Stalin and Proleptic Communism

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis discussion article concerns the implicit idea of proleptic communism in the thought of Joseph Stalin. This idea refers to the sense that communism is creatively present as a type of reverse causality, determining the nature of the present even though it remains to be achieved. I situate this approach to communism in terms of the theological doctrine of proleptic eschatology. Functioning as a response to the delay of the Parousia (Christ's return), this form of eschatology may also be found in Eastern Orthodox theology. In order to render explicit the implicit idea of proleptic communism in Stalin's thought, the argument requires two steps: to track the way Stalin pushes the era of communism (in distinction from socialism) into a well-nigh mythical future; to espy the contours of proleptic communism. My specific aim is to understand an unacknowledged feature of Stalin's thought, without taking sides in the perpetual polarisation over his legacy.