Nationalism in Europe Since 1945 by André Gerrits

Author:André Gerrits
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.

The collapse of communism

Marxism-Leninism in Russia was the first and most important attempt to combine particular national conditions and interests with the universal claims and aspirations of Marxist ideology. After the Bolsheviks had secured power, following on their coup d´état in October 1917 and a vicious civil war from 1918 to 1921, they were forced to adapt to the reality of Russian society. In the wake of the Great War, the whole of the European continent was engulfed by revolutionary fervour, but the only successful socialist revolution took place in a country where it might have been least expected: Russia. Why in predominantly agrarian and relatively backward Russia? Not many historians go as far as Ernest Gellner, who suggests that Marxism was cut (‘tailor-made’) for the ‘Russian soul’ [50: 36], but the idea that many aspects of Russian culture and history made the country susceptible to communist rule is commonly shared. A long history of autocracy is often mentioned, as are the Orthodox religion, and a tradition of étatisme, collectivism as well as messianic and radical thought [108; 111; 134]. How can Bolshevik rule be assessed? Was it a logical continuation of Tsarist Russian history or rather a variant of Western Enlightenment thinking gone radically astray? In other words, was it tradition or was it ideology? The first argument says that communism in the Soviet Union should principally be understood as the outcome of the Bolsheviks’ accommodation to the harsh realities of Russia, with the civil war, the country’s international isolation (therefore ‘socialism in one country’) and its strongly agricultural character as important features [27; 38]. The second argument more convincingly suggests that many of the core institutions and practices in the Soviet Union can hardly be related to Russia’s national past or traditions. This refers to the Communist Party’s avant-garde role, to the planned economy, class struggle and proletarian internationalism. They were principally inspired by the dominant Marxist ideology [111]. The conclusion may be that Soviet rule was cloaked in Russian national reality but essentially shaped by Marxist ideology – an inference that is actually captured by the phrase Marxism-Leninism. Eventually, however, the two constituent aspects of Bolshevism would become fully intertwined. This also applies to how the Soviet leaders dealt with the ‘national question’. Russian nationalism, proletarian internationalism, Soviet patriotism and other ideologically inspired notions, in combination with the actual position of ethnic groups, would become eclectically and inextricably linked in the nationalities’ policies of the Communist Party.

In the Soviet Union as well in Eastern Europe, nationalism was also an important, though difficult-to-identify, factor in the downfall of communism during the crucial years 1989–91. Generally, the pursuit of democracy and of prosperity within independent and sovereign nation states were the dominant dual ambitions in most of the former communist countries. Alternative political beliefs initially remained under the surface. Democratic and national aspirations were for many Eastern Europeans naturally linked. Democracy could only be reached through national solidarity and full independence. Democracy needed nationalism. The communist order was generally considered as ‘foreign’, imposed by an outside power, be it Soviet, Russian or a combination.

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