Dissidents among Dissidents: Ideology, Politics and the Left in Post-Soviet Russia

by Ilya Budraitskis

What happened to the left in Russia?

Ilya Budraitskis, one of Russia’s most prominent leftist political commentators, explores the strange fusion of free-market ideology and postmodern nationalism that now prevails in Russia, and describes the post-Soviet evolution of its left.

Budraitskis makes an invaluable contribution by reconstructing the forgotten history of the USSR’s dissident left, mapping an entire alternative tradition of heterodox Marxist and socialist thought from Khrushchev’s Thaw to Gorbachev’s perestroika. Doubly outsiders, within an intelligentsia dominated by liberal humanists, they offer a potential way out of the impasse between condemnations of the entire Soviet era and blanket nostalgia for Communist Party rule—suggesting new paths for the left to explore.

Genres: Russia, History, Soviet Union, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2022

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in MS form, and have just re-read for obvious reasons. Budraitskis is an excellent, lucid and careful writer and thinker, and this is really two or even three books condensed into one - one on contemporary Russian state nationalism and Putin as follower of Samuel Huntingdon; one on the socialist dissident tradition in the USSR; one on the post-Soviet left. It is docked one star here purely because I would rather have had three full length books by Budraitskis in English on these three subjects, and there are moments where the ideas feel cramped by being fit into such a short book. But in any case, essential reading.

[Kriegslok · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I am and remain a Communist. Only my ardent love for my Motherland, for Soviet power, for socialism has brought me to the dock.... and let them condemn me ten more times, but as far as I have the strength to do so before the entire world I will defend the ideals of communism, from any attempts to turn them into a bogeyman or laughing stock ... from whomever they come, and however these people call themselves." (Yuri Fedorov, author of the 'Charter of the Union of Communists' at his trial for "anti-soviet agitation" 1973)
The Putin regime, says Ilya Budraiskis, is Samuel Huntington's "star pupil" and anyone familiar with Huntington's 'The Clash of Civilisations' will see why Putin can be understood as inhabiting the world Huntington created. He goes on to warn:
"In order to understand it better, other world leaders have migrated to this world, aiming to take with them the remaining populations who will soon learn to suffer, die and kill for their gods. For those who wish to avoid entering that world, it is not enough simply to renounce the need to to define one's own identity in such civilisational terms. One must struggle against the very state of affairs in which the world of one man turns with such ease into the world of everyone else."
When the USSR collapsed it took with it the paper tiger that had become the once all powerful CPSU. Many of the corrupt apparatchiks and key Party members of those disastrous final years jumped ship and joined the auto-cannibalistic orgy of destruction, sucking what life there was left in the corpse in a feuding mass of lawless banditry. Emerging from this, aided and abetted by the old KGB masters of the "dark arts" Vladimir Putin "restored order" and brought the mafia state to heel, formalising its modus operandi as the basis for the future of the Russian Federation. The Russian left, if we exclude the refounded Russian nationalistic Communist Party (which was been swallowed up in the web of corruption and brought by being blooded and bound to the Putin state) has been effectively crushed. The championing of authoritarian figures and practices from Ivan Ilyin to Stalin has been used to justify and encourage popular support for the Putin reign:
"The police officer has today become a participant in the eternal moral battle, the clash of Good and Evil in which state power, by definition, is the vehicle of the former, and the individual is the repository of the latter. From this, there directly follows a deep suspicion of the very concept of human rights, a suspicion rooted in the collective consciousness of Russia's repressive structures."
Therefore, it is timely and highly valuable to have this book "Dissidents Among Dissidents" which examines the role of left wing, Marxist based, criticism of the political system of the Soviet Union and the post Soviet years. The "Stalinisation" of the whole Soviet period, says the author, has "(shut) down the possibility of  a truly in-depth investigation of Soviet society, its internal contradictions and its social character". Most people will have some knowledge of Soviet dissidents, but perhaps few will appreciate the level of constructive and revolutionary left wing dissent in the USSR active from the 1950s onwards (which post 1991 has been effectively doubly damned). This is covered in the main long essay from which the book takes its title. The literature used in this work is only available in Russian and much of it is quite obscure and was subject to censorship and suppression at its time of secretive publication. Much of the material here I think is entering the English language for the first time and is extremely valuable to those assessing political consciousness and activism in the USSR . Of particular interest was the use made by radical Soviet leftists of restricted access publications from the left in Western Europe.
As Putin's Russia shows itself for the increasingly authoritarian far-right regime , this work is especially important in showing how a small independent left has always been actively critical of the system. While some of those featured in this work joined the capitalist beast and others have joined Putin the legacy of criticism remains alive today in the work of people such as the book's author, although once again to write critically or from a leftist perspective is to risk life and liberty. 
A valuable book for understanding both modern Russia and the state of the left in Russia today.

