Episode 55: Soviet History, the Left and the Crisis of Liberalism with Alex Marshall

Reimagining Soviet Georgia

In this wide reaching discussion, we sit down with historian Alex Marshall. Using his own works such as "The Caucasus under Soviet Rule" (2010) and the edited volume "Global Impacts of Russia's Great War and Revolution: The Arc of Revolution, 1917-24" (2019) as jumping off points, we discuss everything from how Soviet history is written and persistent historiographic debates, to why the Soviet past is still relevant to the left and how current political shifts influence how questions about the Soviet Union are asked and why. Framing the whole discussion is liberalism's terminal crisis, and what this means for history writing about the Soviet Union, the historical and political imagination of the left and more.

Alex Marshall is a senior lecturer of History at the University of Glasgow. His books include "The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule" (2010) and the edited volume "Global Impacts of Russia's Great War and Revolution: The Arc of Revolution, 1917-24" (2019). He is currently working on a manuscript about Soviet Second Secretary during the Cold War, Mikhail Suslov.