Boris Kagarlitsky | |
|---|---|
Борис Кагарлицкий | |
 Kagarlitsky in 2011 | |
| Born | (1958-08-29)29 August 1958 (age 67) |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS) Moscow State Social University |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy Russian philosophy |
| School | Marxism[1] World-systems theory[2] |
| Main interests | Philosophy,sociology,labour,history,class struggle |
Boris Yulyevich Kagarlitsky (Russian:Бори́с Ю́льевич Кагарли́цкий; born 29 August 1958) is a RussianMarxisttheoretician andsociologist who has been apolitical dissident in theSoviet Union and theRussian Federation. He is an associate of theTransnational Institute.[3] Kagarlitsky is the director of Institute of Globalisation Studies and Social Movements (IGSO)[4] and editor in chief ofLevaya Politika (Left Politics) quarterly in Moscow. Kagarlitsky founded online platformRabkor which has aYouTube channel and an online newspaper of the same name.[5]
In the 1970s, he studied theatre criticism at theState Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS), before being expelled for dissident activities in 1980. His editorship of thesamizdat journalLevy Povorot (Left Turn) from 1978 to 1982, and contributions to thesamizdat journalVarianty (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,Thinking Reed: Intellectuals and the Soviet State from 1917 to the Present, which won theDeutscher Memorial Prize.
In 1988, after the rise ofMikhail Gorbachev andperestroika, he was permitted to resume his studies at the GITIS, graduating in the same year, and became coordinator of theMoscow People's Front [ru]. In 1990, he was elected to theMoscow City Soviet and to the Executive of theSocialist Party (USSR) [ru].
He co-founded theParty of Labour [ru] in October 1992. In October 1993, the former Soviet dissident was arrested, with two other members of his party, for his opposition toPresidentBoris Yeltsin during theSeptember–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. He documents the events and his experiences during this period in his bookSquare Wheels: How Russian Democracy Got Derailed. His 2005 historical essayMarxism: Not Recommended for Teaching was criticized byMikhail Vasilyevich Popov.[6]
In 2022, Kagalitsky condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[7] In 2022, Russian authorities designated Kagarlitsky as aforeign agent.[8] On 25 July 2023, Russia'sFederal Security Service opened a criminal case against Kagarlitsky.[9] He was arrested on charges of "justifying terrorism" on 26 July 2023 according to Russian state agencies, as part of a wider crackdown on outspoken critics of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8] In December 2023, he was charged 600,000 rubles fine on this charge.[10]
In February 2024, his sentence was changed to five years' detention in aprison colony.[11]
After his arrest in 2023 theKagarlitsky Solidarity Committee was formed and signed by public and political figures around the world:Jean-Luc Mélenchon,Jeremy Corbyn,Slavoj Žižek,Nadya Tolokonnikova and many others.[12]
From 1994 to 2002, he was a senior research fellow at the Institute for Comparative Political Studies of theRussian Academy of Sciences (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 atMoscow State University, the Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences, and the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 2008,[13] Kagarlitsky was co-founder of the Russian online leftist media platform Rabkor, short for "Rabochiy Korrespondent" (Worker Correspondent). It is a Russian multimedia platform that advocates for progressive democratic views,[14] and is characterised as an intersection between academic research and political activism.[15] The platform encompasses a website, YouTube channel, and Telegram channel.
Rabkor has been influential in uniting individuals with diverse left-wing and pro-democratic perspectives.[16] Rabkor's stance on the Ukraine war shifted significantly over time. Initially, it supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the Donbas separatist movements, viewing them as progressive and anti-imperialist. However, afterRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Rabkor strongly opposed the war, criticizing Russia’s military actions and calling for anti-war agitation. This shift reflects a major ideological realignment in its editorial stance.[17] In 2022, Kagarlitsky and Rabkor convened the Anti-War Round Table of the Left Forces, which unequivocally condemned the invasion and called for anti-war agitation among Russian citizens.[18]
According to Kagarlitsky, his paternal family descends from Ilya Kagarlitsky, a successful Jewish businessman from the city ofKaharlyk in Ukraine. His mother comes from an Orthodox Christian family.[19] He has a daughter, Ksenia.[20]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Deutscher Memorial Prize 1988 | Succeeded by |
