‘The Soviet Problem’ in Post-Soviet Russian Marxism, or the Afterlife of the USSR

The present article deals with different Marxist theories on the Soviet experience, which emerged in post-Soviet Russophone Marxist or neo-Marxist scholarship (concurrently with some reference to Marxist traditions in other former Eastern Bloc countries). The article demonstrates that these theories – if we leave the remaining ‘Marxist-Leninists’ of the classical Soviet type aside and focus on critical, post-Soviet Marxism – may be classified as either ‘fundamentally rejectionist’ or ‘Thermidorian’. The former, in line with the seminal criticisms of K. Kautsky and other early opponents of Lenin, reject the socialist nature of the October 1917 Revolution outright. The latter mostly define the Revolution as at least socialist-oriented, but further bifurcate into different varieties of the ‘state capitalism’ thesis with a number of theorists defining Stalinist societies as special varieties of post-revolutionary industrialism essentially different from orthodox capitalism. Most critical post-Soviet Marxists agree, however, that the main vector of Soviet-type regimes’ evolution indeed pointed towards increased class stratification. However, it should be remembered that Soviet-type bureaucracy was a class-in-the-making rather than a class-in-itself or a class-for-itself, and this point is further elaborated in the works of those theorists who prioritise the differences rather than similarities between Soviet-type industrialism and orthodox capitalism.

Chinese Reaction and Interpretation of 1991 Events in the Soviet Union

The article is timed to coincide with two anniversaries: centenary of the Communist Party of China, and thirty years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. According to the author’s idea, these two anniversaries correlate: analysis of the reasons and consequences of the USSR dissolution became one of the factors of current policy of Chinese communists. The article brings light to this coherence. A wide range of Chinese sources and literature regarding 1991 events in the USSR was used for the article. Another feature is the attention to historical context of the late 1980s – early 1990s, analysis of which helps to understand domination of conservative view to the USSR dissolution. The article shows how the Chinese state and party interest in the Soviet experience led to creation of a large bulk of works regarding historical, sociological and culturological aspects of the USSR dissolution. The analysis of the most impactful of these works shows a wide range of views regarding certain aspects (fi rst of all, the role of reforms in the fi nal dissolution of the state) and consensus regarding other aspects (negative role of Mikhail Gorbachev, labelling the dissolution of the USSR and the Communist Party as a ‘catastrophe’). Further analysis of the Soviet experience led to such measures by the Chinese leadership like strengthening of partocracy regime, conducting of media-covered anti-smuggling campaigns, establishing of harsh administrative and security control in areas with ethnic minorities, active counterpropaganda and struggling with foreign information infl uence. Appellation to the negative experience of the USSR and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is using by the Chinese leadership in its propaganda as an argument for unacceptability of any political reforms regarding weakening of the party role.

Re-interpretation of the Nationalism-Economy Nexus: Nation-State Building via Neoliberal Reforms During Post-Socialist Transformations in the Baltic States

Building on the latest scholarship in the nationalism-economy nexus studies, the article examines how nationalism inhabits other ideologies in the economic realm. Firstly, the article presents the latest strands in the nationalism-economy nexus research, namely compatibility between economy and nationalism understood as ideology. Then, using Foucault’s concept of governmentality, the article shows how the two phenomena are compatible on the theoretical level. Going further, the article connects the latest nationalism-economy nexus scholarship with existing literature on national neoliberalism in the post-socialist Baltic states. The article argues that national neoliberalism in the Baltics provides an example of what the compatibility of nationalism and economy may look like in practice. The Baltic states’ Soviet experience encouraged their elites to undertake radical neoliberal reforms, in which the processes of nation-state and market economy building overlapped. The states were built to create the markets which would in turn guarantee the prosperity of their respective nations. The article juxtaposes different, yet related scholarships and provides a basic theoretical toolkit that could facilitate potential inquiries into the nationalism-economy nexus in Lithuania and abroad.

regulatory framework of the soviet system of vocational education in the 1970s

The Russian educational system today is undergoing a process of deep, systemic reformation. This process is expressed in a rethinking of the essence, aims, objectives, and strategic attitudes of the educational system. The state policy in the field of education considers the general trends of world development, which determine the need for significant changes in the educational sphere at the present stage. The condition of the educational system and the prospects for its development in any legal state are primarily determined by the legislation on education. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present the analysis of domestic legislation. which regulates the vocational education. Nowadays, great interest among researchers is shown to the Soviet experience of the development of the educational system. Turning to this experience makes it possible to avoid the mistakes of the past, to equalize existing contradictions and to choose the most productive way to develop the system of vocational and technical education in our days.

