Review of Hugh Ross Williamson, Charles and Cromwell (London: Duckworth, 1946)

Wight notes that Williamson’s account of the English Civil War follows ‘the romantic view of history’ as ‘the relationship or interaction of characters’ in sometimes tragic circumstances. Williamson ‘shows a good dramatic sense’, Wight observes, in his narrative of events involving Cromwell and King Charles I of England; but the book fails to show insight on ‘the deeper dialectic of conservative and revolutionary psychology. It illuminates neither the particular clash between the Anglicanism of the King and the Independency of the Lieutenant-General, nor the general problem of political morals in a revolutionary situation.’ Cromwell and Charles were both ‘compelled to political methods which in private circumstances they would have condemned’. Owing in part to Williamson’s ‘life-long Cromwellian fervour’, the book does not attain ‘a high level of political literacy’, nor does it demonstrate deep discernment about the history of these conflicts.

Three problems of neo-Marxism, or What you need to know before using a neo-Marxist approach

The maturity of the neo-Marxist approach in cognition is determined not only by the heuristics of its theoretical and methodological foundations, but also by self-critical reflection. Three initial problems of the neo-Marxist approach are identified, which are useful to take into account when using it in scientific research: excessive criticism of neo-Marxist cognition, ideological bias of the neo-Marxist approach, conceptual uncertainty of capitalism as an object of neo-Marxism. It is proved that the ideological component is falsely identified with all neo-Marxism, and the critical component is treated trivially. The problem of the neo-Marxist approach lies not in the fact of a negative judgment about the reality under study, but in the level of theoretical and methodological support for the critical approach. It is necessary to distinguish criticism as a negative judgment and criticism as a dialectical logic of negation. The researcher can avoid the critical and ideological component of neo-Marxist research within the framework of the scientific tradition of neo-Marxism. This tradition does not deprive the researcher of the possibility of scientific search for new socio-economic reasons for the transformation of capitalism or new political ones by the subject of anti-capitalist resistance. The difference is that the ideological goal setting orients the researcher to the construction of the revolutionary situation of capitalism, and the scientific one – to the knowledge of the revolutionary factors of the existing «capitalist construct». More complex problem of the neo-Marxist approach is the conceptual uncertainty of capitalism. This problem requires a solution at the level of the community of neo-Marxist theorists. The unresolved nature of this problem affects the initial positions of new neo-Marxist studies. It does not allow us to define capitalism as an object of neo-Marxist research of any subject orientation. There are two options for a research strategy in this situation. First, it is possible, based on the conventional concept of truth, to join some neo-Marxist definition of modern capitalism and implement one’s subject research within the framework of the tradition of a particular neo-Marxist theorist. Secondly, it is possible to use the hypothetical-deductive method and proceed from the chosen understanding of capitalism as a hypothetical position, where the author’s subject of research is constituted as a consequence of this hypothesis and requires a verification check for truth. The solvability of general neo-Marxist epistemological problems means that there are no obstacles to the widespread application of neo-Marxism in social cognition.

"I HAVE EXPERIENCED ALL THE BEAUTIES OF RUSSIAN PRISONS": MOISEI GINZBURG‘S EXILE TO PINEGA

To date, there are no studies in Russian and foreign historiography that would objectively cover the individual stages of the biography of the Russian and Soviet philosopher, historian and publicist Moisei Isaakovich Gintsburg (Dayan) (1877-1940). A significant body of his scientific heritage remains not involved in the research field, which is represented by developments on the history of the Jews, the study of the archaeological monuments of the Crimea and the issues of museum affairs in the USSR, which actualizes the topic of this study. The article analyzes in detail the initial period of biography M. I. Gintsburg, associated with revolutionary activities in the early twentieth century. Based on the analysis of a new corpus of archival sources from the funds of the State Archive of the Arkhangelsk Region, the period of M. I. Gintsburg's stay in exile in the territory of the Arkhangelsk province in 1903-1905 is restored. In synthesis with the documents that we have identified in the collections of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, we were able to characterize the period of his political and revolutionary activity in the ranks of the General Jewish Workers Union in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund). The classification of the obtained data allowed us to restore the ideas about the political views of M. I. Gintsburg in the context of the brewing revolutionary situation in the Russian Empire. The new archival documents discovered and involved in the research field, as well as the description of the processes and phenomena described above, made it possible to supplement and interpret a new body of informative material on the history of key historical processes in the territory of the Russian Empire during the revolutionary upheavals of the early twentieth century.

