Vol 16, No 2 (2017)

1917 YEAR: THE TUMULT, THE POVERTY, THE REVOLUTION? (TO UNDERSTANDING THE ESSENCE OF EVENTS)

HISTORY OF RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: ABDICATION OF TSAR OR REVOLT OF THE MASES?

Buldakov V.P.

Abstract

The article shows that in 1917 it was the internal turmoil due to which the tsarist regime collapsed so fast. The crucial role was played by the common idea of the complete incapacity of Nicholas II. The image of the weak power was reinforced by all sorts of rumours about Rasputin’s influence on the government decision-making, his intimate relations with the Empress, and finally, the actions of the authorities in “the interests of Germany.” On the eve of the revolution Russia was rife with rumors of plots against the royal family. This meant that the public opinion was ready for the violent overthrow of the existing government. The dissatisfaction with the hateful government led to a spontaneous revolt, which met no serious resistance from the authorities. The disposal of the Romanovs aroused delight in the society. At the same time, the masses demanded the immediate deliverance from all the burdens of wartime. It could not provide new power. Everywhere crowds destroyed “tsarist” emblems and other attributes of the old power. Even the Russian Orthodox Church almost unanimously turned away from its formal chief. However, very soon it became clear that the political culture of the elites was at odds with the social aspirations of the people. The masses were increasingly called for the immediate solution to all vital problems - particularly to stop the war and immediately resolve the agrarian question. The study of the psychosocial situation in February - March 1917 assures that the monarchy was not so much overthrown by the insurgent people, but collapsed due to the internal incapacity. In fact, people only made the final blow to the exhausted authorities. Hence, the rebellious potential of the masses didn’t manifest itself in full. In this regard, the subsequent attempts of the liberal and right-wing politicians to squeeze the revolutionary process into the framework of formal democracy obviously failed.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):153-173
pages 153-173 views

RUSSIA ON THE ROAD TO THE REVOLUTION

ESTIMATES OF THE MAIN ARTILLERIAN MANAGEMENT OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON THE PREPARATION OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Dubrovin M.G.

Abstract

The beginning of the 21th century was a difficult historic period for Russia. It was the reorganization of the armed forces of the country that was the primary task after the defeat in the war with Japan. The problem of the military reform in the Russian Empire in the period between the Russian-Japanese War and World War I (1905-1914) was raised both in the Russian and foreign historiography. In spite of such a wide range of issues reviewed in historiography, there are practically no studies in which there was fully considered such a complex of financial documents like Estimates of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire in 1909-1914. The estimates of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire are an important historical source and they contain information on the funds which were at the disposal of the Main Departments of the Ministry. This information can be used in the process of studying of the issues related to the funding of transformations of the Russian army on the eve of the First World War. Especially informative in this regard could be the estimates of the Main Artillery Department, for they contain information on financial resources allocated for manufacturing of firearms, cold weapon and rearmament of artillery units. These are important parts of the process of reorganization of the military assets. The author draws the readers’ attention to the estimates of the Main Artillery Department of the Ministry of War: their analysis and structure (within the main paragraphs, presented in the document), a number of conclusions on the main directions of financing: artillery, machine guns, hand guns and cold weapon, production of gunpowder and ammunition, as well as the conclusions in relation to the issue of the reorganization of the armed forces of Russia on the eve of the First World War.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):174-189
pages 174-189 views

FOODPOLICY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE IN WORLD WAR I (JULY 1914 - FEBRUARY 1917)

Os’kin M.V.

