Authors

George Bocean¹;  ¹ Durham University, UK

Discussion

The nature of the ideology of the Soviet state has long been a debated topic between academics and political theorists alike, especially in view of how the Soviet state has transitioned from Lenin to Stalin and even beyond. One of the most famous interpretations, most arduously argued by Marxist figures such as Trotsky, relates to how Stalinism had betrayed the cause of the international working class by becoming more and more “nationalistic” especially with the adoption of “Socialism in one country”. Despite being accused for creating a “patriotic” version of Marxist theory, the original founder of such ideological fusion was Nikolai Vasilˊevich Ustrialov (1890-1937), a former White Army volunteer who changed sides for patriotic reasons as “there was no other Russia”. His ideas gave birth to a peculiar and lesser-known ideology known as “national bolshevism”, which was also promoted abroad in the White émigré magazine Smena Vekh. In critiquing the social and political ideas of Ustrialov and the Smena Vekh, this paper aims to not only contrast such ideas with the Stalinist concept of “Socialism in one country”, but to also identify the rationale behind the creation of national bolshevism within its historical context. Additionally, this paper also helps our understanding of how the fusion of such contradictory ideas persist even in the ideology of post-Soviet Russia, especially regarding the Russian state’s appeal to both Tsarist and Soviet patriotism for its own political ends and means.