"Monarchists" and "Republicans" in the Western European Political and Legal Thought of the 17th Century

The paper is devoted to the problem of theoretical approaches to monarchical and republican forms of government that were reflected in the works of representatives of Western European political thought of the 17th century. The seventeenth century is the century that opens the period of Modern Times. It was a turning point not only in the history of Western European civilization, but also in the history of philosophical knowledge and "positive" sciences, including in such a specific field as political thought, which developed at the intersection of philosophy and science. The political theory of the period, was able to rise to the realization of the objective of the imperfection of existing political institutions and give its recommendations for addressing the identified deficiencies, as far as it was possible in terms of initial imperfections is given to us in sensations of the world. The political thought of the historical period under consideration showed a lively theoretical polemic between the supporters of the monarchical and republican forms of government. The revolutionary situation developed in some of the advanced European states during the alarming seventeenth century made it possible to understand the advantages or disadvantages of the existing forms of government. It seems quite natural that the formation of the theoretical views of specific political thinkers or jurists was formed under the influence of the dominant ideology (or competing ideologies) of that time. Moreover, it should be noted that the monarchist or republican views of specific authors are not always theoretically well-reasoned, but are often based on the subjective preferences of thinkers. Thus, this paper highlights a rather ambiguous problem of the features of monarchical and republican forms of government in the political thought of the 17th century.

The “Armenian Question” in the ethno-confessional policy of late imperial Russia: strategies, compromises and ways of resolution (review of the North Caucasus)

The model of the late imperial development of relations between the state and the believer in Russia was considered in accordance with the legal confessional sequence. The peculiarity was that sometimes the privilege of one or another religion was determined by its national political significance. There were often correlations with foreign policy, in the course of which the national question acquired the importance of international diplomacy. Proceeding from this, the subject of the study is the “Armenian Question” in the political context and its influence on the internal governance of the Armenian population in the empire. In this regard, the we set the goal of ex-amining the features of the development of the symbiosis of ethno-confessional policy with for-eign policy relations between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire since the second half of the 19th century on the example of the North Caucasus region. The relevance of this study is dictated by the growing problem at the present stage of maintaining the unity and integrity of the country in the context of the post-Soviet surge of national self-awareness. As a method of scientific research, we consider it necessary to use the method of historical retrospection, which made it possible to plunge into the experience of the imperial predecessors, in their attempt to integrate microsociums into a single political and cultural field, to analyze and synthesize the results obtained. The result of this study is the opinion about the initial patronage of the Armenian population and the Armenian Gregorian Church, the purpose of which was to win them over as the Christian population, thereby causing competition with Turkey in the international arena. However, gradually this policy led to a cooling, one of the reasons for which was the implementation from the early 1880s course for the Russification of the outskirts, as well as the growth of the general revolutionary situation in the Caucasus.

Letters from ‘Glaucos’: The Correspondence of Guy Debord during the Portuguese Revolution

Guy Debord, founder of the Situationist International and filmmaker, kept a meticulous record of his correspondence between 1951 and 1994. Published by Fayard, the fifth volume of the correspondence includes several letters signed ‘Glaucos’ (a character from the Iliad), which were sent to Afonso Monteiro, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Eduardo Rothe, and Jaime Semprún. In those letters, Debord developed several analyses of the ‘Carnation Revolution’, arguing that ‘the Portuguese proletariat’ had gone ‘further than the May 1968 movement’. Debord initially supported a local group called Conselho para o Desenvolvimento da Revolução Social, but he would later criticise it for not taking sufficient action. He also encouraged Jaime Semprún to write La Guerre Social au Portugal, a book published by Éditions Champ Libre in May 1975. This article analyses Debord’s correspondence in 1974 and 1975, offering a critical assessment of how he related to the revolutionary situation in Portugal.

THE CHANGE OF POLITICAL REGIME IN KYRGYZSTAN: THE REASONS AND CONSEQUENCES

This article analyzes the features of political regime as a way of functioning of the society's political system, its role in the post-revolutionary period of formation and development of the Kyrgyz statehood. Many of the pending issues, such as ethno-nationalism, separation of parties on a regional basis, increasing unemployment, inflation, weak, non-developing economy, and security problems of the country citizens increasing in recent years, as well as the possible political consequences of unresolved problems are specified. The author sets out his own opinion regarding the prospects and ways of the country development in the context of the post-revolutionary situation.

PROBLEMS OF JURISPRUDENCE IN THE "PHILOSOPHICAL MANIFESTO OF THE HISTORICAL SCHOOL OF LAW" BY K. MARX

During the Soviet period of studying the Marxist heritage, it was noted that the historical school of law is extremely reactionary, since the school did not have any significant influence on the development of political and legal theory of Germany in the first third of the 19th century; the ideas of its representatives did not contribute in any way to the accelerated maturation of the revolutionary situation on the eve of the turbulent 1848, when the issues of a radical reorganization of the state and society were on the agenda. Nevertheless, the views of representatives of the historical school of law occupy a worthy place among the political and legal teachings of the first half of the 19th century.