Introduction: Antiquity and Modernity of Soviet Marxism

  • Maria Chehonadskih
  • Keti Chukhrov
  • Alexei Penzin

Abstract

Fredric Jameson once pointed out that the Marxist tradition is already our Antiquity due to its significance and historical distance. This distance allows us to view it from the outside, and to reinvent Marxism for our own time. The same could be said about the most paradoxical version of this tradition's Soviet Marxism. However, there are particular qualities that single it out from the classical antiquity of Marxist tradition. Even internationally known Soviet works (by Vygotsky, Bakhtin, amongst В­others) are not perceived as belonging to a unitary theoretical tradition, and are even less associated with Marxism and the heritage of 1917. 
It may therefore seem that the October Revolution of 1917, although being recognized as the key event of the short twentieth century has not created a universally recognizable and consolidated body of thought. It is, therefore, a difficult task to outline this field, and this is why the current lens of historical distance might be helpful in attempting to grasp both this unity and the richness of its internal differentiations. 

Author Biographies

Maria Chehonadskih

PhD in Philosophy
CRMEP, Kingston University
River House, 53–57 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 1LQ, UK
e-mail: mchehonadskih@gmail.com

Keti Chukhrov

Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy, Associate Professor 
Russian State University for Humanities (Moscow), Department of Art History
ГСП-3, Miusskaya ploschad', d. 6, Moscow, Russia 125993
e-mail: keti.chukhrov@gmail.com

Alexei Penzin

PhD in Philosophy, Research Associate
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences
Goncharnaya ul., 12 str.1, Moscow, Russia 109240
e-mail: penzhouse@mail.ru

Published
2017-12-18
How to Cite
Chehonadskih, M., Chukhrov, K., & Penzin, A. (2017). Introduction: Antiquity and Modernity of Soviet Marxism. Stasis, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.33280/2310-3817-2017-5-2-4-7