Russian Historical Anarchism Reconsidered: Crossroads of Modernism, Political Imagination, and Cultural Theory

This paper offers a comprehensive re-evaluation of Russian historical anarchism, interpreting it not as a marginal ideological strain but as a metaphysical and aesthetic movement, the intensity of which exceeds the constraints of conventional political theory. Tracing its genealogy from Bakunin to the Gordin brothers, and engaging with figures as diverse as Tolstoy, Bely, and Malevich, the study reveals a continuum between ontological rebellion, symbolic sabotage, and the aesthetic production of radical form. Russian anarchism is shown to operate not merely as political refusal but as a cultural and semiotic matrix that undercuts the metaphysics of order and representation. From the radical language of Zaum’ to cosmo-linguistic utopianism, this article delineates anarchism as a modality of epistemic destitution and ontological subversion. Interfacing with Western theories of deconstruction, biopower, and destituent potentiality, the Russian archive reveals anarchism’s deeper vocation: not revolution, but refusal of finality. The article thus argues for the centrality of Russian anarchist imaginaries in reconfiguring global modernity while also conceptualising post-statist futures. Rather than a political appendix, Russian anarchism appears as a radical negative anthropology – a cultural force that enacts freedom precisely where language, subjectivity, and structure disaggregate.