinion – 2015. Yearbook]. Moscow: Levada Centre. 2016. 308 p. (In Russ.)

Platonov A.P. Yuvenil’noe more [Juvenile Sea]. Moscow: Sovremennik. 1988. 560 p. (In Russ.)

Surovaya drama naroda. Uchenye i publitsisty o prirode stalinizma [People’s Severe Trauma. Scientists and Journalists on the Nature of Stalinism]. Moscow: Politizdat. 1989. 542 p. (In Russ.)

Weber M. Russlands Übergang zur Scheindemokratie. – Die Hilfe. 26.04.1917. Vol. 23. No. 17. P. 272‑279.

Weber M. Gesammelte Politische Schriften (1985‑1919). (Russ. ed.: Weber M. Sotsializm (Iyun‘ 1918). – Politicheskie raboty. Moscow: Praxis. 2003. P. 336‑337).

Weber M. Zur Russischen Revolution von 1905 (Schriften und Reden 1905‑1912) u.a. (Russ. ed.: Weber M. O Rossii: izbrannoe. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 2007. 159 p.)

Yurchak A. Eto bylo navsegda, poka ne konchilos’. Poslednee sovetskoe pokolenie [It Was to Last Forever Until it Was Over. The Last Soviet Generation]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 2014. 664 p. (In Russ.)    

Content No. 1, 2017

See also:


Sakwa R.,
The Perils of Democratism. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No2

Oganisyan Yu.S.,
Socialism as the first stage of capitalism. Post-soviet Russia’s experience. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No3

Mirsky G.I.,
Authoritarianism and Democracy: Two Models?. – Polis. Political Studies. 1996. No6

Bolshakov A.G.,
Problematic statehood in the epoch of global crisis of national sovereignty. – Polis. Political Studies. 2011. No5

Lukin A.V.,
Is other democracy possible?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No1

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
1 2016


Brown A.
Political Leadership and Political Power

 Полный текст 
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991