A compendium of original essays and contemporary viewpoints on the 1917 Revolution
The Russian revolution of 1917 reverberated throughout an empire that covered one-sixth of the world. It altered the geo-political landscape of not only Eurasia, but of the entire globe. The impact of this immense event is still felt in the present day. The historiography of the last two decades has challenged conceptions of the 1917 revolution as a monolithic entity— the causes and meanings of revolution are many, as is reflected in contemporary scholarship on the subject.
A Companion to the Russian Revolution offers more than thirty original essays, written by a team of respected scholars and historians of 20th century Russian history. Presenting a wide range of contemporary perspectives, the Companion discusses topics including the dynamics of violence in war and revolution, Russian political parties, the transformation of the Orthodox church, Bolshevism, Liberalism, and more. Although primarily focused on 1917 itself, and the singular Revolutionary experience in that year, this book also explores time-periods such as the First Russian Revolution, early Soviet government, the Civil War period, and even into the 1920’s.
- Presents a wide range of original essays that discuss
- Brings together in-depth coverage of political history, party history, cultural history, and new social approaches
- Explores the long-range causes, influence on early Soviet culture, and global after-life of the Russian Revolution
- Offers broadly-conceived, contemporary views of the revolution largely based on the author’s original research
- Links Russian revolutions to Russian Civil Wars as concepts
A Companion to the Russian Revolution is an important addition to modern scholarship on the subject, and a valuable resource for those interested in Russian, Late Imperial, or Soviet history as well as anyone interested in Revolution as a global phenomenon.
Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors ix
Editor’s Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: The Russian Revolution at 100 1
Daniel Orlovsky
Part I Signs, Near and Far 5
1 Long‐Term Causes of the Russian Revolution 7
Peter Waldron
2 The First Russian Revolution, 1890–1914 17
Frank Wcislo
3 Russia at War: War as Revolution, Revolution as War 31
Christopher J. Read
4 Support for the Regime and Right-Wing Reform Plans, Late 1916–Early 1917 43
Mikhail N. Loukianov
Part II The February Revolution 51
5 The Duma Committee, the Provisional Government, and the Birth of ‘Triple Power’ in the February Revolution 53
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
6 The Practice of Power in 1917 69
Ian D. Thatcher
7 The Duma Revolution 77
A.B. Nikolaev
8 Dynamics of Violence, 1914–17 85
V.P. Buldakov
9 Russian Political Parties in the Russian Revolution of 1917–18 95
Lutz Häfner and Hannu Immonen
10 Workers’ Control and the ‘Workers’ Constitution,’ the Fabzavkoms and Trade Unions in 1917 105
Nikolai V. Mikhailov
11 Peasant Dreams and Aspirations in the Russian Revolution 125
Aaron Retish
12 Liberalism 137
Stephen F. Williams
13 Military Revolution and War Experience 149
Laurie Stoff
14 Freedom and Culture: The Role of the Russian Artistic and Literary World in 1917 163
Ben Hellman and Tomi Huttunen
15 Political Tradition, Revolutionary Symbols, and the Language of the 1917 Revolution 173
Boris Kolonitskii
16 Counter‐Revolution and the Tsarist Elite 187
Matthew Rendle
17 Revolution in the Borderlands: The Case of Central Asia in a Comparative Perspective 197
Marco Buttino
18 The Nationality Question: Finnish Activism and the Russian Revolution, 1899–1919 211
Aleksi Mainio
19 Finland in 1917 221
Hannu Immonen
20 Part I: War and the ‘Russian’ Revolutions 229
Mark von Hagen
20 Part II: Revolution as War: The Western Borderlands Post‐October 247
Mark von Hagen
21 1917 in the Provinces 263
Sarah Badcock
22 Religion and Revolution: The Russian Orthodox Church Transformed 277
Gregory L. Freeze
23 Gender and the Russian Revolution 287
Elizabeth White
24 Revolution and Foreign Policy 297
Michael Hughes
25 Law, Empire, and Revolution 307
William E. Pomeranz
Part III October and Civil Wars 317
26 The Bolsheviks and Their Message in 1917 319
Lars T. Lih
27 A Soviet Government? 331
Geoffrey Swain
28 The Political Economy of War Communism 341
Erik C. Landis
29 The Civil Wars 357
Jonathan D. Smele
30 Early Soviet Culture: Education, Science, and Proletkult 369
Murray Frame
31 The Jews in the Revolution 377
Michael C. Hickey
32 Prospects for Transformation in the Early 1920s 389
Tracy McDonald
33 Revolution and Memory 399
Frederick C. Corney
34 Archiving Russia’s Revolutions 413
William G. Rosenberg
Bibliography 423
Index 445
About the Author :
Daniel Orlovsky was born in Chicago and educated at Harvard (AB, AM PH.D.). He studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA while in the US Marine Corps. At Southern Methodist University since 1976, he served as Department Chair, (1986 97) and Director of the SMU in Oxford summer school at University College, Oxford (1994 present). He has been Visiting Professor of History at UC Berkeley, Stanford, and the University of Texas at Austin and continues to make frequent research trips to Russia and Helsinki, Finland. His research interests include the Russian Provisional Government, bureaucracy, the role of white-collar workers/lower middle strata in Russian and Soviet history, and the intersection of institutions, society and politics across the divide of the Russian Revolution.
