The concept of peasant inferiority in bolshevik ideology
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Abstract
This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of peasant inferiority within Bolshevik ideological thought in the context of the socio-political transformations of the early twentieth century. The study is grounded in the
understanding of the peasantry as a numerically dominant and economically significant social stratum of the Russian Empire, attitudes toward which largely shaped the nature of revolutionary processes and the practices of state-building after 1917.
Purpose. The aim of the article is to clarify the content, genesis, and functioning of perceptions of the peasantry as a “socially inferior” group within Bolshevik ideological discourse, as well as to determine the role of this concept in shaping Soviet policies toward the agrarian population.
Methodology. The methodological framework of the study is based on the principles of historicism, systemic analysis, and scholarly objectivity. The research employs problem-chronological and comparative-historical methods, as well as elements of structural-functional analysis and discourse analysis, which make it possible to trace the evolution of Bolshevik perceptions of the peasantry—from the theoretical premises of Marxism to their practical implementation within the Soviet state.
Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the concept of peasant inferiority is examined as
an integral ideological construct rather than as a set of discrete evaluative judgments about the peasantry. It is demonstrated that this concept performed an important legitimizing function, serving as an ideological foundation for the introduction of directive and repressive practices in the sphere of agrarian policy. The article also reveals the continuity of Bolshevik perceptions of the peasantry with imperial stereotypes of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which were combined with Marxist theory and adapted to the conditions of revolutionary reality.
Conclusions. The conclusions substantiate that the idea of peasant inferiority was a structural element of Bolshevik
ideology that determined the asymmetrical nature of relations between the authorities and the peasantry. Its consolidation contributed to the formation of a model of political control over the agrarian population and led to the contradictory character of the proclaimed worker–peasant alliance in the practice of Soviet state-building.
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