«KONFISKOVAT' REVOLYUTSIYU V SVOYU POL'ZU»? («CONFISCATING REVOLUTION IN ONE’S FAVOR»?)ON THE PHENOMENON OF «SOVIET BONAPARTISM»
Keywords:
Civil War in the Soviet Russia, Soviet Bonapartism phenomenon, Napoleon, bolshevism phobia, M. A. Muraviev, «muravievschina», N. A. Grigoriev, «grigorievschina», N. I. Makhno, V. F. Antonov-Ovseenko, bolshevism political culture.Abstract
The article entitled deals with some aspects of the history of forming of the «Soviet Bonapartism» phenomenon in the period of Civil War in Soviet Russia as a problem of bolshevism political culture. The author’s analysis is connected with the problematic field of interpretations of the menace (both real and imaginary) to the early Soviet regime from the popular «red commanders» – оn the examples of M. A. Muraviev and N. A. Grigoriev. The inevitable shift of the revolution towards the civil war had much in common with the historical situations of both French and Russian revolutions. The realization of this political algorithm meant that the regime should immediately and adequately react to the activity of those who were under suspicion in «bonapartist» ambitions. The work is mainly based on published sources (historical-philosophical works of the ideologists and the «creators» of socialism – K.Marx, L.Trotskiy, V. I. Lenin; memoirs and diaries of the participants of the Civil war, official documents characterizing Bolshevik leadership policy towards the «red commanders»; modern publicist accounts on problems of Civil war and «Soviet Bonapartism»). Theoretical-methodological aspects of the work are connected with using methods of psychohistory, analysis of the emotional nature of social and political behavior of individuals and masses in the conditions of a historic crisis. Along with techniques traditional for the method of historism and comparative techniques, culturalanthropological strategies of deconstructing the nature of «Soviet Bonapartism» are being used. Based on the work accomplished, the author comes to the conclusion: cultural provincialism, political amateurism and psychopatologies of personal qualities (in the framework of the general course of the Bolshevik rule) naturally doomed the attempts of «Soviet Bonapartes» to secure the regime of personal power. However, it was in early Soviet Russia that the «repertoire» of images and mythologems of «Soviet Bonapartism» began to form – both as phobias of the authority and as arguments in struggle against the political enemies – real and imaginary ones.Downloads
Published
2023-05-16
Issue
Section
История России