Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: January 31, 2021 at 7:23:31 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Socialisms]: Golubev on Borenstein, 'Plots against > Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Eliot Borenstein. Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after > Socialism. Ithaca Cornell University Press, 2019. 306 pp. $24.95 > (paper), ISBN 978-1-5017-3577-6. > > Reviewed by Alexey Golubev (University of Toronto, Department of > History) > Published on H-Socialisms (January, 2021) > Commissioned by Gary Roth > > Conspiracy and Fantasy in Russia Today > > That the West and its paid "thugs" and "hirelings" were plotting > against the first socialist state was never a conspiracy theory for > Soviet leaders and society, but rather a firmly established fact. > "Plot" and "plotters" were among the most popular words in public > speeches and legal terminology during the Great Purge; they permeated > the genres of Soviet political commentary and caricature during the > Cold War; and conspiracies of every kind blossomed with Mikhail > Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika. By the time the USSR collapsed > and Russia emerged as an independent state in December 1991, several > generations of its citizens had been thoroughly trained in > conspiratorial thinking. This is where Eliot Borenstein's new book > starts: it examines the fantasy worlds produced in Russian fiction > and political discourse in the past three decades when Russia's fall > from a superpower into an economic and political turmoil caused > widespread social anxiety and insecurity. In response to this social > and political cataclysm, many Russians turned to familiar > conspiratorial explanations that placed the roots of their nation's > trials in the evil intentions of inherently hostile domestic and > foreign forces. > > Borenstein's book is an inquiry into conspiratorial narratives and > their role in political mobilization and cultural imagination in > contemporary Russia. He tackles them at several different > levels--their incorporation into politics; their particular > manifestations (such as the perception of the LGBT+ movement as an > assault on the Russian national body); their literary adaptations and > reiterations; and their long-lasting effects on the cultural > understanding of all political arguments as inherently biased and > manipulative. _Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after > Socialism _approaches conspiracies across domains and media > (politics, journalism, film, fiction), genres (novels, documentaries, > op-eds), and objects of conspiratorial thought (America, Jews, the > LGBT+ movement, consumer capitalism). > > Borenstein describes a corpus of conspiratorial narratives that > permeate Russian culture and regulate or at least inform the > production of political and cultural meanings in situations ranging > from official statements in the State Duma through prime-time shows > on popular TV channels to videogames. In a way, Russian > conspiratorial narratives are like Uber: only a few drive it for a > living, yet many rely on it as a regular means of transportation or > at least use it occasionally, and even those who refuse or avoid > using it cannot but notice its firmly established presence around us. > It is the same with conspiracy theories: it is hard to imagine a > sentient Russian citizen who, after the war broke out in eastern > Ukraine in 2014, has not heard allegations that its "genuine" driving > force was western Ukrainian "fascists" backed by Western powers; > agreeing or disagreeing with them comes as the second step. Karl > Popper famously argued that conspiratorial narratives satisfy the > public demand for easy explanations in an increasingly complex > world.[1] Borenstein's analysis further advances this argument by > showing that, in doing so, conspiracies create paranoid political > cultures that treat "all information as propaganda" (p. 29). > > _Plots against Russia _has many brilliant observations about Russian > conspiracy cultures, and it is unsurprising that it received the 2020 > Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize, a top award in the field of Russian, > Eurasian, and East European studies sponsored by the Association for > Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Stanford > University Center for Russian and East European Studies. In the first > three chapters, Borenstein examines how conspiratorial narratives > define Russia as an imaginary object of desire by hostile forces, a > common trope since the rise of modern nationalism with its tendency > to feminize nations. In modern Russia, the current political > establishment readily employs the apocalyptic tropes produced by mass > media and popular culture to advance its anti-Western agenda. That > this impetus comes from the media is one of the most compelling > arguments of _Plots against Russia_: unlike the scholars who see a > direct input from the Kremlin behind the spread of conspiracy > theories in Russian society, Borenstein accentuates the priority of > popular forms of political imagination over their centralized > production.[2] In this picture, Putin himself is just another > consumer--rather than a direct producer--of conspiratorial > narratives, their acolyte rather than a shrewd manipulator. > > Borenstein's monograph provides an in-depth analysis of the power of > conspiratorial narratives to recruit audiences by providing them with > easy explanations and a powerful yet elusive image of external and > internal enemies, with the enemy acting as a shifting signifier > that--depending on the circumstances--can refer to Jews, America, the > LGBT+ movement, and so forth. Chapter 4, in particular, looks at how > homophobia turned into an ideological weapon around 2013 with > accusations that a "gay lobby" manipulates domestic and international > politics, acting as a displacement of Russia's growing confrontation > with western European and North American political establishments. By > rebranding Europe as "Gayropa," Russian political commentators > created a feeling of anxiety about