SOVIET TRANSNATIONALISM IN THE RUSSIAN SOCIALIST PROJECT

Abstract

The socialist society in the USSR was initially built on the ideological conviction of its architects in the possibility and necessity of creating a World Soviet Republic. The article is devoted to the analysis of the conceptual principles of the socialist global project, as well as the problem of the relationship between the concepts of their international and transnational embodiment in the communist ideas of the Bolsheviks. The task is to rethink socialist society, to see it as transnational rather than international. The justification for using the concept of “transnationalism” is substantiated by the organic connection of the projected socialist society with the capitalist world of transnational corporations and the general global orientation of communism. It is shown that the Communist International was built on transnational principles and that the Bolsheviks' recognition of the national equality of peoples was only a way to achieve the goal of a world without national borders. The problem of limiting the transnational socialist project to the framework of the national state is considered. The contradictions between the national interests facing the USSR in the international arena and those of the international workers' and communist movement, defended by the same state, were bound to lead to the collapse of the transnational project. Particular attention is paid to the problem of the Soviet people and Soviet identity. It is argued that the Soviet people managed to form certain supranational features, partially bringing transnational principles to life. However, it was the Russian people, with their readiness for self-denial, who played the decisive role. Although the transnationality of the Soviet people had ground and swallowed up the Russian national identity, it was built and developed primarily on a Russian basis