How have the fall of the USSR and the long dominance of Putin reshaped Russian politics and culture?
Ilya Budraitskis writes regularly on politics, art, film and philosophy for e-flux journal, openDemocracy, LeftEast, Colta.ru and other outlets, and teaches at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences and the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow. The Russian edition of his essay collection Dissidents among Dissidents was awarded the prestigious Andrei Bely prize in 2017.
Budraitskis magnificently dismantles several myths. This includes
the myth that the entire socialist past can be reduced to the idea
of 'totalitarianism', and the myth that Russian society is divided
in two, between liberals who love freedom and the masses, mired in
tradition and thirsting for despotic rule.
*Alexei Yurchak, author of Everything Was Forever Until It Was No
More*
A deep analysis of contemporary Russian reality which deftly
dismantles the many myths in which that reality is shrouded.
Budraitskis's writings deal with several themes and periods, but
common to them all is a sensitivity to the details of the context
and a capacity to question dogmatic certainties. The texts are
beautifully written, in a clear, precise, and stylistically
fine-tuned prose. This extremely important collection allows us to
look at Russian and many other post-socialist societies from a new
standpoint.
*Alexei Yurchak, author of Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No
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Ilya Budraitskis brings immense historical knowledge, moral
clarity, and political insight into these crucial essays on
twenty-first century Russia. From his critical analyses of Russian
culture wars and the "geopoliticization of Russia" to his
path-breaking history of socialist dissidence and contemporary Left
discontent, Budraitskis proves an adroit guide through the
post-Soviet landscape. He directs us not simply to persistent
authoritarianism and reaction but also to the unrealized political
alternatives that remain to be activated by Left anti-capitalists
today.
*Jodi Dean. author of Comrade*
Ilya Budraitskis is a gifted writer- non-conformist, insightful,
sharp and polemical. Essays collected in this volume succeed to
challenge both liberal and illiberal clichés about Putin's
Russia.
*Ivan Krastev, author of Is It Tomorrow Yet?*
Refusing the neo-Cold War nonsense that depicts Putin's Russia as
an anti-imperialist bulwark or a reincarnation of Stalin's empire,
Ilya Budraitskis has more important things to think about than this
confected Clash of Civilisations. Whether uncovering the forgotten
socialists among the Soviet-era dissident movement or tracing the
emergence of a true post-Soviet left into the present day, his work
is sophisticated, invigorating and ethically rigorous.
*Owen Hatherley*
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