{"id":175,"date":"2014-12-14T00:04:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T00:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/?page_id=175"},"modified":"2015-02-08T14:20:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T14:20:34","slug":"natascha-drubek","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/lumpenproletariat\/natascha-drubek\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumpenproletariat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian Class Mobility: Mother Responsible for Lumpenproletariat Revolution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Natascha Drubek,\u00a0University of Regensburg<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVagabonds, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, pimps, porters, tinkers and beggars\u201d\u00a0 were described by\u00a0 Marx as the\u00a0Lumpenproletariat<\/em>.\u00a0 This d\u00e9class\u00e9 layer of society was of no use to the revolutionary struggle, whereas the\u00a0 Russian anarchist Bakunin believed that the revolutionary forces are to be found exactly among these “rags” of society. In Russian culture these characters \u201cwith dubious means of subsistence and of dubious origin\u201d\u00a0 occupy an interesting place, and how they are represented and understood depends on\u00a0political ideas and the current zeitgeist.<\/p>\n

\"Elena1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Elena2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Zviagintsev\u2019s film\u00a0Elena<\/em>\u00a0we see how in contemporary Russia a very unrevolutionary member of the\u00a0Lumpenproletariat<\/em>\u00a0is able to achieve, following an untimely death, and thanks to his mother, Elena,\u00a0a substantial wealth re-distribution inside their extended family.<\/p>\n

Elena<\/em>\u00a0at the same time tells an intimate and sad story about an elderly man and woman who\u2014even though married\u2014find themselves on opposite sides of the new Russian class system. The man owns a well appointed apartment in the centre of Moscow and we slowly discover that the woman we see cleaning and cooking for him is his former nurse, who probably comes from\u00a0 a peasant background. The viewer feels a tension between the couple, expressed mainly through the dissecting long shots of Krichman\u2019s\u00a0 camera. The viewer would like to see the class difference between them diminished, so the two partners would be more equal. While we are wondering how this could be achieved we are introduced, following a journey to a second, totally different space, to where the\u00a0lumpen<\/em>\u00a0live. We understand that Elena has a second family life, separated from her marriage not only by space as the camera accompanies her when she leaves her husband to take the\u00a0elektrichka<\/em>\u00a0train and delve into the\u00a0truschoby<\/em>\u00a0blocks of Moscow suburbs, but by architecture, which highlights the economical, aesthetic, and maybe even moral barrier between her two families.<\/p>\n

\"Elena3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Elena4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the death of the man, his wealth is taken away from his family (his daughter) and the poor in-laws move into his apartment. The takeover of the property is shown as a highly unsatisfying fulfillment of Bakunin\u2019s dream of a\u00a0lumpen<\/em>\u00a0revolution.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Elena<\/em>\u00a0no real revolution takes place\u2014the surprising development of the film\u2019s events\u00a0show either the strength of blood ties or a darwinist survival of the fittest: the rich man\u2019s daughter refuses to have children whereas Elena\u2019s\u00a0lumpen<\/em>\u00a0offspring reproduce continuously.\u00a0According to this logic the lower class family will move into the bigger apartment\u2014just as it was in the case of\u00a0uplotnenie<\/em>\u00a0in early Soviet times.<\/p>\n

\"Elena<\/a><\/p>\n

Only here it is not the (Bolshevik) State but Mother who makes this happen. Stately Elena without a doubt is Mother Earth,\u00a0rodina-mat\u2019,<\/em>\u00a0and a powerful cook raised in a society where \u201cevery\u00a0cook\u00a0shall govern” (Lenin). Zviagintsev\u2019s analysis of the ambivalent impact of gendered images purveying national identity is devastating and demands from the plot that Elena becomes a killer.\u00a0Elena<\/em>\u00a0is a fearful allegory of Mother Russia\u2019s tender care and gentle poisoning.<\/p>\n

June 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian Class Mobility: Mother Responsible for Lumpenproletariat Revolution? Natascha Drubek,\u00a0University of Regensburg \u201cVagabonds, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, pimps, porters, tinkers and beggars\u201d\u00a0 were described by\u00a0 Marx as the\u00a0Lumpenproletariat.\u00a0 This d\u00e9class\u00e9 layer of society was of no use to the revolutionary struggle, whereas the\u00a0 Russian anarchist Bakunin believed that the revolutionary forces are to be found exactly … Continue reading Lumpenproletariat<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"parent":116,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-175","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitaldomostroi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}