Moscow conference report I: the re-emergence of Soviet sociology.

The article presents information about the re-emergence of Russian sociology. The revolutionary tendency within the society contains a strong nihilistic strand. Nihilism as a political position considers necessary the destruction rather than transformation of existing structures. Those who may be classified as bourgeois-liberals are divided on the issue of the system's transformability: some want a peaceful transition to a more efficient economy and democratic polity by continuing the gradual transformation of the system to mould it into a better, more democratic socialist society. Others, with a more capitalist orientation, would prefer a return to the pre-Bolshevik period. There is also a conservative or reactionary tendency. This contains two strands one of which is quite familiar, namely a return to the firm disciplinarian state ruled by the strong leader. The other, but most unlikely possibility, is the restoration of some form of monarchical rule, beginning innocuously by giving cities their pre-revolutionary names. Ironically, this alternative is lent credibility by the growth in nationalism both in the Russian republic and in the other republics of the union.