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.
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.
The idea that anyone could want a return to the milquetoast failure of the post Feb Rev provisional government is almost laughable if it wasn’t so insidious. Kerensky, the liberals, the SRs, and the Mensheviks lost the struggle for power and the support of the Soviet working classes miserably. Evgenia is right to suggest that this was just an attempt to mask a Neo-Tsarist movement with a veil of democracy. Marxism is and has always been the most powerful and practical form of political analysis currently theorized. That is why even the neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, and neo-Nazis among other political freaks have to rip off Marxist concepts and strategies to make their movements appeal to the working classes of every country on earth. Perestroika was a counterrevolution but can only be considered “liberal” in the context of Stalin’s brutal and rightist counterrevolution. Putin is a nationalist and neoliberal plain and simple as are Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky. Putin using right wing cultural rhetoric is no different than Trump or Obama doing the same when the domestic political situation calls for it. The invasion of Ukraine is directly analogous to the invasion of Iraq and Putin is the Russian version of George Bush Sr.... Gorby was Russia’s Thatcher and Yeltsin was the Russian Regan. Just different flavors, different personalities, and varied levels of intelligence...
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..
Great interview.
Ideas are not as they appear
The idea that anyone could want a return to the milquetoast failure of the post Feb Rev provisional government is almost laughable if it wasn’t so insidious. Kerensky, the liberals, the SRs, and the Mensheviks lost the struggle for power and the support of the Soviet working classes miserably. Evgenia is right to suggest that this was just an attempt to mask a Neo-Tsarist movement with a veil of democracy. Marxism is and has always been the most powerful and practical form of political analysis currently theorized. That is why even the neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, and neo-Nazis among other political freaks have to rip off Marxist concepts and strategies to make their movements appeal to the working classes of every country on earth. Perestroika was a counterrevolution but can only be considered “liberal” in the context of Stalin’s brutal and rightist counterrevolution. Putin is a nationalist and neoliberal plain and simple as are Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky. Putin using right wing cultural rhetoric is no different than Trump or Obama doing the same when the domestic political situation calls for it. The invasion of Ukraine is directly analogous to the invasion of Iraq and Putin is the Russian version of George Bush Sr.... Gorby was Russia’s Thatcher and Yeltsin was the Russian Regan. Just different flavors, different personalities, and varied levels of intelligence...