The Third Rome: National Bolshevism In The USSR

444 Pages·1987·14.04 MB·English

by  Mikhail Agursky

The Third Rome

About the Book and Author
Soviet Russia manifested a fervent revolutionary nationalism, even mes*
sianism, immediately after the October revolution in 1917. The old concept
of Russia as the Third Rome now acquired a new ideological dimension:
that world revolution would emanate only from Russia and only as Russia
dictated. At the same time, leaders of the European revolutionary movement,
led originally by Marx and Engels in the mid'1800s, feared that a Russian
revolution would bring Russian influence into the heart of Europe. The
social revolution, both in Europe and in Russia, therefore acquired a
nationalist context: To whom does the leading role belong?
This book presents an entirely new interpretation of the Bolshevik
révolution by examining its geopolitical context in addition to its domestic
aspect Dr. Agursky argues that in the early 1900s Lenin’s revolutionary
strategy was to outpace the “competitive” German revolution; German social
democracy had its own formula to bring social revolution to Russia, and
Lenin wanted to consolidate Bolshevik power in order to bring “his”
revolution to Germany. The author concludes that by 1917 Russian intel­
lectuals well understood the deep-rootedness of Bolshevik nationalism, and,
although Bolshevism had ostensibly been loyal to Marxism, on a political
level it was now in fact a rebellion against it.
The author makes wide use of many entirely new Russian, German, and
Jewish sources and also suggests a new interpretation of a number of
historical figures, including Marx, Engels, Plekhanov, Lenin, Trotsky, and
Bogdanov.
Mikhail Agursky earned a Ph.D. in cybernetics in 1969 in Moscow and
a second doctorate, in Slavic studies, in 1983 in Paris. He has been a
scientific adviser to the Soviet military industry and is currently a political
analyst for the Israeli media and senior lecturer at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem. Among his many publications are From Under the Rubble
(with Alexander Solzhenitsyn and others, 1975), Soviet Golem (in Russian,
1982), and Gorky: From the Literary Heritage (with Margarite Shklovskaia,
in Russian, 1986) as well as chapters in The Many Faces of Communism
(edited by Morton Kaplan; 1978) and When Patterns Change: Turning Points
in International Relations (edited by Nissan Oren; 1984).
! D$off-ynpo$D ,x
D’no nyooayv ly i
ps pi yôn^nÿs-ipVn yoV» pa
loixnxi myn os’x
! D’n lyam ,x ,Dÿow*j7Vipoxa ,x
O city of Moscow!
The most beautiful dream of your blindly adoring sons
is now accomplished,
O city of Moscow, O Third Rome!
-David Hofshtein (1889-1952)
Af likhtigc mitten (Moscow, 1927)
The Third Rome
National Bolshevism
in the USSR
Mikhail Agursky
Foreword by Leonard Schapiro
Westview Press / Boulder and London
To the memory of my parents,
Shmuel and Bunya Agursky,
and to a world destroyed by the developments
this book attempts to interpret
All rights reserved No pert of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical. Including photocopy, recording, or any Information storage and retrieval
system, without permission In writing from the publisher.
Copyright O 1967 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published in 1967 in the United States of America by Westview Press, Inc.; Frederick A. Praeger, Publisher;
5500 Central Avenue. Boulder, Colorado 80301
Library of Congress Cataloging-tn-Publlcarion Data
Agursky, Mikhail.
The third Rome.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Nationalism and socialism—Soviet Union—History.
2. Soviet Union—Politics and government—1917-
3. Communism—Soviet Union—History. 4. Communism—
Germany—History. 5. Soviet Union—Relations—Germany.
6. Germany—Relations—Soviet Union. I. Title.
HX550.N3A37 1987 320.5'32t)947 86-9264
ISBN 0-8133-0139-4
Printed and bound in the United States of America
© The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations...............................................................................................x
Foreword to the First Russian Edition, Leonard Schapiro..........................xi
Preface...................................................................................................................xii
1 THE RUSSIAN EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONARY
CONTEST BEFORE 1871.................................................................... 1
Russian Geopolitics.......................................................................................1
Russian Nationalism.......................................................................................6
Slavophilism and Pta'Slavism......................................................................9
Westernism and Pkn^Slavism.................................................................. 11
Marxism as German Revolutionary Nationalism................................. 16
Russian Revolutionary Nationalism Versus German
Revolutionary Nationalism....................................................................20
Fui'Slavism Receives Official Support in Russia..................................27
Russian Populism: The Worship of the Russian People.....................29
Ferdinand Lassalle and His Etatist-Nationalist
Influence on Russia.................................................................................31
Petr Tkatchev: The Revolutionary Reeducation
of a Degraded People............................................................................33
The Russian Machiavellian: Sergei Netchaev.........................................36
2 THE RUSSIAN EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONARY
CONTEST, 1871-1914........................................................................40
Russia and Germany After 1871..............................................................40
Fedor Dostoevsky: His Quest for Russian
World Domination................................................................................48
The Jewish Peril..........................................................................................55
Russian Gnosticism....................................................................................57
German Social Democracy and Russia....................................................61
Lenin.............................................................................................................72
Bolshevism as a Political Movement........................................................80
Maxim Gorky...............................................................................................82
“Forward”—Left-Wing Bolshevism..........................................................83
VH
viii Contents
The Jews and Bolshevism..........................................................................92
