Defenders of the Motherland studies how the most powerful social groups in tsarist Russia reacted to the challenges posed by the Russian Revolutions of 1917. Arguing that elite groups-especially nobles, landowners, and officers-played an important role in these events, Matthew Rendle shows how the alienation of tsarist elites from the tsar during the First World War and their support for the new Provisional Government in February 1917 secured the initial success of the revolution.
Elites engaged actively with revolutionary politics, serving in the government and forming unions to promote their interests and gather wider support. In doing so, they fostered fears of counter-revolution amongst the lower social classes, radicalizing the popular mood and paving the way for the Bolsheviks.
Although increasingly disillusioned with events, elites were not solely counter-revolutionary and were far from united. A poorly-supported military revolt in August 1917 demonstrated different aspirations for the future, whilst as many served the Bolshevik regime after October 1917 as opposed it. The divisions that had existed prior to 1917, exacerbated by the revolution, consequently undermined the White armies' opposition to Bolshevism during Russia's civil war. Nevertheless, the Bolsheviks' fear of "class enemies" was endemic, and their obsession with removing the threat that former elites posed laid the foundations of the violent and repressive Soviet regime

This book explores the global impact of the Russian Revolution, arguably the most influential revolution of the modern age. It explores how the Revolution influenced political movements on the radical Left and Right across the world and asks whether the Russian Revolution remains relevant today. In Part one, four leading historians debate whether or not the Russian Revolution’s legacy endures today. Part two presents examples of how the Revolution inspired political movements across the world, from Latin America and East Asia, to Western Europe and the Soviet Union. The Revolution inspired both sides of the political spectrum—from anarchists, and leftist radicals who fought for a new socialist reality and dreamed of world revolution, to those who on the far Right who tried to stop them. Part three, an interview with the historian S. A. Smith, gives a personal account of how the Revolution influenced a scholar and his work. This volume shows the complexity of the Russian Revolution in today’s political world. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Revolutionary Russia.

This book explores the global impact of the Russian Revolution, arguably the most influential revolution of the modern age. It explores how the Revolution influenced political movements on the radical Left and Right across the world and asks whether the Russian Revolution remains relevant today. In Part one, four leading historians debate whether or not the Russian Revolution's legacy endures today. Part two presents examples of how the Revolution inspired political movements across the world, from Latin America and East Asia, to Western Europe and the Soviet Union. The Revolution inspired both sides of the political spectrum-from anarchists, and leftist radicals who fought for a new socialist reality and dreamed of world revolution, to those who on the far Right who tried to stop them. Part three, an interview with the historian S. A. Smith, gives a personal account of how the Revolution influenced a scholar and his work. This volume shows the complexity of the Russian Revolution in today's political world. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Revolutionary Russia.

The State versus The People provides the first detailed account of the role of revolutionary justice in the early Soviet state. Law has often been dismissed by historians as either unimportant after the October Revolution amid the violence and chaos of civil war, or, in the absence of written codes and independent judges, little more than another means of violence alongside the secret police (Cheka). This is particularly true of the most revolutionary aspect of the new justice system, revolutionary tribunals-courts inspired by the French Revolution and established to target counter-revolutionary enemies. Yet the evidence put forward in this book paints a more complex picture. The Bolsheviks invested a great deal of effort and scarce resources in building an extensive system of tribunals that spread across the country and operated within the military and the transport network. At their peak, hundreds of tribunals heard hundreds of thousands of cases every year. Not all, though, ended in harsh sentences: some were dismissed through lack of evidence; others given a wide range of sentences; and others still, suspended sentences. Instances of early release and amnesty were also common. This book argues that law played a distinct and multi-faceted role for the Bolsheviks. Tribunals, in particular, stood at the intersection between law and violence, offering various advantages to the Bolsheviks by strengthening state control, providing a more effective means of educating the population about counter-revolution, and enabling a more flexible approach to punishing the state's enemies. All of this challenges traditional understandings of the early Soviet state, adding to our knowledge of the civil war and, ultimately, how the Bolsheviks held on to power.