Abstract

The article deals with the food policy of Russia in the First World War period. The main purpose of this policy was to supply food and fodder to the front. But gradually an integral part of this policy became ensuring food to the entire country. In 1914-1915 the Food and Agriculture Organization of Russia was actually responsible for supplying food to the army. In 1915 there were introduced fix prices for various products, and the government had to considerer consumers. In 1916 the food situation drastically worsened, which forced the government to supply not only the front but also the rear. The authorities were trying to compensate the objective shortcomings of the state system by organizing food supply. From the beginning of the war it was the Ministry of Agriculture which was responsible for solving the food problem and supplying the front and the rear. The Ministry created a ramified organization, which was rather successful in the wartime. The organization covered all the regions of Russia, where was established the institution of commissioners. The institution had two levels: commissioners of the Ministry of Agriculture, who were responsible for supplying products to the army, and commissioners of the Special Meeting on the food business, who supplied food to the rear. Each new minister of agriculture tried to improve the structure in order to achieve the set goals. In the hard conditions of the war the Ministry of Agriculture successfully supplied food to the army, and prevented famine in the rear. Temporary shortages of food on the front were quickly overcome. The growing food crisis in 1916 posed new challenges to the food organization, which it failed to solve. The last major event was the surplus bread appropriation both for the front and the rear. Its failure triggered protests across the country. The food crisis of 1917 became thereason for the February Revolution. The food policy of the empire was a compromise and didn’t achieve all the tasks set by the supreme authority of the state.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):190-209
pages 190-209 views

EVERYDAY LIFE OF INTERNEES IN KAZAN PROVINCE IN 1917

Mironova E.V.

Abstract

In the article the situation of intemees(persons having the nationality of a hostile state) is analyzed on the example of the Kazan province in 1917. Analyzing the rights and duties of the prisoners, the author equates their status to that of administrative exiles and gives moral evaluation to the phenomenon of internment. To illustrate the particular situation of the internees in the crisis year for Russia, the author refers to the earlier period of their lives in the Kazan province - from 1914 to 1916. The forced displacement from their homes entailed separation from family, inability to find jobs in their specialty, restriction of freedom of movement, prohibition of communication with the local population. The revolutionary year of 1917 was marked, on the one hand, by general liberalization which affected, among others, the civilian prisoners. On the other hand, the economic problems in the country provoked the province residents’ anger with foreigners. Thus, because of food shortages and economic disruption, the domestic problems only worsened, the internees couldn’t choose the place of residence and the expectations of easing of the internment regime were not met. The new public authorities - Public Security Committees - treated foreigners in general and internees in particular with caution and tried to curtail their rights. This led to the fact that even the citizens of neutral states were persecuted. After the 1917 October Revolution this mistrust continued. As a result, regardless of the fact which political force was in power, the fate of the internees did not become easier, even after such a strong social upheaval as the February and October Revolutions.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):210-222
pages 210-222 views

REVOLUTION AND ART

FATES OF RUSSIAN ART IN THE YEARS OF REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR (PECULIARITIES OF A.A. RYBNIKOV’S CREATIVE WORK)

Aksenova G.V.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the fate of the intellectuals who came over to the Soviet power and participated in the revolutionary process. The analysis is carried out on the example of the life and work of artist Alexei Rybnikov (1887-1949), who came from a merchant family, initially received economic education, graduated from Kharkov school of painting and drawin-gand participated in the exhibitions of “Jack of diamonds”.There are considered the peculiarities of his pre-revolutionary art. The author notes the role of the artist in the rescue of the unique art collections in the years of his work in the People’s Commissariat for Education. There is shownhow the Revolution and the Civil war, the nationalization and requisition of artistic values changed the processes of museum construction in Russia and then the Soviet Union. The author points out that the process of nationalization of the historical and artistic values revealed one of the important issues related to the conservation of works of art - the problem of restoration. The solution to this problem was associated with the need to study the technological characteristics of the paintings by old masters, to record the physical condition of all existing works of art, to describe its technical condition. There is shown that the practical work of rescue and restoration of the old masters’ heritage, which was carried out at the State Tretyakov gallery and the Hermitage by artists, technologists, photographers and scientists (chemists and physicists), led to the discovery of new methods of paintings salvation. Russian artist Alexei Rybnikov began his career before the revolution of 1917 as a painter, book designer and muralist.Like many other representatives of this profession, at first he became an officer of the People’s Commissariat for Education, then an employee of a museum. This path of a free artist’s transformation into a serious museum employee gave the world a new way of washing paintings, and then the method of texture photography invented by him. In the history of the world restoration this method is known as “Methode Rybnikoff’.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):223-252
pages 223-252 views

«ANOTHER VIEW»: 1917 IN THE EVALUATION OF CONTEMPORANTS

1917 EVENTS IN MEMORIES OF THE SILVER AGE CREATIVE INTELLIGENTSIA

Kotelenets E.А., Sergeeva M.V.

