New look at “War and Peace”: why we need to recognize and study Russian imperialism
As a result of the imperialist policies of the Russian Empire, the USSR, and modern Russia, many cultures and whole ethnic groups were close to being erased. Instead of unique cultural identities of variuos colonized nations, Russia for centuries imposed the one “great” Russian identity, forcing its language and culture on other peoples.
March 14, 2023
When I come across the “aesthetics” reels on Instagram about Anna Karenina or the shabby panel buildings of the former USSR or see my American peers put communist symbols on their laptops, I wonder if they would similarly celebrate the British empire or the US colonists. When I think of the USSR and Russia, I do not see the cute images or political ideals. I think of their imperialistic policies, my family, my people and many other nations, whose history and culture was either stolen or ridiculed and who were subjected to endless poverty and persecutions by Moscow rulers.
The challenge of recognizing Russian colonial imperialism comes mainly from a West-centered view on the issue. In the more well-known examples of British or French Empires, colonization was rooted in racism, which was not always the case in Russia. Moreover, the conflict between Russia and the West caused many to associate the former with being an anti-West and, thus, anticolonial power. While the first assumption is not false, the second one is far from being true.
In the early 20th century, when colonialism finally started to lose support in the West, Moscow began to broadcast an image of an anti-colonial champion to international audiences. Lenin even famously named colonialism the final stage of capitalism. Putin in his recent speech about the illegal annexation of several Ukrainian regions called Russia’s actions “decolonization” and in 15 minutes mentioned the word “colonialism” 11 times. Despite such rhetoric, the Russian empire, the USSR and now Russia have continued to build typical colonial structures inside their borders. Read more
