The Neo-Stalinist State: Class Ethnicity and Consensus in Soviet Society by Victor Zaslavsky

Author:Victor Zaslavsky [Zaslavsky, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General
ISBN: 9780873322942
Google: XON15aQ23mEC
Goodreads: 9083074
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1982-06-15T11:27:03+00:00

Types of Nationalism in Soviet Society

Students of ethnic relations have always had difficulty defining nationalism. Discussing various historical forms of nationalist ideology, Hans Kohn points out that "what remains constant in nationalism through all its changes is the demand of the people for a government of the same ethnic complexion as the majority."38 Isaiah Berlin argues that any nationalist doctrine preserves the following four characteristics: "The belief in the overriding need to belong to a nation; in the organic relationships of all the elements that constitute a nation; in the value of our own simply because it is ours; and, finally, faced by rival contenders for authority or loyalty, in supremacy of its claims."39

A further distinction between different varieties of nationalisms can be made by taking into account the types of ethnic groups that are their principal supporters. In the Soviet multinational state nationalism takes two main forms: the ideology of ethnocentrism, separatism, and disintegration when it concerns an ethnic minority, and the ideology of Russian supremacy and forced assimilation (Russification) when it concerns the dominating Russian group. In this sense the distinction formulated by Lenin between the oppressive nationalism of the nation and the defensive nationalism of the oppressed nation is still valid.40 It is significant that while after the revolution the focus was on the struggle against Great Russian chauvinism, such nationalism has been completely neglected by Soviet theory and propaganda in the postwar period. If we had to rely on contemporary Soviet publications, it would appear as if nationalism occurs only among ethnic minorities, while the Russian majority is completely immune from such "errors."

Dealing with the nationalism of Soviet minorities, Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone recommends subdividing it into "orthodox" and "nonorthodox" varieties. Orthodox nationalism aims at the recognition and extension of national autonomy within the limits permitted by the Soviet political system. It is orthodox insofar as it does not threaten the official doctrine of Marxism-Leninism, but it is nevertheless a certain challenge to the hegemony of the Russian ethnic group. Rakowska-Harmstone believes that since the midfifties, this type of nationalism has been tolerated by the leadership. As for "nonorthodox nationalism," it "combines national self-assertion with rejection of the actual political system and is frequently coupled with the civil rights movement and separatism."41 This type of nationalism is harshly repressed. To concretize this useful distinction, a structural analysis of ethnic groups should be introduced in order to pinpoint which classes and social groups within an ethnic group are the main bases of "orthodox" and "nonorthodox" nationalism.

The work of Soviet sociologists (above all Iurii Arutiunian, Ovshii Shkaratan, and their collaborators) published during the past decade demonstrates that Soviet modernization and social mobilization affect in quite different ways the national psychology and the rate of assimilation of different groups and social classes within an ethnic group. As Arutiunian has observed,42 traditional "folk"-type nationalism is present in that part of the population which, because of its low level of education and rate of mobility, has a traditional and strict system of values and avoids contacts with people whose way of life contrasts with their conservative mentality.

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