Abstract

The article analyzes the attitude of the Russian artistic intelligentsia to the revolutionary events of 1917. There are studied the diaries and memoirs by Bunin, Berdyaev, M. Gorky, F. Stepun, Z. Gippius, P.A. Sorokin et al. Besides, the authors consider thedynamics of the intellectuals’ attitude to the revolution, from delight to complete denial. There are analyzed the reasons which encouraged the creative intelligentsia toemigrate. The Silver Age creative intelligentsia representatives’ memories are of particular importance. Memoir prose combined the personal-confessional and objective cognitive aspects. As noted by N.N. Koznova, these memoirs reflected different views of the historic past of Russia, the attempts to predict its future as well asthe thoughts about the fate of the country. Modern researchers study the Russian intelligentsia representatives’ self-discovery and self-criticism processes, but do not study the dynamics of their attitude to the revolution, taking it as a historical reality. The main purpose of the study is to see the way the creative intelligentsia of the Silver Age changed their attitude to the events of 1917. In the course of the study there was revealed the dynamic change of the creative intelligentsia attitude to the events of 1917. Schematically, this attitude can be divided into four stages. The first stage wasbreathless expectation of changes associated with the inability of the Russian government to resolve the problems related to the First World War in the short term. This expectation of change was primarily caused by the crisis due to the military events. The second stage was the enthusiasm aboutthe February Revolution. At that timethe creative intelligentsia perceived the revolution as the only vector of development and attached all hopes to it. The third stage was disappointment at the seizure of power in October 1917. The fourth and final stage was horror and aversion which became obvious already after 1917, which subsequently encouraged creative intellectuals to emigrate.
RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):253-263
pages 253-263 views

POLITICAL PROCESSES AND FIGURES OF 1917S VIEWED BY BRITISH MILITARY ATTACHE ALFRED KNOX

Porshneva O.S.

Abstract

The author offers an interpretation of Alfred Knox’s memoirs “With the Russian Army. The Diary of a Military Attache. 1914-1917” in order to reconstruct the political processes of the 1917 Russian Revolution as they were viewed by a western witness. The article considers Knox’s interpretation of the Russian Revolution’s pre-conditions, evolution and the causes of Bolshevik’s seizing power. The author analyzes the way Knox characterizes the events, describes the actors of the Revolution and political culture of the Russian people. The author shows that the main topic of Knox’s memoirs was the Russian army conditions which he considers in connection with the analysis of the military potential of Russia as an ally and the problem of inter-allied cooperation. The author discusses Knox’s explanation and description of the Russian people’s temper, his interpretation of the wide-spread Russian auto-stereotypes and his “colonial discourses”. The article shows that in Knox’s opinion Russian people’s self-reflection demonstrated establishing of the political cult of people/“ordinary people” as a source of the highest legitimacy. This was one of the bases of Bolsheviks’ legitimacy concept and their rights for power declared on behalf of “ordinary people”. The author argues that Knox’s evaluation of Russia as an ally was the main “prism of his perception” of the 1917 Russian Revolution events and Russian people’s behavior at that time. The other factors which influenced Knox’s explanations of particular revolutionary processes and Russian people’s temper were values of the British conservative political culture and traditional stereotypes about Russia and Russians shared by Knox.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):264-280
pages 264-280 views

REVOLUTION AND WORLD

INFLUENCE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION ON THE MARCH 1ST MOVEMENT IN KOREA (1917-1919)

Lebedev V.V.

Abstract

This article seeks to address the question of how the influence of the October Revolution reached Korea and to what extent it affected the outcome of the March 1st Movement. The author analyzes the documents from the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the articles of the official mouthpiece of the colonial government Maeil Sinbo from 1917 to the mid-1920s. Based on the analysis of the primary sources, the author reveals two main channels of receiving information of the revolutionary events in Russia. The first of them was the official newspaper of the Governor General. The main actions of the government of Soviet Russia covered by this newspaper aroused such great interest among the Korean public that in order to prevent an “incorrect interpretation” of these events, the Governor General had to repeatedly dedicate the front page of the newspaper to the articles directly or indirectly condemning the 1917 October Revolution. The second channel was the Korean labour migrants in Primorye. Coming to Russia in search of a better life, most “unnaturalized” migrants faced difficult economic and social conditions. The February Revolution of 1917 which opened the discussion of the future of the Korean population in the Far East became a prerequisite for the politicization of a large part of the labour migrants who witnessed the revolutionary changes in Russia. The author concludes that the ideas of the 1917 October Revolution found active response in the hearts and minds of the masses in Korea. The political and ethnic oppression intensified the social and political contradictions in the colonial Korea resulting in the nation-wide March 1st Movement of 1919 that became the turning point in the history of the world political anti-colonial movement in Asia. The national-bourgeois idea of “gaining independence through diplomacy” suffered a crushing defeat but it retained the spirit of the March 1st Movement in history and laid the foundation for a new generation of revolutionaries who played a crucial role in the events of 1945-1953.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):281-302
pages 281-302 views

