Imperial and Soviet Modernization

Abstract

In Russia, during the imperial and Soviet periods, the society developed from tradition to modernity, resulting in the emergence of the advanced industrial technologies and corresponding political, cultural and social mechanisms, which enabled to support, use and manage these technologies. The imperial modernization took place according to the classical European scenario. In terms of goals, means and results Soviet modernization was its continuation. However, while in some respects (the formation of a rational, educated, secularly oriented personality, industrialization, urbanization, the democratization of the family, the emancipation of women and children), Soviet modernization bore resemblance with the classical Western model, it was different as far as other aspects were concerned (the priority of the state over the society, the primacy of the collective over the individual, restriction of individual freedom, centralization, planning). In short, the formula of Soviet modernization amounted to technological and material progress on the basis of traditional social institutions. Soviet modernization provided less rapid development and came at a higher price compared to the Imperial one. However, if it had not been for huge and unjustified human sacrifices, Soviet modernization could have been deemed a success, although it, like the imperial one, ended in a crisis and revolution. The fact that the imperial modernization was replaced with the Soviet one after the military revolution of 1917, and the post-Soviet change from the Soviet period occurred as a result of the peaceful revolution of 1991–1993, does not mean that both processes of modernization did not take place or that they failed. Imperial modernization had more impact on the educated part of the society, on the upper strata, on a considerable part of the urban population and partly on the peasantry who supported the Stolypin reform. The above-mentioned groups overlapped, so their percentage in relation to the total population hardly exceeded 30–35. The lion’s share of the population, who lived predominantly in the countryside, was not affected by modernization, and a large number of them either had a negative attitude to the fundamental modernization processes (for example, to the commercialization, social and material bourgeois differentiation) or were indifferent to them. Soviet modernization embraced the entire society, and its impact was deeper and more comprehensive. In terms of their results, both processes of modernization can be considered to have been relatively successful projects, although they did not resolve all the tasks and hopes that were associated with them.