Fedorovism in Early Post-Soviet Russia: The Collapse of the Meta-imperial Project

ABSTRACT Nikolai Fedorov, the obscure librarian in late tsarist Russia, had created a grand theory. According to it, the humanities should be united under the aegis of the Tsar to engage in the complete mastery over nature, spreading all over the universe and the resurrection of the dead. This totalitarian and messianic aspect of fedorovism could be well incorporated into totalitarian messianism, the belief in the omnipotence of science and exploration of space – all the key elements of Soviet ideology. Consequently, the regime became ‘Fedorovian’ without cognizing it. While Gorbachev’s reforms made it possible for many Soviet intellectuals to be acquainted with Fedorov, the collapse of the regime and the country had led to profound implications for these Soviet intellectuals’ perception of Fedorov’s teachings and related theories. For some, it led to embracing the peculiar cocktail of mysticism and the occult. For others, the end of the USSR implied that Fedorov’s dream – humanity’s mastery over nature – would never be accomplished. It also implied that humanity is not very different from the other species and would disappear in the future.