2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Reconsideration of the Russian Revolution: the victory and failure of the revolutionary socialism amidst the war, anarchy and hunger

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	15K03386
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Economic doctrine/Economic thought
Research Institution	Ritsumeikan University
Principal Investigator	MORIOKA Masashi 立命館大学, 国際関係学部, 教授 (50257812)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Keywords	ロシア革命 / 社会主義 / ソヴェト経済 / 不足経済 / 国有化 / マルクス主義 / 獲得をめぐる闘争 / 最高国民経済会議
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research investigated the Russian October Revolution which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017 from a viewpoint of economic thought， and elucidated the following points. First, the ‘victory’ of the revolutionary socialism in the establishment and survival of the Soviet power by Bolsheviks under the historical context of lasting the Great War, imminent hunger, and exacerbation of anarchical turmoil, simultaneously brought about the transition to a chronic shortage economy as well as an overall collapse of the Russian national economy. In this respect, the political victory of revolutionary socialism entailed, as its unintended result, the seed of its subsequent 'defeat' in its cardinal project realizing a classless and super affluent society promised by Marxism. While shortage economy emancipated labor from the fear of unemployment, it imposed ordinary consumers harsh daily struggle to obtain consumption goods through queueing and other forms of purchase competition.
Free Research Field	経済学説・経済思想
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究は次の点で学術的意義をもつ。第1は，20世紀社会主義の起点をなすロシア革命の勝利と敗北を，権力の獲得と維持のための選択や民衆への約束の実行が引き起こした困難への対応に伴う資本主義の予期せざる全面的破壊および非常手段の事後的な理論的正当化を伴う制度化という角度から統一的に説明したことである。第２は，社会主義の本質的失敗を，自由と豊かさを約束しながら，多様で品質のよい商品を行列や待機なしに買いたいという基本的な願望に応じることができず，人々に豊かさを享受しその欲求を多面的に発展させる機会を提供できなかったことに求めることを通じて，社会変革における日常の消費生活の重要性に光をあてたことである。