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Papers by Maria Chehonadskih

Studies in East European Thought, 2021

The paper questions an official narrative of Soviet Marxism that had been formulated both by the ... more The paper questions an official narrative of Soviet Marxism that had been formulated both by the Bolshevik leaders and the Western European Marxists. It proposes to shift the discussion from a historically constituted understanding of Soviet Marxism as a partisanship of theory to the epistemic conditions of Marxism after the October Revolution. The paper argues that a post-revolutionary Soviet logic assumes that theory should start where Marx ended and that it should act in a Marxist fashion across all conceptual and practical realms. Instead of asking ‘how’, the Soviet thought returns to the old pre-critical question of ‘what is’, and reformulates this ‘what is’ in the Marxist post-critical terms. Constructing a new critical concept of Soviet Marxism, the paper proceeds with the analysis of the post-critical status of knowledge after the revolution and recovers forgotten and repressed epistemological alternatives to orthodox Bolshevism.

Commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) for the series CC: World

The paper constructs a concept of Soviet Enlightenment through the debate between Lenin and Bogda... more The paper constructs a concept of Soviet Enlightenment through the debate between Lenin and Bogdanov on the question of what is proletarian culture and what is the relationship of the proletariat to the bourgeois knowledge. The paper starts with the overview of Bolshevik's political theory of spontaneity and organization. By referring to Adorno, Lukács and Lifshitz I show that this philosophical binary points to the dark rationalist side of the Soviet Enlightenment, but at the same time demonstrate that this couple produces a critical reinvestigation of what is the now and what is the past. From here I try to elaborate two models of the Soviet Enlightenment encyclopedic knowledge production that equally calls to reformulate the past systems in the proletarian terms, but differs in the understanding of the type of relationality that bridges the past and the proletarian present. Lenin's model rests on the " use value " of the historical past and proposes to appropriate it for the Socialist use, while Bogdanov's model treats past in terms of continuous comradeship between the labour of generations. I conclude by elaborating the idea of the comradeship in its relation to history, communism and knowledge production.

The article addresses the concept of individuation in the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsk... more The article addresses the concept of individuation in the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It argues that the concept reveals the Soviet epistemological constructions based on a strategic union between Spinoza and Hegel. Although Vygotsky did make an original contribution to materialist philosophy and this contribution cannot be isolated from the Soviet context, he is better known as a practitioner, whose Marxism is often suppressed as an unimportant holdover from the past. It is suggested that individuation links a Hegelian dialectical logic of mediation with a Spinozist understanding of activity through a Marxian epistemology explicit to Das Kapital. Vygotsky overcomes both mechanistic and teleological conceptions of the individual and class, the social and the collective, in order to be able to sketch a political theory of communization that is an " adequate form " of individuation. This brings us to another, interrelated, observation concerning debates on individuation, developed by Gilbert Simondon, Étienne Balibar, and Paolo Virno. It is concluded that Vygotsky's theory may help overcome the Hegel/Spinoza divide in a contemporary radical thought.

A dialogue on my research project about sleep, wakefulness and capitalist modernity, with particu... more A dialogue on my research project about sleep, wakefulness and capitalist modernity, with particular focus on relations of sleep and aesthetics.

