Still no history of Marxism written in Russia
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By Irma Stenbäck
As if by chance, on the 20th anniversary of "Perestroika", a rare book appeared in Finland on Wednesday: Marx ja Venäjä ("Marx and Russia"), by Vesa Oittinen. In the book, eight Finnish and Russian researchers examine the problematic relationship between Karl Marx and Russia. The book reveals that Marx was a Russophobe, and that V.I. Lenin actually opposed the establishment of the Soviet Union.
The collection of articles was published by Helsinki’s Alexander Institute, which is a national research institute for Russian and East European studies, operating under the auspices of the University of Helsinki.
In spite of a profusion of academic slang, the book opens up unexpected glimpses of Russia and its recent history to the ordinary reader. The book extends from the personal relationship that Marx had with Russia, to Soviet philosophy and "the economics of socialism", whose problems Bank of Finland director Pekka Sutela describes in terms of a series of hilarious paradoxes.
Marx ja Venäjä is a book about how far the teachings of Marx and the reality of Russia were from each other.
Oittinen notes in his introduction that there is no special need to justify the study of the theme of Marx and Russia, which is both historically important and remains topical.
"Marxism-Leninism, which had the position of an official state ideology, has managed to maintain an illusion for decades that the 'teachings of Marx' were implemented in the Soviet Union."
According to Oittinen, Bolshevism grew out of the soil of the Marxist workers’ movement. At the same time, it was joined by elements of the specifically Russian Nardonik revolutionary movement, which served as a background swell long into the Soviet period.
Oittinen feels that Marxism became a kind of ideological mask which long represented to the outside viewer the most radical West European thinking, but at the same time obscured Russian reality. During the Soviet period, this schizophrenic mask of Marxism was not recognised.
The publication of the book is an important cultural achievement. No history of Marxism has been written in Russia yet, something that many, including Oittinen himself, find astounding. The Soviet ideology swore by the name of the German-Jewish Marx (1818-1883), who became the most important ideological master of the workers’ movement and socialism.
How is it possible that no history of Marxism has appeared in Russia, Professor Markku Kivinen?
"The Russians want to forget Marxism. It is such a big and difficult question for them, and it is no longer glamorous. Tens of thousands of Marxist-Leninists are now culturologists."
Because of their long-standing status as neighbours, Finns may be amused by stories of the Soviet Union, but for the Russians, the country's recent past is a tragedy. According to Kivinen, it is not easy to join a tradition with one's self, especially when it is only 15 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the perestroika rebuilding, which was launched by Mikhail Gorbachev, Kivinen feels that critics would do well to remember that Russia was one of the sides of the Cold War.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, two power blocs, ended only when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.
"We are living the time of the dismantling of the Cold War, and this is a gigantic issue also for Western ideologues", Kivinen says.
Vadim Mezhuyev, a professor at the Russian Academy of Art, points out that no thinking people took the so-called scientific communism of Soviet Marxism seriously.
"The attitude that is currently fashionable in Russia, according to which Marx was the main source of all evil, obscures the fact that the reasons for what has happened in Russia should be sought in Russia itself."
As Mezhuyev sees it, Bolshevism is not the cause, but rather the effect of the lack of democracy in the country.
For Markku Kivinen, modern Russia is a liberal non-democracy with a multiparty system and a tripartite division of power, and an ultra-liberal economy. Russia’s violent crime figures are at the top of the world, which means that there is no shortage of problems to go around.
What would Vladimir Putin think about Marx ja Venäjä?
"Putin has said that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a disaster in world politics. Perhaps the book might shake Putin’s world picture..." Kivinen smiles.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 9.2.2006
IRMA STENBÄCK / Helsingin Sanomat
irma.stenback@hs.fi
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| 14.2.2006 - THIS WEEK |
 Still no history of Marxism written in Russia |
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