An original but not very successful attempt to illuminate the
political culture of the Russian Revolution by looking at its
language and symbols. The book purports to be about "the ways in
which language was used to define identities and create new
meanings in the politics of 1917," but much of the text relates to
subjects only peripherally connected with this definition. The
initial chapter, for example, deals with the ways in which the tsar
was undermined by the rumors that the tsarina was pro-German, or
that Rasputin was running the government, or that Russian defeats
were caused by treason in high places. Similarly, the semireligious
cult of revolutionary leaders, first Kerensky, and then Lenin and
Kornilov, seems only marginally a linguistic Phenomenon. More
relevant is the discussion of what was meant by "class." Figes
(History/Birkbeck Coll., England; A People's Tragedy: The Russian
Revolution 1891-1924, 1997) and Kolonitskii (a researcher at the
Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg)
argue that the concept of class didn't exist until it was defined
by language. There was instead a strong sense of Russians as
"laboring people" united by a common sense of injustice and
exclusion from society. The authors argue convincingly that class
was a term flexible enough to unite diverse groups in a common
struggle for human rights. They also believe that the terminology
of revolution was foreign to most peasants but that they were not
monarchists. The authors' most original argument may be that the
peasantry shared a strong belief in "socialism," and that hatred of
the bourgeoisie had a "strange mass appeal." They conclude that the
symbolic language of revolution came from the socialists, and
"theirs was not a discourse of compromise." Perhaps that helps us
explain, they suggest, why the Russian Revolution was so violent.
Not a had idea, but still a theme in search of evidence. (Kirkus
Reviews)
This is the first book in any language to offer a comprehensive
analysis of the political culture of the Russian Revolution.
Orlando Figes and Boris Kolonitskii examine the diverse ways that
language and other symbols - including flags and emblems, public
rituals, songs, and codes of dress - were used to identify
competing sides and to create new meanings in the political
struggles of 1917. The Revolution was in many ways a battle to
control these systems of symbolic meaning, the authors find. The
party or faction that could master the complexities of the lexicon
of the revolution was well on its way to mastering the revolution
itself. The book explores how key words and symbols took on
different meanings in various social and political contexts.
'Democracy', 'the people', or 'the working class', for example,
could define a wide range of identities and moral worlds in 1917.
In addition to such ambiguities, cultural tensions further
complicated the revolutionary struggles. Figes and Kolonitskii
consider the fundamental clash between the Western political
discourse of the socialist parties and the traditional political
culture of the Russian masses. They show how the particular
conditions and perceptions that coloured Russian politics in 1917
led to the emergence of the cult of the revolutionary leader and
the culture of the Terror. Orlando Figes was Professor of History
at Birkbeck College, London. He is the author of 'Peasant Russia',
'Civil War' and 'A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution
1891-1924'. Boris Kolonitskii was Senior Researcher at the
Institute of History of the Academcy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
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