R a d i c a l P h i l o s o p h y 1 7 6 (N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2) I t goes with... more R a d i c a l P h i l o s o p h y 1 7 6 (N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2) I t goes without saying that the Pussy Riot trial was an even more obscene performance of power than the punk prayer in the church itself. But the most 'avant-garde' and cynical part of this 'power performance' started not today, not a year ago, and probably not just in Russia either. If we refresh our memories, we find that all over the globe the power of the state is producing some most impressive and provocative performances. How else can we understand the Assange case, for example? While 'Western' liberals admired the heroism and sacrifice of these 'Eastern' dissidents fighting for democracy and freedom of speech, sixteen ordinary participants in anti-Putin protests were arrested in an equally performative manner in mid-May 2012 and have already spent five months in prison. As this received no public attention, perhaps we should ask: what makes the Pussy Riot case so special? Why have well-known pop stars and public figures stood up in support of the group? In his recent letter of support for Pussy Riot, Slavoj Žižek wrote: Their message is: ideas mat ter. They are conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea. This is why they wear balaclavas: masks of de-individualization, of liberating anonymity. The message of their balaclavas is that it doesn't matter which of them are arrested — they're not individuals, they're an Idea. And this is why they are such a threat: it is easy to imprison individuals, but try to imprison an Idea! 1 When it comes to Pussy Riot, everyone is looking for something, but is this something really the creation of universal meaning? For liberals, the band's performance laid bare the authoritarian essence of the Putin regime. The local intelligentsia echoes this and speaks about the emergence of new dissident martyrs in Russia. Pussy Riot do not oppose this point of view. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova quotes Alexander Solzhenitsyn and in her closing statement in court proclaimed herself the successor to the spirit of Soviet dissidence. Some feminists have understood 'Punk Prayer' as an attempt to attack the patriarchal state, and Pussy Riot declared themselves, from the very beginning, to be radical feminists. In texts, interviews and performances the band's main point was feminist criticism of the modern Russian state. Artists and critics speak of a 'new actionism' in Russia; some even foresee a Russian 1968. For socialists and communists, the main positive effect of the performance was to produce a splash of anti-clerical critique in communities of ordinary believers and among the majority of anti-Putin protesters. Finally, anarchists and others leftists focus on the anonymity of the group, its secret spirit, the risky character of its interventions and the tactics of direct action that are for many the symbol of a multitude in revolt. All this is true. But many knew about Pussy Riot for the first time only when three women took off their balaclavas in a court building. Does this mean that the Pussy Riot moment grasps the universal meaning of the contemporary world drama? If so, the drama of this world is that feminism can be

The grassroots movement against Vladimir Putin erupted in Russia in 2011. During this period, the... more The grassroots movement against Vladimir Putin erupted in Russia in 2011. During this period, the agenda, goals, and dynamics of the movement have changed a great deal. In this essay I will look at the class composition of the anti-Putin protest and at its dominant political form-mass rallies, which were represented in public and in the media by the coalition of the oppositional leaders. 1 The question of why people went to the streets will be connected here with who they are and what kind of political and life experiences they have had. The liberal agenda of fair elections and democracy, which is seen as the main slogan of the movement, should be reconsidered through an analysis of the mass depoliticization of post-Soviet society and a critique of the mainstream ideologies that have promoted liberal and neoliberal values over the last twenty years. In other words, I would like to discuss the contradictions between the constructed political form of the protest and the class background of the ordinary participants of the movement.

Studies in East European Thought, 2021

The paper questions an official narrative of Soviet Marxism that had been formulated both by the ... more The paper questions an official narrative of Soviet Marxism that had been formulated both by the Bolshevik leaders and the Western European Marxists. It proposes to shift the discussion from a historically constituted understanding of Soviet Marxism as a partisanship of theory to the epistemic conditions of Marxism after the October Revolution. The paper argues that a post-revolutionary Soviet logic assumes that theory should start where Marx ended and that it should act in a Marxist fashion across all conceptual and practical realms. Instead of asking ‘how’, the Soviet thought returns to the old pre-critical question of ‘what is’, and reformulates this ‘what is’ in the Marxist post-critical terms. Constructing a new critical concept of Soviet Marxism, the paper proceeds with the analysis of the post-critical status of knowledge after the revolution and recovers forgotten and repressed epistemological alternatives to orthodox Bolshevism.

Commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) for the series CC: World

The paper constructs a concept of Soviet Enlightenment through the debate between Lenin and Bogda... more The paper constructs a concept of Soviet Enlightenment through the debate between Lenin and Bogdanov on the question of what is proletarian culture and what is the relationship of the proletariat to the bourgeois knowledge. The paper starts with the overview of Bolshevik's political theory of spontaneity and organization. By referring to Adorno, Lukács and Lifshitz I show that this philosophical binary points to the dark rationalist side of the Soviet Enlightenment, but at the same time demonstrate that this couple produces a critical reinvestigation of what is the now and what is the past. From here I try to elaborate two models of the Soviet Enlightenment encyclopedic knowledge production that equally calls to reformulate the past systems in the proletarian terms, but differs in the understanding of the type of relationality that bridges the past and the proletarian present. Lenin's model rests on the " use value " of the historical past and proposes to appropriate it for the Socialist use, while Bogdanov's model treats past in terms of continuous comradeship between the labour of generations. I conclude by elaborating the idea of the comradeship in its relation to history, communism and knowledge production.

