The Seeds of Totalitarianism: “The Future Is History”

Masha Gessen’s “The Future Is History” isn’t just a book about Russia — it’s a stark, unsettling lesson about the fragile scaffolding upon which democracy rests. Gessen, a Russian-American journalist, pieces together a narrative that is as personal as it is universal. It is a story of disillusionment, fear, and a return to oppressive regimes, told through the eyes of four Russians who could very well have been any of us.

The Human Face of Political Struggles

One of the most compelling aspects of Gessen’s book is its commitment to individual stories. In focusing on Zhanna, Masha, Seryozha, and Lyosha, we see the abstracted headlines of political persecution, social conservatism, and systemic corruption find their human faces.

Zhanna, for instance, represents the relentless and perilous struggle for political freedom, her father’s assassination standing as a grim testament to the costs of opposition. Masha, a feminist and LGBT activist, portrays the deeply ingrained prejudices that persist in Russian society, prejudices that extend beyond mere politics into the sphere of human rights. Seryozha, who turns his back on a lineage steeped in the Soviet elite, and Lyosha, a would-be pioneer of queer studies, both grapple with the Orwellian forms of thought control that seep into academia and intellectual spheres.

The Intellectual Landscape: A Distorted Mirror

While the four young Russians make the political personal, three intellectuals — Alexander Dugin, Marina Arutyunyan, and Lev Gudkov — provide the book’s analytical backbone. Each offers a lens to magnify Russia’s socio-political fabric.

Dugin, with his Eurasianism and calls for a “conservative revolution,” paints a Russia that is fundamentally at odds with Western democracy. His advocacy for a multipolar world may appear sophisticated, but it’s just another iteration of isolationism, dividing the world into ideological camps. Arutyunyan, on the other hand, exposes the psychological scars that decades of totalitarian rule have left on the Russian populace — a collective form of PTSD that manifests as apathy and aggression. Finally, Gudkov diagnoses the “Homo Sovieticus” phenomenon, an uncomfortable truth that suggests how an entire society can be conditioned into passivity and cynicism.

More Than Just Putin

The brilliance of Gessen’s narrative lies in her argument that Russia’s reversion to totalitarianism isn’t the byproduct of any one leader. Sure, Putin is a convenient antagonist, but to blame one man would be to oversimplify a complex web of historical, cultural, and societal factors. Gessen demonstrates that the seeds of totalitarianism were sown long before Putin arrived on the scene. The Soviet regime created an enduring culture of fear and distrust that was never eradicated — even during the fleeting democratic moment of the 1990s. The lack of a robust civil society, an independent media, and the rule of law simply made it easier for autocratic tendencies to retake the helm.

A Universal Warning

What makes “The Future Is History” profoundly unsettling is its wider applicability. The erosion of democracy isn’t unique to Russia. We are witnessing a global phenomenon where populist leaders are leveraging social division, economic strife, and a weakened media landscape to impose increasingly autocratic rule. While the book serves as a sobering analysis of Russia, it doubles as a universal cautionary tale. It warns of the ease with which democracy can slide back into totalitarianism if we are not vigilant, if we do not uphold the institutions that keep democracy alive. According to Stanford scholars, populism is a political problem that requires political solutions, such as reclaiming the rule of law and upholding democratic norms and values. They also argue that populism hybridises with local culture and politics to produce different forms, such as neo-feudalism in Hungary, religious nationalism in Poland, and technocratic populism in Czechia.

The Human Cost

Above all, Gessen’s work serves as a haunting reminder of the human cost when authoritarianism reclaims a nation. It may begin as an abstract, institutional failure, but it ends as a very real, very personal tragedy for millions of individuals who lose not just their political freedom but their right to be themselves — to live, love, and think freely.