Russian Intellectuals are Again Engaged in Their Own Cancel Culture Debate – But for Them, It is Nothing New

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 2 – Even as they argue about Ukraine and relations with the West, Russian intellectuals have been engaged in their own cancel culture debate, but for them, far more than for their counterparts in the West, this debate is nothing new and has deep roots in the past, Ilya Kliashin says.

            “Some have said that now is not the time for Pushkin and Tchaikovsky, others that such a cancelling is not permissible, and still others that the very discussion itself is impermissible because it distracts attention from the war,” the journalist says. “But what is interesting is that this discussion is taking place within the terms of cancel culture.”

            One of the reasons cancel culture if not under that name has existed in Russia for more than two centuries is that literary figures have always played the role of political ones and thus Russians are inclined to exclude this or that writer from the past or even present because of differences on political issues, Kliashin says (theins.ru/opinions/ilya-klishin/254304).

            Such actions and attitudes were intensified under the Soviets who were prepared to exclude from the cannon many writers who didn’t fit into the Marxist-Leninist paradigm, he says; but it has continued to this day, especially as literary figures have again come to play a political role and thus are treated for their political views rather than artistic value.

            Many Russian intellectuals and ordinary readers are appalled by all this, seeing it as smacking of censorship; but both the state and the literary establishment have long been strong enough in Russia to impose their views, elevating some authors and driving others out of the pantheon in the traditions of cancel culture elsewhere.