| Abstrakt: |
The concept of a 'cosmopolitan' or of 'cosmopolitanism' has in general rarely if ever been understood as something genuinely positive in Russian lands. This fact applies to Russia under the tsars, as well as to the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. With regard to concepts of the Russian Right, existing primarily since the Revolution of 1905, and on the basis of the terminology of the Stalinist period, one could also point to the existence of an 'anti-cosmopolitanism' paradigm. The analysis of this anti-cosmopolitanism paradigm in the Russian context shows that despite such fundamental historical ruptures as the 1917 Revolution there were, and still are, notable ideological continuities. The comparison of significant elements of the ideologies of the Russian Radical Right before 1917 and the Soviet era, in particular of Stalinism, shows that in both systems the 'cosmopolitan' was ultimately conceptualised as the sum of all characteristics that appeared highly foreign to the 'Russian nature'. The aim of this article is to highlight the emergence, possible origins and modifications of an 'anti-cosmopolitanism' paradigm in Russian and Soviet history as well as to explore its concrete function in modern Russia in particular in regard to Soviet nationalism and chauvinism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