The Russian Authorities Versus Bolshevism.........................................98
Stalin...........................................................................................................107
Russian Radical Right Versus Bolshevism............................................ID
Foreign Capital...........................................................................................120
The 1905 Revolution and Its International Implications...................123
Debates on National Self-Determination..............................................128
3 THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION AS A
CULMINATION OF THE RUSSIAN-GERMAN
CONTEST.................................................................................................D3
World War I...............................................................................................D3
The March (February O.S.) Revolution................................................147
The Bolshevik Revolution......................................................................157
National Catastrophe.................................................................................168
World Mystery...........................................................................................170
Sectarian Nihilism—An Ally of Bolshevism........................................179
Supraorganical Solution.............................................................................184
Brest-Litovsk Debates...............................................................................187
The New Army.........................................................................................195
War Communism—Communism in One Country..............................199
The Long-awaited German Revolution..................................................201
Red Patriotism...........................................................................................203
Self-Determination in Practice................................................................212
4 THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL:
WORLD REVOLUTIONARY CENTER MOVES
FROM RUSSIA TO GERMANY......................................................214
The Communist International.................................................................214
The Polish War.........................................................................................217
The Asiatic Strategy................................................................................224
World Recognition and Coexistence......................................................227
The Jewish Problem..................................................................................229
Defeat as Victory......................................................................................238
Canossa.......................................................................................................247
Smenovekhism in Bulgaria......................................................................255
Smenovekhism in Soviet Russia............................................................257
Lenin’s Intervention..................................................................................263
Gorky’s Attack Against Jewish Bolsheviks...........................................266
Cultural Continuity..................................................................................268
“Russia” .......................................................................................................281
Jewish National Bolsheviks......................................................................282
Counterattack Against Smenovekhism..................................................292
The End of Revolutionary Hopes in Europe—
The Triumph of Fascism....................................................................300
Concents ix
5 SOCIALISM IN ONE COUNTRY:
TRIUMPH OF RUSSIAN ETATIST NATIONALISM..........305
Socialism in One Country as Consolidation of Power...................305
Ustrialov: A Litmus Paper of Soviet Political Debates...................309
Turkestan Socialism Versus Basel Socialism....................................... 3D
Stalin Resorts to Anti-Semitism.......................................................... 318
The Destruction of National Trends Among Minority
Communists...........................................................................................327
The Destruction of Independent Foreign Communism.....................329
The Sinister Shadow of Ustrialov..........................................................330
The Fifteenth Party Congress—Stalin's Triumph...............................334
Epilogue.......................................................................................................340
Notes...................................................................................................................343
Bibliography.......................................................................................................384
Index...................................................................................................................406
Illustrations
Alexander Herzen.......................................................... 12
Mikhail Bakunin............................................................ , 22
Petr Tkatchev.................................................................. . 34
Fedor Dostoevsky.......................................................... . 49
Vladimir Soloviev.......................................................... 59
Georgy Plekhanov.......................................................... 68
Vladimir Lenin............................................................... . 72
Alexander Bogdanov..................................................... . 85
Joseph Stalin.................................................................... 108
Alexander Blok.............................................................. 172
Andrei Bely.................................................................... 176
Nikolai Kliuev................................................................ 181
Sergei Esenin.................................................................. 183
Alexei Brusilov................................................................ 197
Lev Trotsky.................................................................... 210
Alexei Tolstoi.................................................................. 252
The meeting of solidarity with the Hungarian and
Bavarian revolutions, 1919....................................... 256
Konstantin Fedin........................................................... 273
Vladimir Maiakovsky..................................................... 277
Isai Lezhnev.................................................................... 284
Dia Ehrenburg............................................................... 290
X