the future of the Russian national > body. This anxiety was simultaneously projected onto Ukraine as > Russia's "younger sister" and onto actual children: by claiming that > both are endangered by "gender propaganda" (a term used in the > Russian-language media to refer to feminist and LGBT+ activism), > conspiratorial narratives mobilized their audiences as nationalist > subjects. > > Conspiratorial narratives, through their authors and consumers, are > very well aware that they exist in the state of a permanent > discursive struggle, and in chapter 5 Borenstein examines the > metaphor of "zombification," a rhetorical tool that these narratives > deploy against other audiences to strip them of subjectivity and the > right to independent judgement. Unlike the original zombie metaphor > that implies the work of forces outside of the individual's control, > zombification is a process allegedly run by a manipulative force, > turning people into mindless creatures.[3] This logic, in turn, > renders one's opponent's arguments as a priori having no value and > sense--a situation that Borenstein examines, in particular, through > the 2012 anti-Putin protests but which also characterizes the current > political polarization in the United States (I wrote this review > after the 2020 US presidential election but before Joe Biden was > inaugurated, when my newsfeeds on Facebook and Twitter were rife with > conspiracy theories as never before--and I have previously lived in > Russia). In chapter 6, Borenstein turns to the current conflict in > Ukraine to explain how the conspiratorial rhetoric and mind-set fuel > the mutual mistrust between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine supporters. > > Borenstein's approach--the construction of the research object from > various contexts, or, in his own words, following "multiple rabbits > spread throughout numerous interconnected warrens"--allows him to > offer a general theory of conspiracy (p. 52). Since conspiratorial > narratives examined in _Plots against Russia _are not limited to any > particular medium, genre, or intellectual domain, Borenstein argues > that they can be productively analyzed in terms of the Lacanian > Real-Symbolic-Imaginary triad. Borenstein places conspiracy theories > and most of their narratives in the domain of the Imaginary, going so > far as to interpret the conspiratorial narratives about Russia as > "symptoms of a disease of the Imaginary." An exception is made for > fictional narratives that, he argues, "oscillate between the > Imaginary and the Symbolic, thereby reflecting the tension between > ideology and artistry" (p. 20). Fiction thus occupies a higher > position in this taxonomy of conspiratorial narratives, with > political conspiracy theories drawing inspiration, imagery, and > entire plots from it, which leads Borenstein to conclude that > "conspiracy belongs first to art, then to ideology" (p. 41). > > What is missing in this explanation is the connection between the > Lacanian triad and the paranoid subject position, a key category of > the book (discussed in chapter 1), which is expressed--in fact, which > comes into the social being--through conspiratorial narratives. The > difference between "serious" (nonfictional) and "playful" (fictional) > narratives is not that the former belong only to the Imaginary, while > the latter "oscillate" between the Imaginary and the Symbolic: all > narratives cross this border as they have to follow the structure of > language in order to be meaningful.[4] However, since the Imaginary > and the Symbolic are radically incommensurate, the narrative movement > between them creates _lack_, a key category in Lacan's works: the > symbolic structure of the language is always inadequate to express > imaginary desires (hence the idea of the _objet petite a_, an > unattainable object of desire: no matter how many conspiracies a > conspiracy theorist reveals, there are more to invent and uncover). > The appeal of "serious" conspiracy theories is that they seek to > address this lack through their explanations: to show how the world > "really" works. For Borenstein it automatically turns their authors > into impostors who falsely claim that they "have themselves bypassed > the deceptions of the Imaginary and truly reached the Symbolic" (p. > 20). For Lacan, however, paranoia was about confusing the Symbolic > and the Real orders when the resulting disorder is resolved through a > creation of delusions: a process so quintessential to human knowledge > that, in a commentary on _Écrits_, Jacques-Alain Miller spoke of > "the paranoiac subject of scientific civilization."[5] This is what > makes "serious" conspiracy theories not only quintessentially > paranoiac but also extremely popular: their narratives are easily > recognizable, because paranoiac structures are embedded in the very > process of knowing. A consistent application of Lacan's theory would > render paranoid reasoning as an inevitable byproduct of human > knowledge rather than "a disease of the Imaginary."[6] > > If we accept this Lacanian proposition, it puts into question the key > argument of _Plots against Russia _that "conspiracy belongs first to > art, then to ideology." Borenstein argues that conspiratorial > narratives are commonly emplotted as melodrama, a narrative form that > is characterized by endless repetitions, a Manichean worldview, and a > focus on revelation. However, these criteria also satisfy the > definition of epic poetry: for example, before Elias Lönnrot, > _Kalevala _existed as an unorganized and hence repetitive collection > of Karelian folk songs with a Manichean worldview (Kalevala vs. > Pohjola) and revelations of the antagonists' evil plans that J. R. R. > Tolkien developed to the extreme in his works about Middle Earth that > were inspired by _Kalevala _and other European epic traditions. > Neither is conspiracy strange to the comedy genre, as the famous > 1960s trilogy of Fantômas movies directed by André Hunebelle > suggests. The difference between conspiratorial and > non-conspiratorial narratives seems to be not so much in the form, > but rather in the political and epistemological aspects of writing. > Media narratives definitely fuel conspiratorial forms of political > imagination, but, perhaps, _The Short Course of the VKP(b) _still > lurks somewhere behind the freshly minted and ostensibly bad science > fiction narratives of Comrade Stalin fighting against foreign and > extraterrestrial conspiracies.