Boris Yulyevich Kagarlitsky (russian: Бори́с Ю́льевич Кагарли́цкий; born 29 August 1958) is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a

political dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He is coordinator of the

Transnational Institute The Transnational Institute (TNI), is an international non-profit research and advocacy think tank that was founded in 1974, Amsterdam, Netherlands. According to their website, the organization promotes a "... just, democratic and sustainable wor ...

Global Crisis project and Director of the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements (IGSO) in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Kagarlisky hosts a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel ''Rabkor'', associated with his online newspaper of the same name and with IGSO.

Political activities

In the 1970s, he studied theatre criticism at the State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS), before being expelled for dissident activities in 1980. His editorship of the ''

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

'' journal ''Levy Povorot'' (''Left Turn'') from 1978 to 1982, and contributions to the ''samizdat'' journal ''Varianty'' (''Variants'') during the same period, led to his arrest for 'anti-Soviet' activities in 1982. He was pardoned and released in 1983. In 1988 he published his book, ''The Thinking Reed: Intellectuals and the Soviet State From 1917 to the Present'', which won the

Deutscher Memorial Prize The Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize is an annual prize given in honour of historian Isaac Deutscher and his wife Tamara Deutscher for a new book published in English "which exemplifies the best and most innovative new writing in or about ...

. In 1988, after the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev and perestroika, he was permitted to resume his studies at the GITIS, graduating in the same year, and became coordinator of the . In 1990, he was elected to the Moscow City Soviet and to the Executive of the . He co-founded the in October 1992. In October 1993, the former Soviet dissident was arrested, with two other members of his party, for his opposition to President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

during the September—October constitutional crisis, but was released the next day after international protests. Later that year, his job and the Moscow City Soviet were abolished under Yeltsin's new constitution. The events and his experiences during this momentous period are documented in his book, ''Square Wheels: How Russian Democracy Got Derailed''. Kagarlitsky is the director of Institute of Globalisation Studies and Social Movements (IGSO) and editor in chief of ''Levaya Politika'' (''Left Politics'') quarterly in Moscow. He was criticized by Mikhail Vasilyevich Popov.https://www.rpw.ru/public/cagar.html

Academic career

From 1994 to 2002, he was a senior research fellow at the Institute for Comparative Political Studies of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...

(ISPRAN). He was awarded his Doctorate degree for his thesis, ''Collective Actions and Labour Policies in Russia in the 90s'', in 1995, and has taught political science at

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, the Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences, and the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Books in English

* ''Thinking Reed: The Intellectuals and the Soviet State 1917 to the Present'',

Verso Books Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a left-wing publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of '' New Left Review''. Renaming, new brand and logo Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The ...

, 1989, * ''The Dialectic of Change'',

, 1990, * ''Farewell Perestroika: A Soviet Chronicle'',

, 1990, * ''The Disintegration of the Monolith'',

, 1993, * ''Square Wheels: How Russian Democracy Got Derailed'',

Monthly Review Press The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

, 1994, * ''Mirage of Modernization'',

, 1995, * ''Restoration in Russia: Why Capitalism Failed'',

, 1995, * ''Globalization and Its Discontents: The Rise of Postmodern Socialisms'', co-edited with Roger Burbach and Orlando Nunez,

Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Originally, it was the publishing arm of the International Socialists (today known as the Socialist Workers Party), until it changed hands and was replaced ...

, 1997, * ''New Realism, New Barbarism: Socialist Theory in the Era of Globalization'',

, 1999, * ''The Return of Radicalism: Reshaping the Left Institutions'',

, 1999, * ''The Twilight of Globalization: Property, State and Capitalism'',

, 2000, * ''Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin: Neo-Liberal Autocracy'',

, 2002, * ''The Politics of Empire: Globalisation in Crisis'', co-edited with Alan Freeman,

, 2004, * ''Empire of the Periphery: Russia and the World System'',

, 2007, * ''Back in the USSR (What Was Communism?)'',

Seagull Books Seagull Books is a publishing venture begun in Kolkata in 1982 by Naveen Kishore, a theater practitioner. It began primarily as a response to the growing need for an Indian publishing house for theater and the other arts and since then it has ...

, 2009, * ''From Empires to Imperialism: The State and the Rise of Bourgeois Civilisation'',

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, 2014, * ''Russia, Ukraine and Contemporary Imperialism'',

, 2019, * ''Between Class and Discourse: Left Intellectuals in Defence of Capitalism'',

, 2020,

References

External links

Biographical

Official websiteUnofficial websiteBoris Kagarlitsky's IGSO profileBoris Kagarlitsky's profile
on the

, with columns, articles, interviews, etc.
Rabkor on Youtube

Articles

Boris Kagarlitsky on Russian Dissent
via

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...

Boris Kagarlitsky's ZSpace PageBoris Kagarlitsky at Eurasian HomeBoris Kagarlitsky at Rabkor

Interviews

Weekly Worker The ''Weekly Worker'' is a newspaper published by the Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) (CPGB-PCC). The paper is known on the left for its polemical articles, and for its close attention to Marxist theory and the po ...

'', March 16, 2006
Class-consciousness and the naked king
''

'', May 10, 2007
TV interview on the night of the 2008 Russian presidential election

Russia Today RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya (russian: Россия Сегодня) is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels ...

, March 2, 2008

Papers and essays

Facing the Crisis
Paper presented at the Global Crisis Seminar, TNI,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, 17–18 February 2002
A Black Cat in a Dark Room
TNI Website, 27 October 2004
Russia 1917 and the global revolution
''

'', October 26, 2006
Fuse workers’ movement and Marxism
''

'', November 9, 2006

Video

"The Left and Labour in Russia Under Putin" ''Socialist Project'', April 3, 2008Viewpoint. Boris Kagarlitsky about workers' movement
at ''Red TV''
''How Russia's War In Ukraine Is Playing Out Inside Russia''
- BreakThrough News,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagarlitsky, Boris 1958 births Living people Writers from Moscow Marxist theorists Russian Marxist historians Deutscher Memorial Prize winners Labor historians Russian sociologists Russian politicians Russian political writers Russian journalists Russian Marxists Russian political activists Russian socialists Russian communists Russian dissidents Soviet dissidents Libertarian socialists World system scholars Russian bloggers Russian YouTubers Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian atheists Russian political scientists Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni People listed in Russia as media foreign agents Russian male YouTubers Russian video bloggers