Soviet Socialism: On the Nature and Lessons of the Project

Abstract. This article explores the prerequisites, content, and outcomes of the Soviet project. The term refers to the predominance of arbitrary organization of social reality over its naturally-historical self-determination. Unlike the utopian denial of existing social being, the project is viewed as a technological compensation for the mediating disruptions and interruptions in evolutionary trends. The Soviet period of national history is examined as the largest known endeavor to create a new society, vividly illustrating the inherent internal dialectics that underscore the stability and viability of a constructed consciousness of existence. However, this dual nature imposes a strict limit on such a construction: the act of historical arbitrariness is incapable of transcending the nearest state of stable equilibrium within the social system, where the objective laws of social development reclaim their unlimited authority. Moreover, the earlier inability to impose self-restraint leads arbitrariness to its own negation.