Jewish Identity and the Russian Revolution: A Case Study of Radical Activism in the Russian Empire

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golda Akhiezer
Slavic Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larysa Bilous

This article examines how the Jewish experience can change the larger picture of revolution and war in Ukraine and conventional history of “the Russian Revolution.” The case study of Kyiv's Jewish community shows that its creation as an imagined community and development in 1917 was in fact made possible by the war, which served as a catalyst for social development. The interethnic relationships in revolutionary Ukraine were built on the legacy and foundation of prewar tensions, which were reinforced by the ethnicization of politics brought by the war. The collapse of the Russian empire, the rise of nation-states, the emergence of a new order, which was neither known nor universally welcomed, pushed people to transgress old boundaries of social behavior, leading to mass violence in 1919 and 1920.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58
Author(s):  
Vaida Kamuntavičienė

This article reveals the life of the Holy Trinity Bernardine nuns in Kaunas (Kowno) in the years 1842 to 1864, the worsening situation at the convent due to the Russian occupying government’s policy, the actual closure of the convent, and the fate of the nuns after the closure of their home. The study aims to show how daily life at the convent affected the Russian administration’s decisions regarding its material provision and particular nuns living there, how they were affected by the closure of St George’s Bernardine Friary in Kaunas which used to be the main supporter of the Bernardine nuns, and relations between the Bernardine nuns and the bishop. The author analyses difficulties in community life and problems adhering to the constitution, and reveals the general mood of the nuns. The research is based on correspondence between the Bernardine nuns, the bishop and the convent visitator, memoirs, and material from visitations. This case study of the Kaunas Bernardine nuns helps us gain a better understanding of the situation of the Catholic Church in the Russian Empire.


Slavic Review ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toivo U. Raun

Historical studies of the Russian empire in upheaval in the first two decades of the twentieth century have tended to be animated by a narrow centralist bias or an equally narrow regional one. Although it is clear that the primary impulse for revolutionary situations in 1905 and 1917 resulted from events in St. Petersburg/Petrograd, a Russocentric approach to a society that was less than 50 percent Russian is surely inadequate. At the same time, studies of individual minority nationalities, however thorough, tend to view these groups in isolation. A comparative perspective, which could identify broader uniformities as well as local peculiarities, is usually lacking. In this article I shall present a synthesizing and comparative overview of the Revolution of 1905 in the Baltic Provinces and Finland. Although these areas constituted only 2 percent of the land area of the Russian empire and had less than 4 percent of its population in 1905,2 they were among the most modernized in the country, and their ethnic diversity and differing histories provide abundant material for a comparative case study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 255-262
Author(s):  
Altaf Ullah ◽  
Akhtar Rasool Bodla

Mankind is witnessed to the fact that imperialism has been exhibiting in human history in many forms since long. Subjugation was the earliest form of it where in an empire overpowered an alien society, exploited its land, raw material and subjected it to the service of the superior authority. A similar formula of exploiting the land and people of Central Asia has been assumed by the Russian Imperial power during the nineteenth century. The imperial move of Russia towards this region was considered as the ultimate consequence of a continuous process of expansion of the Russian Empire. This expansionist drive of Russia into the region has been attributed to several factors such as political, military, strategic and above all the economic factor is believed to be the dominant one. The conquest provided the Russian Tsars a golden opportunity to hold their control over a vast area of striking geographic and human diversity. The motives behind this conquest were multidimensional, interrelated and complex. During this process of expansion, the state of Khiva was the first priority of the Russian Empire while materializing their future programme and policies. Though the Empire had already attempted to occupy the state, yet it could not get success prior to 1873. The importance of Khiva cannot be ignored while dealing with the question of Russian conquest of Central Asia in general and Khiva in particular.


Author(s):  
Т. Rocchi

The first outbreak of mass political terrorism in the 20th century took place in the Russian Empire, especially in the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. However, these events have not received proper attention in the historical memory of Russia and Europe and in the history of world terrorism. The author examines the factors enabling the continued existence of a huge “blank spot” in the memory of Russia and the world. The under-evaluation of the significance of terrorism in the first decade of the 20th century is closely connected with the under-evaluation of the First Russian Revolution as an independent revolution. In the Soviet Union, historians emphasized that the Revolution of 1905-1907 was “the dress rehearsal” for the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917. In post-Soviet Russia, many historians and publicists consider the Revolution of 1905-1907 “the dress rehearsal” for the “Golgotha” of 1917. There is a strong tendency to idealize the autocracy and right-wing movements and to demonize socialists and liberals. Many solid monographs and articles about terrorism are now being published in Russia. However, we still do not have exhaustive investigations covering the entire period of terrorism between 1866 (attempted assassination of Tsar Alexander II on April 4, 1866 by the revolutionary D.V. Karakozov) and 1911, examining the ideologies and tactics of different parties and movements, the government’s policies on political crimes, the relationships of society, especially among different political movements, to terrorism, and the differences between terrorism and other types of mass violence such as mass protest movements of different strata of the population and criminal violence. Only through a painstaking and multi-sided analysis of the terrorist phenomenon in the European-wide historical context we can determine the place of terrorism in the historical memory of Russia and Europe.