The article addresses the concept of individuation in the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsk... more The article addresses the concept of individuation in the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It argues that the concept reveals the Soviet epistemological constructions based on a strategic union between Spinoza and Hegel. Although Vygotsky did make an original contribution to materialist philosophy and this contribution cannot be isolated from the Soviet context, he is better known as a practitioner, whose Marxism is often suppressed as an unimportant holdover from the past. It is suggested that individuation links a Hegelian dialectical logic of mediation with a Spinozist understanding of activity through a Marxian epistemology explicit to Das Kapital. Vygotsky overcomes both mechanistic and teleological conceptions of the individual and class, the social and the collective, in order to be able to sketch a political theory of communization that is an " adequate form " of individuation. This brings us to another, interrelated, observation concerning debates on individuation, developed by Gilbert Simondon, Étienne Balibar, and Paolo Virno. It is concluded that Vygotsky's theory may help overcome the Hegel/Spinoza divide in a contemporary radical thought.

A dialogue on my research project about sleep, wakefulness and capitalist modernity, with particu... more A dialogue on my research project about sleep, wakefulness and capitalist modernity, with particular focus on relations of sleep and aesthetics.

R a d i c a l P h i l o s o p h y 1 7 6 (N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2) I t goes with... more R a d i c a l P h i l o s o p h y 1 7 6 (N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2) I t goes without saying that the Pussy Riot trial was an even more obscene performance of power than the punk prayer in the church itself. But the most 'avant-garde' and cynical part of this 'power performance' started not today, not a year ago, and probably not just in Russia either. If we refresh our memories, we find that all over the globe the power of the state is producing some most impressive and provocative performances. How else can we understand the Assange case, for example? While 'Western' liberals admired the heroism and sacrifice of these 'Eastern' dissidents fighting for democracy and freedom of speech, sixteen ordinary participants in anti-Putin protests were arrested in an equally performative manner in mid-May 2012 and have already spent five months in prison. As this received no public attention, perhaps we should ask: what makes the Pussy Riot case so special? Why have well-known pop stars and public figures stood up in support of the group? In his recent letter of support for Pussy Riot, Slavoj Žižek wrote: Their message is: ideas mat ter. They are conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea. This is why they wear balaclavas: masks of de-individualization, of liberating anonymity. The message of their balaclavas is that it doesn't matter which of them are arrested — they're not individuals, they're an Idea. And this is why they are such a threat: it is easy to imprison individuals, but try to imprison an Idea! 1 When it comes to Pussy Riot, everyone is looking for something, but is this something really the creation of universal meaning? For liberals, the band's performance laid bare the authoritarian essence of the Putin regime. The local intelligentsia echoes this and speaks about the emergence of new dissident martyrs in Russia. Pussy Riot do not oppose this point of view. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova quotes Alexander Solzhenitsyn and in her closing statement in court proclaimed herself the successor to the spirit of Soviet dissidence. Some feminists have understood 'Punk Prayer' as an attempt to attack the patriarchal state, and Pussy Riot declared themselves, from the very beginning, to be radical feminists. In texts, interviews and performances the band's main point was feminist criticism of the modern Russian state. Artists and critics speak of a 'new actionism' in Russia; some even foresee a Russian 1968. For socialists and communists, the main positive effect of the performance was to produce a splash of anti-clerical critique in communities of ordinary believers and among the majority of anti-Putin protesters. Finally, anarchists and others leftists focus on the anonymity of the group, its secret spirit, the risky character of its interventions and the tactics of direct action that are for many the symbol of a multitude in revolt. All this is true. But many knew about Pussy Riot for the first time only when three women took off their balaclavas in a court building. Does this mean that the Pussy Riot moment grasps the universal meaning of the contemporary world drama? If so, the drama of this world is that feminism can be

The grassroots movement against Vladimir Putin erupted in Russia in 2011. During this period, the... more The grassroots movement against Vladimir Putin erupted in Russia in 2011. During this period, the agenda, goals, and dynamics of the movement have changed a great deal. In this essay I will look at the class composition of the anti-Putin protest and at its dominant political form-mass rallies, which were represented in public and in the media by the coalition of the oppositional leaders. 1 The question of why people went to the streets will be connected here with who they are and what kind of political and life experiences they have had. The liberal agenda of fair elections and democracy, which is seen as the main slogan of the movement, should be reconsidered through an analysis of the mass depoliticization of post-Soviet society and a critique of the mainstream ideologies that have promoted liberal and neoliberal values over the last twenty years. In other words, I would like to discuss the contradictions between the constructed political form of the protest and the class background of the ordinary participants of the movement.