Politics and the People in Revolutionary Russia
A Provincial History

An analysis of Russian democracy's collapse in 1917 through the experiences of ordinary people.

Sarah Badcock (Author)

9780521876230, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 October 2007

282 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.55 kg

The volume's greatest contribution is its author's fearless willingness to step outside prevailing narratives to identify some of the principal underlying elements of Russia's political experience during 1917. In a sense, it outlines Russia's political culture without, remarkably, resorting to customary invidious characterizations. It can serve as a guideline for new ways of examining the revolutionary experience. Still it cannot supplant historical narrative. After all, it chooses the year 1917 for its explorations because that year experienced vast historical events. Without the broader narrative, what would it be about? Dig deeper, she seems to say, and perhaps we will better understand and even alter the narrative.' Michael Melancon, Slavic Review

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, this text offers a history of the revolution as experienced in the two Volga provinces of Nizhegorod and Kazan. Badcock 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.

1. Introduction
2. The February Revolution: whose story to believe?
3. The Socialist Revolutionary Party, and the place of party politics
4. Choosing local leaders
5. Talking to the people and shaping Revolution
6. Soldiers and their wives
7. 'Water is yours, light is yours, the land is yours, the wood is yours'
8. Feeding Russia
Conclusions
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Russian Revolution [HBTV4], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]