[Efdal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for the history of leftist opposition against USSR and Putin's Russia

[Jodesz Gavilan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The question 'Whose side are you on?' has been replaced by another: 'What are you?' The Cold War, as an ideological confrontation between two blocs, has become a thing of the past; the time has therefore come to reassess the role of the international institutions created in that previous era."

In DISSIDENTS AMONG DISSIDENTS, Ilya Budraitskis dissects the place Russia occupies in the post-Soviet world and the space carved by the Left for itself.

This book is a collection of short essays about different aspects of Russia in the aftermath of the Cold War. Budraitskis starts by discussing Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilisations, pointing out how it perfectly aligns with Vladimir Putin and his regime. It analyzes his world view and the impact of the West's treatment of his side of the world on his "governance."

What I really enjoyed though is Budraitskis discussion on the evolution of the Russian Left and the movement's "clash" with the Western Left due to its imposition of its own understanding of socialism. It's interesting but hardly surprising how the West actually put itself on the pedestal believing that dissidents do not exist in Russia during the Cold War.

This is a good book for anyone who wants to learn more about Russia and how it came to be. It's quite daunting and sounds too academic at some points but the vast and rich details make up for it. I thought I was going to have a hard time, but was surprised how this book really had my full attention. Maybe it's because we're seeing unfold in real time things written about in the book, a reminder that history indeed repeats itself but in a more sinister form.

[Jooseppi Räikkönen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainio - vaikkei millään mittapuulla tajunnanräjäyttävä - kasa Budraitsiksen kirjoituksia Venäjästä, Euroopasta, vasemmistosta ja maailmanjärjestyksestä yleisesti. Aika tuttua kamaa, mutta Budraitskiksella oli mielenkiintoista kulmaa juttuihin, joskus aika alkuperäistäkin. Etenkin kiinnostaa osana Budraitskiksen ja etunimikaimansa Matveevin edustamaa tulkintaperinnettä, jossa nyky-Venäjää luetaan uusliberalismin ja erilaisten proto-fasististen ja reaktionististen voimien sumppuna. Kulttuurialasta kirjoitetut pätkät oli itselle eniten uutta, ja ehkä kirjan parastakin antia.

Iso suositus etenkin jos mietyttää Venäjän vasemmiston kohtalot ja nykymenot. Budraitskis on myös vieraillut jonkun verran podcasteissä ja muissa, joista saa aika hyvää otetta samoihin hommiin. Ehkä vähän ylihypetetty, mut oikeen hauska opus!

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read about the legacy of left dissidents in the Soviet Union and modern Russia. Budraitskis does a solid job retelling the history of how modern Russian nationalism developed itself, cannabalizing aspects of Soviet history to create a grand historical narrative, while helping to entrench the wide view that there were no left wing dissidents to the Soviet project, thus explaining the lack of need for a left in Russia today. It's a thoughtful book, but the language gets a little heady and theoretical at times, which I think might be a turnoff for some. Still, a short and informative read!

[GreyAtlas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Formatted in a essay-type style, this is quite good. Not much new thoughts put together, and at times the details were irrelevant to the overall picture when talking about 20 plus individual student dissidents. But still, worth a read.

[Stu Napier · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful read explaining how we have ended up with the Russia of today as a result of its turbulent past. Recommended reading for anyone interested in understanding the post-Soviet era.

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable, quite brief essays from the other side of the looking-glass. I'm unable to truly evaluate how much of an "insider's" take on Russian politics these provide, but I found them interesting enough.