RUSSIAN CONSERVATISM, By Ayse Dietrich^*, Published by: Cornell University Press, Written by Paul Robinson, Year of Publishing: 2019. Subject Area: Russian Conservatism. Book Type: Russian History and Politics. Total Number of Pages: 288. ISBN: ISBN 978-1-5017-4734-2, paperback, $ 21,95.

This book is about the evolution of conservatism in Russia from 1800 to today and analyzes how Russian conservatives have affected culture, politics, and economics.

 

The book is comprised of eleven chapters and each chapter includes separate sections on cultural, political and socio-economic conservatism.

 

In the first chapter, the author introduces the concept of conservatism and states that conservatism is relative to societies and that it changes from nation to nation and from state to state. Then he examines Russian conservatism and states that in the early 19^th century, Russian conservatism was a reaction to the processes of modernization and Westernization, and that its main concern was the preservation and development of national identity, in which Orthodoxy had played an important role. Conservatives advocated a centralized but limited authority that would provide order and stability and prevent revolutionary changes, and they looked for methods of steady economic development other than rapid, state-led modernization. The author emphasized that “Russian conservatism is an ideology of organic change; it does not oppose change, but insists that as much as possible it should occur in accordance with existing traditions”.

In the second chapter, the author examines the beginnings of Russian conservatism during the reign of Alexander I, and argues that Russian conservatives were not happy with the current situation as they wanted to create an organic national culture, but they were not completely against Westernization. Some conservatives believed that Russia had a unique mission to save Europe, while others believed that Russia should concern itself with defense. The Russian conservatives supported autocracy, but they were loyal opposition to the state that was against its unlimited power and demand for unquestioning submission. At the same time, Russian conservatives were busy with the process of nation-building, and were engaged in issues of language, history, and religion.

In the third chapter, the author examines Official Nationality during the reign of Nicholas I and states that the statesman and minister of education Sergey Uvarov’s Official Nationality consisted of three principles: “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” which they believed were unique characteristics of Russia and were the basis of the moral education of Russia’s youth. This tripartite formula later became the ideological principles of Nicholas’ regime. The author also talks about how Uvarov’s gradual transitional period laid the foundations for the great reforms of Alexander II.

In the fourth chapter, Robinson discusses one of the Moscow-based intellectual groups, the Slavophiles. The Slavophiles were intellectuals who looked backward into Russia’s history and opposed the Westernization of Russia and advocated a return to their true Christian faith and the traditional Slavic life of pre-Petrine Russia. Slavophiles advocated all things traditionally Russian, that created a spiritual and harmonious society. They perceived Russia as being characterized by its unity and Europe as fragmented and individualistic, lacking the spirit of sobornost’ (a form of spiritual unity created through a shared set of beliefs). The author states that although the Slavophiles were the opponents of the Westernizers, they were not against progress for social change.

Chapter five discusses the Great Reforms of the Tsar Alexander II, the “golden age for Russian conservatism”, and the response of the different conservatives to the Great Reforms. The author states that the Russian conservatives were not united in their view of national identity, politics, and social and economic reform. Some conservatives considered Russia a part of Western civilization; some saw Russia as a multiethnic, multiconfessional state; and some advocated an ethnic Russian nationalism believing that the interests of ethnic Russians take precedence within the Russian Empire.

The sixth chapter is about Alexander III’s reign and his counter reforms after his father was assassinated. The author states that many conservatives did not approve of the interference of state officials in all areas of life, and were anti-bureaucratic. He also states that Russian conservatism in this era was nationalistic, chauvinistic, and anti-Semitic. Robinson discusses the difference between the statist conservatives, church conservatives and intellectual conservatives.

In the seventh chapter, the author talks about the first Russian Revolution of 1905, and Nicholas II’s attempt to make political compromise by issuing the October Manifesto to pacify the revolutionary movement. He argues that Russia had a real parliament, but the country still had revolutionary and counterrevolutionary violence. The revolution of 1905 was suppressed without the achievement of its ultimate objectives, and the revolutionaries looked weak because of their division into at least three groups: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries with each having a different strategy. The author states that there was an opportunity for conservatives to take the lead and direct Russia along a new path, but they also had divisions and were not able to enact their own alternative proposals for reform. Robinson also discusses the conservatives’ negative reaction to Russia’s involvement in World War I.

Chapter eight discusses émigré conservatives and how they sought a spiritual renewal. The author states that they were against blindly copying Western models and that they felt that spiritual revival should be found within Russian national culture and tradition. He states that the Whites, Eurasianists, National Bolsheviks, and others accepted Orthodoxy, but interpreted nationalistic sentiments differently. However, all of these groups shared two tenets: that Russia and the West had different, distinct characters, and that any reform in Russia must emerge from Russian society and culture itself.

In chapter nine the author examines the period of the Soviet Union under Stalin. The author states that in the early 1930s, conservative ideas like nationalism and religion, education and the revival of traditional family values began to play an important role in determining certain aspects of state policy, regarded by some historians as the “Great Retreat”. The author states that the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was the reason for this revival of Russian nationalism. He claims that the strong conservative reaction during the war was not a retreat, but was the result of very fast transformation that compelled the government to utilize traditional institutions to maintain stability.

In chapter ten Robinson analyses conservatism in the late Soviet Union from the period of Khrushchev to Gorbachev and states that communist ideology lost its ability to mobilize the Russian people and a new form of unofficial Russian conservatism began to challenge the existing system towards the end of the Soviet Union.

Chapter eleven deals with the Putin era, called a “conservative turn” that is associated with “a revival of the Orthodox Church, centralization of political authority, nationalists’ proposals to reshape Russian identity, growing Russian nationalism, increased tensions between Russia and the Western world, and socially conservative legislation”. According to the author, like in the past, Russian conservatives believe that Russia should protect its sovereignty and develop in an organic fashion that would fit its own national traditions.

The author concludes his book stating that “Russian conservatism is a response to the pressures of modernization and Westernization and, more recently, globalization” and it remains an important part of Russian politics and its intellectual life, and that “the current conservative reaction will grow stronger rather than weaker as time goes on”.

For anyone interested in the history of conservatism in Russia, this book is invaluable, providing as it does in-depth information on conservatism in the development and transformation of Russian culture, politics, and socio-economic life. It is a very good source for future research in the study of the historical transformation of the Russian state and Russian society.