Russian Totalitarianism: From Leninism to Putinism?
Russian Totalitarianism: From Leninism to Putinism?

Summary/Abstract: To what extent was 20th and 21st-century Russia totalitarian? To answerthis question, an analysis was conducted of the level of totalitarianmaturity of the Bolshevik party, the degree to which Soviet Russia fellshort of the totalitarian ideal, and the extent to which Putin’s Russiafulfills the essential features of said regime. The evolution of the Bolshevikfaction into a mature totalitarian party took a dozen or so years. However,from the beginning it possessed the most salient features of the partyof the new type, and the totalitarian political gnosis constituted a dominantand increasingly mature characteristic of the thought of its members.Bolshevik Russia had been totalitarian since its inception, althoughthere were periods of significant deviation from the standard (the eraof the New Economic Policy, the temporary resignation from the hegemonyof the totalitarian political gnosis during the Second World War, andthe era of “perestroika”). However, from the assassination of Sergei Kirovin 1934 until 1941, and then from shortly after the end of the war untilStalin’s death, we may justifiably maintain that the polity of the USSR wasfundamentally convergent with the totalitarian ideal. Whereas Putin’sRussia evolved from moderate authoritarianism, and eventually – aftera quarter of a century – became a state with a hardline authoritarianregime and with visible elements of the totalitarian political gnosis.

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