Fragments of the Soviet Past: Evolution of Contemporary Russian Pentecostals

Soviet and modern Pentecostal practices of participation/non-participation in public life have been analyzed in this article. The author has formulated a question of research: does the Soviet experience influence the formation of norms and practices among conservative Pentecostals? In this article the author used field materials collected in urban and rural communities of the European Russia, the Urals, Siberia and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the 2010s. The main method of data collection is the Biographical Narrative Interview Method. These narratives were supplemented and verified by documents of government authorities from central and regional archives and ego-documents of believers (testimonies, memoirs, and letters). Soviet Pentecostals created their own internal space with specific ways of communication, regulation of community life. Soviet Pentecostals in the Evangelical community were distinguished by specific religious practices. They were characterized by social isolationism. They created their own meaning of participation/non-participation in the everyday life of secular society and Soviet practices. Pentecostals developed a strategy of passive participation in military service, had their own ideas about the possibility of obtaining higher education. They had their own view of Soviet social and cultural life. Pentecostals were subjected to social exclusion due to ideological reasons, but they were able to integrate into Soviet everyday life. In the post-Soviet period, most restrictions ceased to exist and believers were able to adapt to the current situation. At the same time, they retained restrictions based on theological and doctrinal principles. Until now, Pentecostal churches still maintain rules of conduct in everyday life, including those based on the Soviet experience.

MASTERS OF THE SPOKEN WORD OF RUSSIA’S UGRIC- SAMOYEDIC PEOPLES: ETHNIC PROJECTS, TRADITIONALISM, REGIONAL CONTEXT

The article systematically defines and analyzes the project initiatives by the masters of the spoken word among three generations of the Mansi, Nents, and Khanty peoples. The first generation includes those born in the 1910s (Ivan Istomin — Nenets; Anna Konkova — Mansi; Taisiya Chuchelina — Khanty), the second one — those born in the 1930s (Yuvan Shestalov and Andrey Tarkhanov — Mansi; Leonid Laptsuy — Nenets; Mariya Vagatova and Roman Rugin — Khanty), and the third one — those born at the turn of the 1940s–1950s (Anna Nerkagi and Yuriy Vella — Nenets; Yeremey Aypin — Khanty). The authors of the article describe motivational environment for the creative endeavor of the spiritual leaders of indigenous minorities within the historical and cultural dynamics of the region they are biographically related to. In addition, the semiotic foundations of syncretism and traditionalism of the ethnosubjects’ fiction are presented in all the diversity of their written and action projects. This article indicates the transformation in the identities of the masters of the spoken word during the country’s transition from the Soviet to the post-Soviet experience, as well as difficulties and nature of their presence in writers’ associations among Russian authors. Along the historical axis, one can see growing creative endeavor, initiative, and national identity of the representatives of the indigenous minorities of the northern regions. The authors of the article consider Ugric-Samoyedic writers’ experience within the framework of contemporary understanding of historical poetics of Russian philology.

Facets of the soviet in the memory of media audience

The article is devoted to the problem of the current state of cultural memory about the Soviet experience, Soviet existence in the media space in the context and format of memetics. The authors solve three problems: the definition of key concepts that characterize the problem, including the definition of the concept «soviet meme»; identification and overview content analysis of Runet resources updating cultural memory of the USSR in meme format; systematizing the results of a micro-sociocultural survey aimed at identifying the state of cultural memory of soviet. The soviet meme is positioned as a peculiar cultural gene of soviet being and consciousness and is defined as a unit of soviet cultural information, entrenched in cultural memory and reproduced in the infosphere, media environment, culture, mass consciousness, sociocultural practices in accordance with context and modality in the original or transformed state. A significant sphere of the existence of soviet memes is the cultural memory and actual discourse of the soviet. Key components of the media oecumenes of soviet memes in Runet were revealed. The results of a micro-sociocultural survey were systematized, which made it possible to form an idea on the state of Runet users’ cultural memory.