Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia

A caregully researched study of 100 years of the Russian-Jewish revolutionary history.

Erich Haberer (Author)

9780521528498, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 August 2004

364 pages, 3 tables
22.9 x 15.4 x 2.3 cm, 0.575 kg

"This book is an important advance in our understanding of the Russian revolutionary movement and the role of Jews in it. ...all students of the Russian revolutionary movement and of Russian Jewish history will learn a great deal from this volume." Zvi Gitelman, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism

Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia is a carefully researched study of 100 years of Russian-Jewish revolutionary history, exploring the origins and characteristics of Jewish participation in Russian revolutionary politics between 1790 and 1890. Focusing sharply on Jewish motivations and the qualities of Russian Jewish activists, it drastically reverses the traditional historiographical trend of de-Judaising and minimising the role of Jews who joined Russian revolutionary circles, especially during the movement's Populist phase of the 1870s and 1880s. By the same token, it challenges many clichés and assumptions which have governed conventional wisdom on the radical behaviour of so-called assimilationist 'non-Jewish Jews'. This revisionist approach restores a neglected yet important group of Jews to their rightful place in the historical experience of the Jewish people in Russia.

Preface. 1. Introduction: The beginnings of Russian Jewish radicalism, 1790–1868
Part I. The Chaikovskii Circles: Jewish Radicals in the Formative Stage of Revolutionary Populism: 2. Jewish student activists in St Petersburg
3. Chaikhovskyist Jews in Moscow, Odessa, and Kiev
4. The rebellious Jewish youth of Vilna
5. Socialist Jews and Russian populism
Part II. The Land and Freedom Party: Jews and the Politicisation of Revolutionary Populism, 1875–1879: 6. Jewish 'generals of revolution'
7. The heresy of political terrorism
Part III. The Party of the People's Will: Jewish Terrorists of Socialist Conviction, 1879–1887: 8. Motives of revolution
9. Technicians of terrorism
10. The pogroms of 1881–1882
11. Epigones and pioneers
12. Conclusion: Haskalah and the socialist promise of salvation
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]