Time and Revolution - by Stephen E Hanson (Paperback)

About the Book

Time and Revolution: Marxism and the Design of Soviet Institutions

Book Synopsis

Stephen Hanson traces the influence of the Marxist conception of time in Soviet politics from Lenin to Gorbachev. He argues that the history of Marxism and Leninism reveals an unsuccessful revolutionary effort to reorder the human relationship with time and that this reorganization had a direct impact on the design of the central political, socioeconomic, and cultural institutions of the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991. According to Hanson, westerners tend to envision time as both rational and inexorable. In a system in which 'time is money, ' the clock dominates workers. Marx, however, believed that communist workers would be freed of the artificial distinction between leisure time and work time. As a result, they would be able to surpass capitalist production levels and ultimately control time itself. Hanson reveals the distinctive imprint of this philosophy on the formation and development of Soviet institutions, arguing that the breakdown of Gorbachev's perestroika and the resulting collapse of the Soviet Union demonstrate the failure of the idea.

Review Quotes

[S]hows profound originality which makes his contribution all the more important.

Ilya Prizel, Johns Hopkins University

ÝS¨hows profound originality which makes his contribution all the more important.

Ilya Prizel, Johns Hopkins University

"[S]hows profound originality which makes his contribution all the more important.

Ilya Prizel, Johns Hopkins University"

A stimulating book which should enjoy a wide readership.

"Slavic Review"

It is encouraging to see the emergence of a talented new scholar in the fields of political science and Russian studies.

"American Political Science Review"

About the Author

Stephen E. Hanson, assistant professor of political science at the University of Washington, is coeditor of Can Europe Work?: Germany and the Reconstruction of Post-Communist Societies.