1917: A Hundred Years, a Hundred Covenants

• Published in: Izvestiâ Uralʹskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ 2, Gumanitarnye nauki Vol. 19; no. 3 (166); pp. 31 - 51
• Main Author: Krausz, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Ural Federal University Press 01.01.2017
• Subjects: истоки революции; историография революции 1917 г; исторический опыт русской революции; история; контрреволюция; Ленин; Октябрьская революция 1917 г; путч
• ISSN: 2227-2283; 2587-6929
• DOI: 10.15826/izv2.2017.19.3.040

This article offers a multi-aspect analysis of the phenomenon of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia from different historical and political points of view typical of historical figures (Lenin, Trotsky, Arshinov), and of later researchers, representatives of different and, at times, diametrically opposite positions. The initial thesis of the analysis was the thesis of the connection between historical science and politics, the peculiar spirit of passion, which permeated many written “stories” of the Russian revolution (from L. Trotsky and N. Berdyaev to P. Pipes and A. Rabinovich). The author examines the ideological, economic, political, and cultural origins of the revolution in detail — as Lenin saw them in his works, and as modern researchers see them today. Additionally, the author focuses on the controversy of the interpretation of the October Revolution as a simple coup, i.e. seizure of power with the use of violence. Close attention is paid to the antinomy of revolution and counter-revolution in its various manifestations, which leads the author to conclude that the counter-revolutionary regime had a great influence on the entire Russian society and on the revolutionaries too. As a conclusion, an attempt is made to re-balance the “conquests” of the Revolution in terms of their goals and opportunities.