Culture and Power in Revolutionary Russia

Read, Christopher

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-11003-2

Cited by 18 publications

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“…Scholars combine empirical measures (for example, level of cultural capital, occupation and moral action) differently to demarcate the population of intellectuals, sometimes using state definitions. The studies reveal how the individuals coped with, supported and exploited communist rule as well as confronted and rebelled against it (Borocz and Southworth ; Konrád and Szelényi ; Read ). Notwithstanding the ‘definitional morass’ (Verdery : 15) and range of conclusions, the accounts broadly assume that intellectuals formed an objective population, the composition of which had been altered mainly by the availability of educational and professional opportunities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China

Eddy

2013

British Journal of Sociology

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How did 'intellectuals' evolve from a class of subjects in Marxian thoughts to highly visible populations under communism? Such 'reifications of the intellectual' have deeply affected subjectivity, conflict and organization, but received little attention in the political sociology of communism. This essay draws on research on classifications and social boundaries to address the objective and subjective foundations of the reifications and their impact on communist rule. The intellectual is viewed as an identification formed and performed around multiple social axes (most notably family background, educational achievement, occupational history, institutional affiliation and revolutionary rank) that reflected broader patterns of communist political domination. I use the Chinese Communist movement to demonstrate that (1) interaction of political contests, ruling strategies and institutional developments turned a diversity of persons into 'intellectuals' who were allegedly imbued with reprehensible interests and habits linked to privileged economic classes; (2) constant competitions for power and organizational changes led to classificatory ambiguities and, in turn, allowed individuals some control over their identifications; and (3) the developments profoundly influenced identity, state and class formation. Focusing on the dynamics that produced a highly visible but fluid population of 'intellectuals' opens new pathways for comparative research on communism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China

Eddy

2013

British Journal of Sociology

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“…2 Until then the Communist authorities had relied upon sporadic intervention by the Cheka and upon the vetting of authors by government-owned publishing houses which discouraged approaches from writers overtly hostile to the October Revolution. 3 Not all judicial institutions were fully subverted by Communist rule immediately. And the administrative framework in the Civil War was shaky in the extreme.…”

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confidence: 99%

Architectural Problems of Reform in the Soviet Union: From Design to Collapse

Service¹

2001

Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions

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“…The old intelligentsia may have come under heavy attack, but its "courage, self-sacrifice and moral authenticity" continued to inspire. 260 And during destalinization, it was, to some extent, reborn as a "distinctive social body providing a critical public to the men of state". 261 In China, where the prestige of the intelligentsia had been so much greater, the onslaught against it was correspondingly more fierce.…”

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confidence: 99%

Workers, the Intelligentsia and Marxist Parties: St Petersburg, 1895–1917 and Shanghai, 1921–1927

Smith¹

1996

Int Rev of Soc His

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Summary: The article investigates relations between workers and intellectuals in the pre-revolutionary Bolshevik Party in St Petersburg and the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. It commences with a background examination of the social position and traditions of the intelligentsia in each country and the emergence of a stratum of so-called "conscious" workers. The position of workers in each party is then analysed, especially with respect to leadership, and the nature of tensions between workers and intellectuals explored. The investigation demonstrates that workers acquiesced in their subordination to a greater degree in Shanghai than in St Petersburg, and this and other differences are traced back to historical and cultural context. In conclusion, the implications of contextual differences are explored in order to suggest why the intelligentsia in the People's Republic of China (PRC) attracted greater odium from the party-state than its counterpart in the Soviet Union.The germ of this article lay in the observation of a paradox. Intellectuals suffered greatly under Communist regimes in both the Soviet Union and China, yet it was in China that they were singled out for repression.

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Culture and Power in Revolutionary Russia

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China

Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China

Architectural Problems of Reform in the Soviet Union: From Design to Collapse

Workers, the Intelligentsia and Marxist Parties: St Petersburg, 1895–1917 and Shanghai, 1921–1927

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