Russia’s bloody war in Ukraine has drastically sharpened the question of the bitter confrontation between Russia and the West. Driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, this confrontation points to Russia’s ambition to regain the superpower status that its predecessor state—the Soviet Union—maintained for more than half of the last century. Furthermore, some experts argue that the current Russia–Ukraine military confrontation has its roots in the disintegration of the Soviet Union and that the concept of “the Russian world,” currently widely used to justify a geopolitical strategy based on the idea of Russian exceptionality, grew out of the humiliation Russia experienced in the wake of this disintegration. This idea is also echoed in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s series of reflective remarks on the topic. During his 2005 state-of-the-nation address, Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union “a major geopolitical catastrophe of the century” and “a genuine drama” for the Russian nation.Footnote1 More recently, in late September 2021, he evoked this idea again, claiming that the dissolution of the Soviet state is to blame for “what is happening now between Russia and Ukraine” and “what is happening on the borders of some other CIS countries.”Footnote2 It is not my goal here to examine the explanatory power of these and similar statements in relation to the ongoing Russo–Ukrainian war. Yet there should be no doubt that the Soviet era left a deep imprint on the self-conception of each of the former Soviet republics and their current, often difficult relationships. Even today, more than three decades after its official dissolution, the Soviet Union continues to cast a shadow on Russia and the world. This forces us to reflect upon the phenomenon of the Soviet Union, its origin and its development, making it an acute research topic worthy of serious philosophical discussion.
The successor state to the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, was officially established on December 30, 1922, following a civil war that raged in Russia from 1917 to 1921. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR)—as it was officially called—appeared as the first nation in the world based on Marxist socialism. Originally, it was a federation of four constituent national republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Transcaucasia (encompassing Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia). New republics emerged in the subsequent years; in its final decades, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics, stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Strait. A transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia, it grew to become not only the world’s largest in terms of territory, but also one of the most ethnically diverse, with more than a hundred nationalities living within its borders.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, an event that stunned the world, put an end to its almost seventy-year history. Despite an abortive coup in August 1991 that immediately preceded the country’s dissolution, its disintegration turned out to be a relatively peaceful and nonviolent event. On Christmas Day 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union no longer existed and would disintegrate into fifteen independent nation-states. The same night, Soviet hammer and sickle flags vanished from flagposts above the Kremlin, essentially confirming the end of the Soviet Union.
To mark what would have been the Soviet Union centenary, Russian Studies in Philosophy has put together the present anniversary issue to discuss the phenomenon of the USSR, reflect on its history and development, and consider the causes of its collapse. For some, it may appear strange to reflect on a country that disappeared from the world map more than 30 years ago. Indeed, why spend so much time and effort talking about a political entity that no longer exists? The answer to this question is rather multifaceted, but it comes down to one simple idea: History teaches us valuable lessons from the past that help us to understand the challenges of the present.
The phenomenon of the Soviet Union and its acknowledged and attributed identity continues to puzzle scholars in Russia and abroad. What was it: a federal state or a purely authoritarian political construction? Even if we recognize it as a federation of republics, we cannot identify it with any other existing federal states. In the USSR, each union republic had its own ethnic identity, as a nationally based administrative unit. Yet the USSR was a highly centralized state with single-party rule. Considered from the perspective of its historical origin and troubled development, the Soviet Union came to be a revolutionary experiment performed in real time within a real world on real people. Established by the Bolsheviks as the “experimental motherland,” it was, many believed, destined to fail and not last very long. However, against all odds, it persisted for nearly seven decades, which may appear a relatively brief life span for a sovereign state, but for a polity born out of revolution it is unusually long.
