The Russian Revolution as Ideal and Practice

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Preface

   • Thomas Telios, Dieter Thomä, Ulrich Schmid

   Pages 1-17

3. Reconsidering the Russian Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. Beyond the Horizon: The Russian Revolution Seen from Afar

      • Karl Schlögel

      Pages 21-34

   3. Reenacting Revolution? Theater and Politics of Repetition

      • Sylvia Sasse

      Pages 35-50

   4. Revolution in Sexual Ethics: Communism and the “Sex Problem”

      • Enikő Darabos

      Pages 51-65

   5. Revolution and Salvation

      • Christian Schmidt

      Pages 67-82

   6. Law, Absolute Will, and the “Withering of the State”: Sovereignty at the Limits of Lenin’s “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”

      • Naveen Kanalu

      Pages 83-99

   7. What Is Life Like After Revolution? Administration, Habit, and Democracy in Lenin’s “The State and Revolution”—and Beyond

      • Dieter Thomä

      Pages 101-125

4. Retelling the Russian Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 127-127

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   2. German and Jewish Conspiracies: The October Revolution from the Perspective of the Italian Fascists and the German National Socialists

      • Ulrich Schmid

      Pages 129-141

   3. A Narrative Theory for the October Revolution (From Maugham to Benjamin and Back)

      • Tatjana Jukić

      Pages 143-163

   4. October and the Prospects for Revolution: The Views of Arendt, Adorno, and Marcuse

      • Marie-Josée Lavallée

      Pages 165-189

   5. Memory Politics and the “Politics of Memory”

      • Tora Lane

      Pages 191-206

   6. Into Historical Limbo: The Legacy of the October Revolution in Russia

      • Stephan Rindlisbacher

      Pages 207-223

5. Reenabling Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 225-225

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   2. The Concepts of Revolution

      • Geoffroy de Lagasnerie

      Pages 227-241

   3. The Possibility of the Revolution

      • Christoph Menke

      Pages 243-260

   4. Time Intensification in Revolutionary Dynamics

      • Donatella della Porta

      Pages 261-281

   5. Postscript: Communist Subjectivity and the Politics of Collectiversalism

      • Thomas Telios

      Pages 283-308

This volume aims to commemorate, criticize, scrutinize and assess the undoubted significance of the Russian Revolution both retrospectively and prospectively in three parts. Part I consists of a palimpsest of the different representations that the Russian Revolution underwent through its turbulent history, going back to its actors, agents, theorists and propagandists to consider whether it is at all possible to revisit the Russian Revolution as an event. With this problematic as a backbone, the chapters of this section scrutinize the ambivalences of revolution in four distinctive phenomena (sexual morality, religion, law and forms of life) that pertain to the revolution’s historicity. Part II concentrates on how the revolution was retold in the aftermath of its accomplishment not only by its sympathizers but also its opponents. These chapters not only bring to light the ways in which the revolution triggered critical theorists to pave new paths of radical thinking that were conceived as methods to overcome the revolution’s failures and impasses, but also how the Revolution was subverted in order to inspire reactionary politics and legitimize conservative theoretical undertakings. Even commemorating the Russian Revolution, then, still poses a threat to every well-established political order. In Part III, this volume interprets how the Russian Revolution can spur a rethinking of the idea of revolution. Acknowledging the suffocating burden that the notion of revolution as such entails, the final chapters of this book ultimately address the content and form of future revolution(s). It is therein, in such critical political thought and such radical form of action, where the Russian Revolution’s legacy ought to be sought and can still be found. 

• Frankfurt School
• proletariat
• revolutionary processes
• Russian Revolution
• October Revolution
• Critical Theory
• Russian Revolution Sexuality
• Communism Sexuality
• Russian Revolution Christianity
• The State and Revolution
• Italian October Revolution
• Memory Politics
• Concept of Revolution
• Eventful Democratization
• Communist Subjectivity
• russian and post-soviet politics

• University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

  Thomas Telios, Dieter Thomä, Ulrich Schmid

Thomas Telios is Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Dieter Thomä is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Ulrich Schmid is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Policies and ethics