Negative Revolution with Artemy Magun
When people think about Perestroika in the USSR the general sense most have is that it was a liberal and democratic movement. We talk to Russian political philosopher Artemy Magun about how it was actually something else: a conservative revolution — and that the foundation for the hard conservative turn of Russian elites under Putin today was laid back then.
We cover a lot of ground — from Soviet history to the liberalism of the 1990s and all the way to the present war. Along the way we talk about why Putin now identifies as a White Russian, what Russian liberals mean when they talk about “the natural course of history,” and why Alexei Navalny just now — while in prison — realized that the democrats and liberal reformers and privatizers of the 1990s were bad.
The jumping off point for our talk was a recent article by Artemy — “Perestroika in the Soviet Union: Triumph of Democracy or a Conservative Revolution?” The article is based his book Negative Revolution, which you can also read in English.
—The Russians
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Negative Revolution with Artemy Magun
Really enjoyed your interview with Magum (his no-nonsense kind of analysis).
For Americans like myself, I believe it is becoming imperative that you and Evgenia begin to spell out more specifically your own evolving ideological beliefs, thereby clarifying the positions you are actually coming from rather than for a listener to have to interpret a particular chuckle as meaning whatever.
Where would you put yourselves ideologically within current Russian politics?
Where would you put yourselves ideologically within current U.S. politics?
What would be the basis (and this is just a guess on my part) for either of you having any optimism about the Left in the U.S. and in the world more generally?
When I ask these questions, I also realize this might cost you some readers/listeners but it also might lay a foundation for more animated and serious back and forths going into what will likely be a tumultuous 2024.
Oh cool..you have transcripts too now..