Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Department

Communication Studies

Abstract

In Moscow today, old Soviet pins, which had once been awarded to school kids as a rite of passage, are sold as souvenirs to tourists. These pins are an example of the many ruins of the Soviet Union that have experienced a metamorphosis: they connote an entirely new set of meanings that have supplanted their previous significance without any change in their material form. This article explores the transformation of these “cultural treasures” through the creative output of another Soviet “ruin”: the post-Stalinist philosopher, Evald Ilyenkov, whose work challenged the hegemony of Soviet Diamat, but has not been adequately studied in the West.

Comments

This article was originally published in Studia Sociologia, 56(2): 59-74. Reproduced with permission.

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