|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Traditions of Russian Socioeconomic Thought
| Article
# : |
18162 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1990 |
4,287 Words |
| Author
: |
Andrei Anikin
Andrei Anikin is professor of economics at Moscow University.
He is also director of a special studies group at the
Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the
USSR Academy of Sciences. |
Until recently in Soviet social science there was a more or less explicit faith that the revolution of October 1917 had brought a complete break with traditional currents of thought, with the exception of Marxism. Yet even Marxism itself was acceptable only in its specific form developed after the victory over different kinds of “revisionist” and “deviationist” creeds.
We are now witnessing a revival of interest in the real roots of our present beliefs and ideas. Understanding and cognizance of the fact that many present-day problems can be more clearly interpreted in the light of pre-Revolutionary trends, traditions, and schools of thought is spreading. Works are appearing on neglected and forgotten Russian philosophers and social thinkers.
The purpose of this essay is to provide a short introduction to the problems of continuity and change in Russian socioeconomic thinking from approximately the 1850s until now.
We will largely neglect the official, conservative, monarchist current that was probably the most influential between 1850 and 1917, since it was ultimately broken, at least inside Russia, and hardly any visible sign of it still exists. Instead, we will concentrate on those schools that were more or less in open opposition to officialdom, autocracy, the land-owning class, and (less completely) big business. These schools are as follows:
1. LIBERAL INDIVIDUALIST SCHOOL. The liberal individualist school's activities correlate positively with the development of capitalism and in fact are an expression of the liberal capitalist mentality. This school had its roots in the Russian Smithianism of the first half of the nineteenth century, when it occasionally had a politically radical and even revolutionary aspect and contingent, as in the Decembrist movement of 1818-25. Later the school acquired features of industrialism, advocating entrepreneurship, corporations, banks, securities, and money markets. Though it had much in common with contemporary Western currents of the period, the Russian liberal school also had important national features, mostly stemming from the fact that capitalism in Russia had a late and difficult start. It had to fight, sometimes rather hard, against feudal conservatism. The great reforms of Alexander II were a victory for the liberals, though many would have preferred the reforms to have been even more radical.
Among early liberals, outstanding figures can be named, such as Ivan Vernadsky
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
