Between providence and revolution
Russian religious philosophical and Marxist interpretations of war and victory in the 1910s–1930s
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12190877 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arseniy Kumankov (0000-0002-8951-4707, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in East European Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0925-9392 • E-ISSN: 1573-0948 |
| Publisher | Springer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11212-025-09824-9 |
| OpenAlex | W4417490699 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
This article examines the intellectual history of war and victory in early twentieth-century Russia, focusing on two distinct traditions: Russian religious philosophy and early Soviet Marxist thought. While differing profoundly in worldview and method, both traditions conceptualized victory as more than a military outcome, reflecting on its moral, political, and even ontological legitimacy. Within the religious–philosophical tradition, a whole range of positions can be identified: from radical Slavophile notions of war as a means of securing Russia’s long-overdue distinctiveness (Ern, Bulgakov) to more universalist views that emphasized the necessity for Russia to follow a path of reconciliation and service to all humanity (Frank). What united these thinkers, however, was their shared conviction that Russian people held a spiritual mission and Russia could be transfigured through war. By contrast, Marxist theorists (Lenin, Bukharin, Trotsky) interpreted war through the lens of historical materialism and political pragmatism, presenting victory in the Civil War as a teleologically necessary stage in the global struggle for emancipation and socialism. Despite their differences, these discourses converged in attributing world-historical significance to war and triumph in it, thereby legitimizing violence and structuring moral justifications for authorities
Emancipation · Just war theory · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Political philosophy · Politics · Victory · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Political Economy and Marxism · Soviet and Russian History
Contemporary Russian Conservatism
Rationalizing the war in Ukraine through religion
Russia’s Case for War against Ukraine
The ideological significance of Joseph Stalin’s Great Patriotic War statements
The spiritual meaning of war in the philosophy of the Russian silver age
Ivan Ilyin’s views on war and violence and their use among Russian religious and military audiences, 2005–2023
Russian pseudo-conservatism in an international context
Marxism, Internationalism, and the Justice of War
Soviet Philosophy of War
On the Marxist Theory of War and Peace
An enemy at the gates’ or ‘from victory to victory’? Russian foreign policy
Securitizing “spiritual-moral values” in Russia
Russian Political Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |