On the Ideological Front
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The Russian Intelligentsia and the Making of the Soviet Public Sphere
Stuart Finkel
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Having emerged, exhausted but triumphant, from the bloody and divisive Russian Civil War, V. I. Lenin and his colleagues turned to eliminating perceived ideological foes from within. In On the Ideological Front, Stuart Finkel tells the story of the1922 expulsion from Soviet Russia of almost one hundred prominent intellectuals, including professors and journalists, philosophers and engineers, writers and agronomists. Finkel’s meticulously researched and persuasively argued study sets this compelling human drama within the context of the Bolsheviks’ determined efforts to impose ideological conformity, redefine the role of the intelligentsia, and establish a distinctly Soviet public sphere. The book demonstrates that the NEP period was not a time of intellectual pluralism and ideological retreat on the part of the Bolsheviks. On the contrary, from its formative years, the Soviet regime zealously policed the ideological front and laid the institutional and discursive foundations for the Stalinist state.
Stuart Finkel is assistant professor of history, University of Florida. He lives in Gainesville.
"Finkel's interpretation helps us understand the significance of the expulsions of non-party members of the intelligentsia. His impeccable research shows that the costs of Lenin's decision were ultimately very high."—Jane Burbank, New York University
‘An important study which should be read by those interested in the place and role of intellectuals in the Soviet state.’ — Vera Tolz, Modern Language Review Vol 105 Part 2, April 2010
Publication Date: December 11, 2007
