The Ethnic Roots of Class Universalism: Rethinking the “Russian” Revolutionary Elite

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. The Ethnic Roots of Class Universalism: Rethinking the "Russian" Revolutionary Elite 1 Liliana Riga University of EdinburghThis article retrieves the ethnic roots that underlie a universalist class ideology. Focusing empirically on the emergence of Bolshevism, it provides biographical analysis of the Russian Revolution's elite, finding that two-thirds were ethnic minorities from across the Russian Empire. After exploring class and ethnicity as intersectional experiences of varying significance to the Bolsheviks' revolutionary politics, this article suggests that socialism's class universalism found affinity with those seeking secularism in response to religious tensions, a universalist politics where ethnic violence and sectarianism were exclusionary, and an ethnically neutral and tolerant "imperial" imaginary where Russification and geopolitics were particularly threatening or imperial cultural frameworks predominated. The claim is made that socialism's class universalism was as much a product of ethnic particularism as it was constituted by it.Most sociology on the Russian Revolution assumes that its leadership was from the Russian intelligentsia and its socialist ideology was a response to the class conflicts and exclusions generated by an autocratic, industrializing Russian state (Moore 1966;Skocpol 1979;McDaniel 1988 American Journal of Sociology 650 tionary elite. And, in a highly distinctive social composition, ethnicity was strongly aligned with class, suggesting that class and ethnicity were intersectional experiences of varying significance in the revolutionary radicalism of the Bolshevik elite. Bolshevism may, therefore, represent an interesting case in the construction of universalist class ideology from ethnic networks and experiences. Whether socialist or liberal, universalist ideologies are usually products not of "citizens of the world," but of very specific material and social conditions (Calhoun 2003). But if the social and political conditions that give rise to and sustain universalist ideas are kept analytically distinct from the ideological content of the universalist projects themselves, then a universalist ideology about classes and class conflict may not necessarily be a response to class conflict alone. Indeed, this article argues that Bolshevism's Russian-inflected class universalism was especially appealing in those social locations across the Russian Empire most affected by ethnic or imperial exclusions. It particularly appealed to those seeking secularism in response to religious tensions, a universalist politics where ethnic violence and sectarianism were exclusionary, and an ethnically neutral and tolerant "imperial" imaginary where geopolitics or R...

Antichrist, Katechon and the Russian Revolution

“…. М.: ИРИ, 1998Riga, L. (2008) "The ethnic roots of class universalism: rethinking the "Russian" revolutionary elite", American масонов» во главе с Гучковым 93 и доказывал, что речь шла о сознательном «упразднении удерживающего» и, следовательно, о «тайне беззакония в действии» 94 . Заслуживает внимания отношение епископа Антония (Храповицкого) к евреям.…”

From Masterly Brokers to Compliant Protégées: The Frontier Governance System and the Rise of Ethnic Confrontation in China–Inner Mongolia, 1900–1930

“…The demise of the Tsarist Russian Empire provides another case, one where minority separatism merged with a proletarian social revolution to generate violent and sweeping repercussions permeating and reaching beyond the Russian Empire (Lenin [1914(Lenin [ ] 1995Slezkine 1994;Von Hagen 1997;Martin 2001, chap. 2;Riga 2008). The Tsarist reform initiated after 1905 tightened state control in many realms.…”

“…The central state coordinated the organization of these titular national units, each of which represented an ethnic periphery. 8 When 7 For the common fate of the minority elite and the Russian proletariat, see Riga (2008Riga ( , 2012. 8 Hardening the national/ethnic boundary and making it coterminous with the territorialadministrative boundary of each republic is an innovation created by the collective efforts of Soviet politicians and ethnographers; see Suny (1993), Martin (2001).…”

“…The change of collective leadership identity is highlighted in many studies on revolution and state formation. 24 Categorizing the biographical data of early Soviet leaders, Riga (2008) discloses an interesting affinity between the minority middle-class elite and the Russian proletariat that explains the dual character of the Russian revolution as both a social revolution as well as a minority ethnic revolution. Prasenjit Duara's (1988) book on northern Chinese local politics also reveals that the reshuffling of local leadership is key to understanding state penetration in modern China.…”

Social Welfare and Ethnic Warfare: Exploring the Impact of Education on Ethnic Violence

“…In turn, the inability of many of the newly educated to meet such expectations contributed to their involvement in revolutionary violence. Similarly, Riga (2008) analyzes the Russian Revolution and finds that the frustration of the educated contributed to their active participation in it. Contrary to common ideas that ideology motivated the revolutionary leadership, she discovers that the majority of Bolshevik leaders were newly educated ethnic minorities who turned to revolutionary activities out of frustration, as they faced increasingly exclusionary ethnic policies that limited their political and economic opportunities.…”