Rabotyazhev Nikolay
Left-Wing Conservatizm: Nostalgia for Utopia?
Publication Type:
The very existence of such political phenomenon as left-wing conservatism can be explained by the fact that conservatism and socialism initially possessed some contact points. Conservatism and socialism were the reactions to the process of modernization, both of them denied liberal civilization based on individualism, rationalism and power of money. In tsarist Russia Slavophiles and radical populists (narodniki) contrasted the values of Russian peasant community with the individualism of bourgeois Europe. After the 1917 October revolution some groups of right-wing Russian emigrants have declared that communism was not the break with Russian tradition but its peculiar continuation (“smenovekhovtsy” (“Change of Signposts” group), national Bolshevism of N. Ustryalov, Eurasianism). At the same time Soviet ideology became gradually more nationalist, and in 1970s communists-“neoslavophiles” – spiritual forerunners of the present Communist Party of Russian Federation (the CPRF) – argued that there was a succession, not gap between the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire. In post-communist Russia leftwing conservatives oppose the westernization and assert that because of communitarian, collectivist and statist nature of Russian tradition socialism was its organic product. After the Russian Communist party’s restoration in 1993 leftwing conservatism became the dominant trend in its leadership. In 1990es the leader of the CPRF Gennadyi Zyuganov revised ideology of the party combining communism with Russian patriotism, Marxism with the views of Russian conservative philosophers of the 19th century. Another version of left-wing conservatism is elaborated by Izborsk Club some members of which intend to carry out a synthesis of “red” and “white” ideological traditions. Analyzing the worldview of the CPRF and Izborsk Club the author draws the conclusion that contemporary Russian left-wing conservatism is the narrow, one-sided version of conservatism possessing certain reactionary features. 

 


Keywords: Conservatism | Socialism | the Communist Party of the Russian Federation | Izborsk Club | Russian Tradition | Slavophilism | National Bolshevism | «Smena vekh» («Change of Signposts») |

Russian Science Citation Index



OTHER PUBLICATIONS ON THIS TOPIC

Rabotyazhev Nikolay
Between tradition and utopia left-wing conservatism in Russia


От советского социализма к постсоветской России [Текст] / В. Г. Хорос // Демократия и социализм XXI. – 2019. – № 6. – С. 16-48.

Gadzhiev Kamaludin
Conservatism in the Modern World: Crisis or Revival? / K. Gadgiev

Gronsky Alexander
The reaction of the left-wing parliamentary parties (Just Russia and the Communist party) to the Byelorussian post-election protests in august 2020

Kudrov Valentin
Сталинизм и нацизм: общие и отличительные признаки [Текст] / В.М. Кудров // Политические науки. – 2013. – № 3. – С. 19 – 29.

Rabotyazhev Nikolay
Российская национальная идентичность в зеркале современного отечественного консерватизма [Текст] / Н.В. Работяжев // Полития. Анализ. Хроника. Прогноз. – 2013. – № 3. – С. 62 – 84.

Lomanov Alexander
Human rights in modern ideology of the Communist Party of China

Gel'bras Vilia
КНР: социальные последствия реформ и открытости / В.Г. Гельбрас // Азия и Африка сегодня. – 2008. – № 8. – С. 2–7.

Gadzhiev Kamaludin
On the New Right Alternative

Gadzhiev Kamaludin
The Contemporary American Conservatism: Social and Cultural Aspects / K. Gadzhiev

Istyagin Leonid
Российский пацифизм и большевистский Октябрь [Текст] / Л.Г. Истягин // Альтернативы. – 2017. – № 3. – С. 100-111

Barsky K., Vinogradov A.V., Salitskii Alexander
О диалектическом единстве внутренней и внешней политики Китая (к 100-летию образования коммунистической партии Китая) // Вестник Российской академии наук. 2021. Т. 91, № 8. С. 703-712. DOI 10.31857/S086958732108003X.

Avtonomov Vladimir
Three sources and three heroes of the Marginal Revolution

Rabotyazhev Nikolay
Консерватизм и модернизация: единство или борьба противоположностей? [Текст] / Н.В. Работяжев // Полития. Журнал политической философии и социологии политики. – 2015. – № 1. – С. 153 – 174.

Leontyeva Elena, Kalmychek P., Kistanov V.
Japan: the Power Shifted — the Problems Remain A. Karneev. «Chongqing Model»: What Was It? Part 2 / Kalmychek P., Kistanov V., Leontieva E.

Kislitsyn Sergey
U.S. Republican Party and Issues of Identity

Baranovsky Vladimir
Basic Parameters of Modern System of International Relations (Part I) // Polis Journal.Political Studies, 2012, № 3. P. 36–44.

Smirnov Alexey
Политические заботы и «семейные проблемы» европейских правых центристов на фоне коронавирусного кризиса // Власть. 2020. Т. 28, № 12. С. 260-266. DOI 10.31171/vlast.v28i6.7793.

Podkolzina Inna
Left-Turn Ahead in the UK Economy: The Johnson Factor

Rabotyazhev Nikolay
Обращаясь к истокам [Текст] / Н.В. Работяжев // Международные процессы. – 2013. – № 2. – С. 143 – 148. – Рец. на книгу: Международные отношения: традиции русской политической мысли: учебное пособие / А.П. Цыганков. – М.: Альфа-М : Инфра-М, 2013. – 336 с
Related publications


Comments (0)

No comments

Add comment







First news
Institute News
28/03/2024

“Polis. Political Studies” journal (No 2, 2024) published two articles, authored by IMEMO senior colleagues.

more...

27/03/2024

On March 27, 2024, a meeting of the Academic Council of IMEMO was held in the Academician Inozemtsev conference hall.

more...

Recently Published