Politics and people revolutionary russia

Sarah Badcock0521876230, 9780521876230, 9780511355653

After the collapse of the Romanov dynasty in February 1917, Russia was subject to an eight-month experiment in democracy. Sarah Badcock studies its failure through an exploration of the experiences and motivations of ordinary men and women, urban and rural, military and civilian.Using previously neglected documents from regional archives, she offers a newhistory of the revolution as experienced in the two Volga provinces ofNizhegorod and Kazan. She exposes the confusions and contradictions between political elites and ordinary people and emphasises the role of the latter as political actors. By looking beyond Petersburg and Moscow, she shows how local concerns, conditions and interests were foremost in shaping how the revolution was received and understood. She also reveals the ways in which the small group of intellectuals who dominated the high political scene of 1917 had their political alternatives circumscribed by the desires and demands of ordinary people.

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Table of contents :
COVER……Page 1
HALF-TITLE……Page 3
SERIES-TITLE……Page 4
TITLE……Page 5
COPYTIGHT……Page 6
DEDICATION……Page 7
CONTENTS……Page 9
Table……Page 10
NOTES ON THE TEXT……Page 11
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……Page 12
MAPS……Page 14
CHAPTER 1 Introduction……Page 21
A SKETCH OF NIZHEGOROD AND KAZAN……Page 25
CENTRAL POWER AND AUTHORITY IN 1917……Page 29
THE ‘DEMOCRATISATION’ OF POWER IN THE PROVINCES……Page 34
A NOTE ON THE BOOK’S STRUCTURE……Page 48
CHAPTER 2 The February revolution: whose story to believe?……Page 50
SPREADING THE NEWS……Page 51
CREATING A REVOLUTIONARY NARRATIVE……Page 58
HOW TO RESPOND?……Page 66
CONCLUSIONS……Page 75
CHAPTER 3 The Socialist Revolutionary Party and the place of party politics……Page 76
THE PLACE OF THE PARTY IN 1917……Page 77
WHO WERE THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARIES?……Page 82
PARTY LOYALTIES……Page 96
CONCLUSIONS……Page 105
CHAPTER 4 Choosing local leaders……Page 107
WHO WERE LOCAL LEADERS?……Page 108
Vladimir Genrikhovich Ganchel……Page 118
CAREER POLITICS IN 1917……Page 120
WOMEN: THE QUIET MAJORITY……Page 125
Maria Kashmenskaia……Page 129
ELECTIONS……Page 131
CONCLUSIONS……Page 141
CHAPTER 5 Talking to the people and shaping revolution……Page 143
AIMS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES……Page 147
TALKING TO THE PEOPLE……Page 150
SWEETENING THE MESSAGE……Page 157
CONCLUSIONS……Page 163
CHAPTER 6 Soldiers and their wives……Page 165
WHO WERE THE SOLDIERS?……Page 166
RAISING HELL IN TOWN AND COUNTRY……Page 169
SOLDIERS’ WIVES……Page 184
RESPONSES TO SOLDATKI GRIEVANCES……Page 194
CONCLUSIONS……Page 198
CHAPTER 7 ‘Water is yours, light is yours, the land is yours, the wood is yours’……Page 201
PRIVATELY OWNED LAND……Page 204
WOODLAND……Page 212
GOVERNING THE COUNTRYSIDE……Page 215
CONCLUSIONS……Page 229
CHAPTER 8 Feeding Russia……Page 231
ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM……Page 233
HUNGER IN TOWN AND COUNTRY……Page 238
RESISTANCE TO THE GRAIN MONOPOLY……Page 247
CONCLUSIONS……Page 256
CONCLUSIONS……Page 258
ARCHIVAL SOURCES CONSULTED……Page 264
NEWSPAPERS CONSULTED……Page 265
SECONDARY SOURCES CITED……Page 266
INDEX……Page 277
NEW STUDIES IN EUROPEAN HISTORY……Page 281