The history of the Soviet Union and its development is filled with conflict, as well as social and political struggle. The questionable execution of the dictatorship of the proletariat; the tragedy-ridden collectivization of agriculture and the Great Terror (purges) of 1937; the cult of personality; the GULAG; the Nazi invasion of the USSR and the costly victory over Nazism in 1945; long periods of autocracy; unsustainability of the economic system; the war in Afghanistan; the Chernobyl catastrophe—all of these became significant elements and stages in a history pervaded by social oppression, suppression of freedom, and the violation of human rights. At the same time, the Soviet era was marked by significant historical breakthroughs and accomplishments, such as the 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite, the 1961 first manned orbital flight (made by Yuri Gagarin), Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin’s cult of personality and the post-Stalin thaw, and Gorbachev’s policies of openness (glasnost’) and restructuring (perestroika), which substantially changed the fabric of the Soviet Union, leading to reforms in the economy and government, as well as opening the door for freedom. It is also worth recalling the 99 percent literacy rate that the country achieved by the 1970s and has maintained ever since. For comparison, in 1897, the Russian Empire had a literacy rate of 28.4 percent, which almost doubled by 1916, reaching 56 percent, but remained far behind that of most European countries.Footnote3
Many experts and scholars working on the history of the Soviet Union also point to the USSR as “the most advanced attempt” to address the question of national antagonism and engage in affirmative action at a country-wide level.Footnote4 Indeed, the national question constituted one of the key tasks of the multinational Soviet state; the Communist Party kept ethnic relations under strict supervision, suppressing interethnic conflicts and allowing some national cultural development in union republics and autonomic units and territories. However, many ethnic groups—such as the Crimean Tatars, the Chechens, the Ingush, the Balkars, and some others—suffered under the regime, becoming subject to massive deportations from their homelands, forceful transfer, and resettlement in other Soviet territories. In fact, this was part of the official “forced settlement” program for “anti-Soviet elements” and “enemy classes” executed on the orders of Joseph Stalin from 1930 to 1952.Footnote5 The consequences of this cruel, inhuman treatment are still felt today, seventy years later, imprinted not merely in people’s historical memory but also in their own lives and the lives of their descendants.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his circle now try to present a rose-colored view of the Soviet Union as a thriving and people-friendly state that was widely respected around the globe. This grossly twisted view is produced to manipulate the population, driving nostalgia for the Soviet past and a great superpower that people once belonged to and fueling feelings of resentment by blaming the upheavals, humiliation, and betrayal people experienced after the breakup of the USSR on the West and Western powers. Creating myth around the Soviet Union, official propaganda and political leaders exploit the nation’s longing for social safety and stability.
Despite a shrinking number of people who remember the Soviet Union well, its image still retains power, especially in Russia. Many of the ideals and goals for which Russian citizens and politicians strive today are associated with a Soviet past that is often deliberately misconstrued and undeservedly glorified. This explains the need and urgency for scholarly reflection on this past and discussion of the Soviet Union’s origin, identity, and historical significance. Describing its history in a purely positive or negative manner will not do justice to such an intricate polity. Understanding its internal workings requires careful analysis, with examination of the varied periods of its evolution and specific historical happenings. This will involve a serious effort of many scholars who seek to assess historical facts and advance our knowledge of the past, which is highly instructive about the present. This special issue is a modest contribution to that goal.
Notes
1. Georgeta Pourchot, Eurasia Rising: Democracy and Independence in the Post-Soviet Space (Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008), p. 133.
2. NDTV, September 29, 2022. Available at https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/vladimir-putin-says-ukraine-conflict-is-result-of-soviet-collapse-3389871. In the preceding quote, Putin refers to CIS, which stands for the Commonwealth of Independent States, an intergovernmental organization that was formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Currently, nine of the original eleven states retain their participation in the organization.
3. Peter Myers, “Can the Soviet Education System Help Developing Countries Now,” https://mdp.berkeley.edu/peter-myers-can-the-soviet-education-system-help-us-now.
4. Terry Martin, Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939 (Cornell University Press, 2001); Lubomyr Hajda, “Ethnic Politics and Ethnic Conflict in the USSSR and the Post-Soviet States,” Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 1993, 19(2), pp. 193–278.
5. Steven Rosefielde, Red Holocaust (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 42, 56.