Russian Nationalism And The Politics Of Soviet Literature :

Description:
Russia under President Putin stands, as often before, at a crossroads. Can the reforms of the 1990s provide the foundations for a stable, democratic society, or will a new authoritarianism, more in keeping with Russian political traditions, take shape? With the collapse of empire and the creation of the Russian Federation, Russian nationalism is becoming increasingly important in Russian politics. Yet Russian nationalism is not a new phenomenon. Who were the Russian nationalists before the creation of today's Russia? What were their views? What was their political influence? This book seeks answers to these questions by looking in detail at the USSR from 1981 to 1991 through the eyes of a group of leading Russian nationalist intellectuals gathered around the literary journal Nash sovremennik. The author suggests that, in the twenty-first century, a specifically Russian type of nationalism, ethnic and statist, could provide the ideological underpinning for a new authoritarianism.

Review:
'This book seems to me essential for anyone interested in Russia, dealing as it does with a dark strand in Russian life often ignored or glossed over - that mix of nationalism, religion and, often, anti-semitism - which we associate with Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn. Invaluable, for that matter, to anyone interested in politics. A solid, well-researched book, and a fascinating read.' - Doris Lessing 'Cosgrove's study is thoroughly researched and on a subject that has not been tackled in this way before...As the Soviet Union recedes into the past, it is particularly important that serious studies of its later development, such as this piece of living history, be published.' - Professor A. B. McMillin, School of Slavonic and East European Studies 'This is a meticulous, subtly calibrated and well-focused study which deepens our knowledge of the political crisis within the Soviet Union in the 1980s and early 1990s. It enables us better to understand both the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ambiguous heritage with which the Russian Federation began its life.' - Professor Geoffrey Hosking, School of Slavonic and East European Studies 'This book provides a fascinating insight into the ideas and activities of members (many of them interviewed by the author) of a permitted Russian dissident nationalist pressure group during the last ten years of the USSR...Many of the views expressed by the 'heroes' of Simon Cosgrove's monograph have even greater relevance today, given the partial failure of the reckless 'post-Soviet experiment' and the growing authoritarian tendencies so evident in contemporary Russian society and political life.' - Martin Dewhirst, University of Glasgow

Table of Contents:
A Note on the Text Preface A Background to the Study Nash Sovremennik and Russian Nationalist Ideology, 1981-91 The Brezhnev Succession Crisis and the Russian Challenge Andropov and the Supression of Russian Statist Nationalism From Chernenko to Gorbachev Aleksandr Yakolev and the 'Cultural Offensive' Ligachev and the Conservative Counter-Offensive Chief Editor Kunyaev: From Gorbachev to El'tsin Epilogue: Seven Paradoxes of Russian Nationalism Editorial Structures and Policy-making Biographical Notes on Selected Editors and Authors Bibliography

Author Biography:
SIMON COSGROVE gained his PhD from the School of Slavonic & East European Studies, London, in 1997. Between 1999-2003 he was Team Leader for the European Initiative for Democracy & Human Rights, a grant-making programme of the European Commission for NGOs working to promote human rights, at the Delegation of the European Commission to Russia. He is currently human rights Programme Officer for the MacArthur Foundation's Initiative in the Russian Federation and post-Soviet states (Programme on Global Security and Sustainability).