Culture and revolution: Bakhtin,Mayakovsky and Lenin (disalienation as [social] creativity)

Abstract

The article shows the dialectic of the relationship of revolution and culture as two sides of creativity - social and art. In a dialogue with the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin, the authors reveal culture as the removal of alienation (disalienation) in the process of subject-subjective dialogue, in which a qualitatively new reality is created – Truth, Beauty, Good, a new person is born - a man-creator, and as such, culture is revolutionary. The second side of this connection - the revolution as a culture - is revealed by the authors on the example of the social creativity of revolutionary Russia, the poet of which was Vladimir Mayakovsky. The article gives a panorama of the historical practices of art and social creativity of the 1920s. The authors show that the counterpoint to these practices was the relationship of conformism, bureaucracy and other forms of social alienation which led the Soviet project to the dead end. The authors conclude that disalienation in the social and cultural spheres is possible only to the extent that the sociopolitical revolutionary changes are carried out in unity with the liberation of the cultural potential of the masses, and art creativity is interfaced (united) with social creativity.     

Supporters and Opponents of Perestroyka: The Second Joint Soviet Economy Roundtable

Support and opposition to perestroyka in the USSR and the U.S. are discussed on the eve of Academician Andrey Sakharov's trip to the U.S. in November 1988. Participating in the roundtable are leading Soviet economists, historians, philosophers, publishers and journalists as well as American Sovietologists. Different perspectives are offered on resistance to perestroyka and its origins, on concepts of change, the constitutional revisions in prospect, the pace and scope of the reform and the nationalities issue. Selected statements, notably those of Andrey Sakharov, are of historical significance. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 124.     

The Russian Orthodox Church as the Church of the Majority

The author examines the evolution of relations among Church, state, and society in Russia over recent years in the light of comparisons with other predominantly Orthodox Christian countries.     

Uzbekistan between the great powers: a balancing act or a multi-vectorial approach?

The expulsion of US forces from the Karshi-Khanabad airbase in November 2005 and the subsequent rapprochement between Uzbekistan and Russia represents one of the most dramatic diplomatic turnabouts in Uzbek foreign policy. This article analyses the theoretical discourses surrounding the alignment behaviour of Uzbekistan. It posits that traditional alignment theories, such as balance of power and balance of threat, are inadequate in their explanations of Uzbek foreign policy due to the lack of attention paid to the nature of the regime and the internal politics of the country. It also dismisses previous attempts at characterizing Uzbekistan's alignment behaviour as ‘omnibalancing’ as inadequate and incomplete. This article argues that Uzbekistan's foreign policy is based on a multi-vectorial approach, which is designed to maximize the benefits that a particular alliance may offer Uzbekistan. A variety of sources have been consulted in the formulation of this work, from official Uzbek foreign policy statements to secondary sources, in both English and Russian.