[7] The paranoid subject position in > Russian culture has a complicated genealogy that is impossible to > reduce solely to media narratives.[8] > > _Plots against Russia _is not the first work to address the question > of a complicated relationship between fictional and nonfictional > narratives in the production of conspiracy theories in Russia, and > therefore it is all the more surprising that the book lacks a > dialogue with scholars from Russia and other post-Soviet states who > have previously studied conspiracy theories and related literary > forms and genres. When Borenstein expresses in the preface his > concern that it might look like orientalizing to study conspiracies > in Russian fiction and media, he justifies the choice of this > research subject by arguing that conspiracy theories have come to > occupy a central place in Russian culture and thus warrant a thorough > examination. It is by virtue of this very centrality of conspiracy > theories in Russian culture that Russian scholars are just as > fascinated with this phenomenon as Borenstein. Ilya Yablokov has > written extensively on conspiracy theories in Russian political > culture since the early 2010s,[9] while their incorporation into mass > culture has been addressed by Daria Slesareva, whose dissertation, > "The Poetics of the Conspiracy Novel," examines some of the same > works as _Plots against Russia_,[10] as well as by such prominent > anthropologists and literary scholars as Aleksandr Panchenko, > Konstantin Bogdanov, Sergei Shtyrkov, Zhanna Kormina, and some > others.[11] This scholarship represents important perspectives on the > question of conspiracy cultures in Russia and is particularly > attentive to their historical genealogies and global connections. > > _Plots against Russia _is an important contribution to studies of > contemporary Russian politics and culture, but its importance extends > beyond the field of Russian studies. The book offers important > insights into the work of conspiracy cultures and ideologies in the > modern world in general, and it is particularly useful for our > understanding of conspiracy thinking (or, rather, writing) in > contemporary America, where Republican zealots regularly label the > Democratic Party as an "internal enemy." After all, it was written > between 2014 and 2018, the period that saw a revival of both > conspiracy theories and conspiracy revelations as hyperpopular genres > in American mass media. As an American scholar writing about > conspiracy theories at an time when conspiracies have become hugely > important in American popular and intellectual culture alike, > Borenstein is uniquely positioned to reveal, dissect, and explain the > work of conspiratorial narratives. Yet this positionality also > represents a risk of a metonymical slippage when "plots against > Russia" become important primarily because they resonate with the > American public concerns in the era of Donald Trump. This is where a > dialogue with Russian scholars, with their very different > perspectives and concerns, would be very helpful. For a book that > became a foundational text in studies of conspiracies in Russian > culture immediately after publication, it is very regrettable that no > such dialogue is established in _Plots against Russia_. > > Notes > > [1]. Karl Popper, _Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of > Scientific Knowledge_ (London: Routledge, 2002), 166. > > [2]. Ilya Yablokov, _Fortress Russia: Conspiracy Theories in the > Post-Soviet World_ (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018), 135-45. > > [3]. David McNally, _Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and > Global Capitalism_ (Leiden: Brill, 2011). > > [4]. See, for example, Jacques Lacan, "The Agency of the Letter in > the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud," in _Écrits: A Selection_, > trans. Alan Sheridan (London: Routledge, 2001), 111-36. > > [5]. Lacan, _Écrits_, 251. > > [6]. Jacques Lacan, _Seminar III: The Psychoses. 1955-1956 _(New > York: W. W. Norton, 1997), 39-40; Jerry Aline Flieger, "The Listening > Eye: Postmodernism, Paranoia, and the Hypervisible," _Diacritics _26, > no. 1 (1996): 103-6. > > [7]. Vladimir Peremolotov, _Zviozdnye voiny tovarishcha Stalina > _(Moscow: Eksmo, 2012). The cover image features Joseph Stalin > piloting a futuristic combat spacecraft while smoking a pipe. > > [8]. See, e.g., a detailed analysis of the circulation of > conspiratorial narratives between their producers, media, and > consumers in chapter 1 of Serguei Oushakine, _The Patriotism of > Despair: Nation, War, and Loss in Russia _(Ithaca, NY: Cornell > University Press, 2011), 15-78. > > [9]. Yablokov's research produced multiple Russian-language articles > and culminated in a recently published English-language monograph on > this topic: Ilya Yablokov, _Fortress Russia: Conspiracy Theories in > the Post-Soviet World_ (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018). > > [10]. Daria Slesareva, "Poetika konspirologicheskogo romana" (PhD > diss., Samara State University, 2014). > > [11]. A. A. Panchenko and K. A. Bogdanov, "Teorii zagovora, istoriia > kul'tury i russkaia literature," _Russkaia literatura_ 4 (2015): > 8-13, and "Teorii zagovora v sovremennoi Rossii," special issue, > _Antropologicheskii forum_ 27 (2015): 89-202. > > Citation: Alexey Golubev. Review of Borenstein, Eliot, _Plots against > Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism_. H-Socialisms, H-Net > Reviews. January, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55391 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5978): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5978 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80259425/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