CENTENARY OF 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION IN THE FOCUS OF ANTI-RUSSIAN HISTORICAL PROPAGANDA

Bagdasaryan V.E., Resnyansky S.I.

Abstract

The article analyzes the anti-Russian historical narrative focused on the 1917 events. The relevance of the theme is determined bythe wide-ranging discussion on the Russian revolution due toits anniversary. The authors solve the problem of the scientific criticism of the anti-Russian myths, focused on the assessments and interpretations of the two Russian revolutions of 1917. In the article there are shown the ideological basis and political context of the coverage of the events of 1917. The authors analyze 5 historical ideologemes, which are disseminated in the public consciousness. They also show the cognitive and political implications of adopting the respective ideology. As a typical liberal myth, the authors regard the interpretation of the October Revolution as “stolen freedom” provided by the February revolution. In the article there is shown that through the myth of “stolen freedom” the whole history of Russia is presented as a reproduction of the “totalitarian regime”. The authors prove the incorrectness of showing Bolsheviks as the initiators of the use of mass terror tactics, to which all major opposing forces resorted. There is considered the connection of the interpretation of the Revolution as the manifestation of the “Russian rebellion” with the Russophobic myth of the Russian barbarism. The authors criticize the idea of the Bolshevik imperialism, which is allegedly based on the ideology of world revolution. The article gives the deconstruction of the myth of the Bolshevik regime illegitimacy and shows the cognitive contradictions of the attempts to counter the concepts of “October Revolution” and “October Coup”. The authors reveal that the thesis of the Constituent Assembly, as an illustration of the Bolshevik illegitimacy, doesn’t correspondent to the historical facts. The authors conclude that the issues of covering the events of both the Revolutionand the Great Patriotic War are linked to the national security of Russia.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):303-322
pages 303-322 views

THE REVOLUTION IN HISTORICAL MEMORY

“NON-ANNIVERSARY” BOOK

Zverev V.V.

Abstract

The article analyzes the monograph of V.P. Buldakov and T.G. Leontieva “The War that gave birth to the revolution”, which in terms of the content and research focus destroys the prevailing historiographical myths about the Great Russian revolution. After the historical-anthropological deconstruction of the old and new concepts, the authors created a multidimensional and multifaceted research of the problem of psychology of war perception in various strata of the Russian society. The authors examine the war and the revolution as anacute manifestation of global psychopathology, to which came the Enlightenmentthat resulted in the global cataclysm. The research approaches are based on the theory of resentiment (implicitly accumulated aggression within the “progressive” society). According to the authors,psychopathology of the European world was associated with the demographic boom and enormous development of technology. The “rejuvenation” of the population led to youthful destructiveness in societies. In Russiait was associated with the persistent internal social antagonism, which was exacerbated by the heterogeneity of the cultures of the “top” and “bottom”. Before the revolution people’s minds had been mainly influencednot by “objective” indicators, but subjective ideas of the events based on everyday personal experience. To prove this thesis, the authors used a huge number of personal sources. The most interesting part of the research is connected with the reproduction of extracts from censored letters of people of different ranks and classes. The authors seek to show that the preconditions of the revolution to a small extent depended on the parties, since the dissatisfaction with what was happening was typical of all strata of society. But whereas the liberal and socialist elites came from the political practices of parliamentary democracy, the lower classes tended to the traditional political culture. This allowed the Bolsheviks to easily “seize” power. This conclusion is a fundamental point of the author’s conception of the revolution.

RUDN Journal of Russian History. 2017;16(2):323-335
pages 323-335 views

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