2020 ◽  
pp. 84-102
Author(s):  
О. Сарнацький

The actions of the juridicalbranch of power of the autocracyin relationto the activity of oppositional political parties founded at the end of the 19-th – beginning of the 20-th centuries in Russian Empire and headed liberatoryand national-liberatorymovement in the country, whichwere aimed at ceaseof their politicalactivity and occurred simultaneously with administrative repressions over political opponents of the existing system.After all, the law in force in the empire until October 1905 did not allow the existence and activity of any political partiesin the country. In the conditions of the lawfulness proclaimed by tsarism (even with all its limitations), the authorities were forced to resort to court assistance. The accusatory verdict was the most severe punishment.During the First Russian Revolution, which began at this time, the judiciary in every way promoted the local administrative authorities in defining its properties of the committed «criminal acts» and punishing the perpetrators. More or less «condescending» sentences of judges against representatives of the revolutionary and national liberation movements in 1905 forced the tsarist judiciary to review such a judicial procedure and strengthen its harshness on defendants who committed crimes against the authorities. Subsequently, the Ministry of Justice issued a variety of secret circulars, aimed at intensifying the struggle of the courts against the revolutionary movement, and the court machine of the tsar began to increase pressure. The law of March 18, 1906, restricted the publicity of the court and the timeframe for hearing cases, abolished the requirement to record witnesses’ statements in the minutes and to motivate sentences. On May 11, 1906, the Ministry of Justice issued a circular to the courts No. 2015, which stated that cases of the most serious state crimes should be heard in the special presence of the court chamber behind closed doors. It consisted of a provincial nobleman, a mayor, and state representatives. The judicial power of the autocracy was actively “working”, punishing representatives and supporters of Ukrainian political parties when their activities were related to elections to the Second State Duma. At the same time, the royal court severely punished representatives of Ukrainian political parties, even if they were considered underage by the laws of the Russian Empire, without even considering some of them as guilty.


2019 ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
Павел Евгеньевич Липовецкий

Статья посвящена истории становления организаций либерального духовенства в годы Первой русской революции (1905-1907) Политический кризис, начавшийся в Российской империи в 1905 г., поставил духовенство Православной Церкви перед необходимостью определить свою позицию по ряду общественных вопросов. Значительная часть клириков высказала симпатии либеральному направлению в политике. Наиболее крупные организации либерального духовенства сложились в Санкт-Петербурге и Москве. Сменившая несколько названий, столичная организация, выросшая из группы 32-х пастырей, в определённой степени пользовались поддержкой правящего архиерея - митр. Антония (Вадковского). Клирики имели возможность высказываться на собраниях и со страниц периодической печати. В свою очередь представители московского духовенства объединились на базе «Общества любителей духовного просвещения». Однако вскоре члены Общества вступили в конфликт с митр. Владимиром (Богоявленским), что заставило их искать поддержки у партии «Союз 17 октября». Это привело к созданию независимой от церковного начальства организации, получившей название «Вероисповедная комиссия при Союзе 17 октября». В программном отношении организации либерального духовенства схожи между собой. Первоначальной темой обсуждения в них были вопросы церковного преобразования, но позднее общественные темы приобрели больший вес. В провинции на данный момент объединений либерального духовенства выявить не удалось. Тем не менее прослеживается деятельность отдельных клириков. The article is devoted to the history of formation of liberal clergy organizations in the years of the First Russian revolution (1905-1907) The political crisis which began in the Russian Empire in 1905 made the Orthodox clergy to define their position on a number of social questions. A large proportion of the clergy expressed sympathy for the liberal trend in politics. The largest organisations of liberal clergy emerged in St Petersburg and Moscow. The organisation in the capital, which had grown out of a group of 32 pastors, had the support of the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky), to a certain extent. The clerics were able to speak out at meetings and in the press. Representatives of the Moscow clergy in their turn united on the basis of the 'Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment'. However, members of the Society soon came into conflict with Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky), which compelled them to seek support from the October 17th Union party. This led to the creation of an organization independent of church authorities called the Faith-Based Commission under the October 17th Union. In programmatic terms, the liberal clergy organizations were similar. Their initial topic of discussion was ecclesiastical conversion, but later social topics acquired greater weight. No liberal clergy associations could be traced in the provinces at present. Nevertheless, the activities of individual clerics can be traced.


Author(s):  
Hannah Holtschneider

This chapter introduces Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches and maps his migration from the Lithuanian part of the Russian Empire to East Prussia, Berlin and then Britain, arriving in Edinburgh in early 1919. His educational, linguistic and cultural voyage across Europe presents the context in which to analyse his religious ideology and outlook on life in a secular society. Daiches presented both an opportunity and a challenge for the Chief Rabbis under whose authority he served in various congregations across the United Kingdom. Daiches possessed the learning of an Eastern European rabbi and the eloquence of an English clergyman, and used these advantages at once to forge a bridge between residents and immigrants and to challenge the hegemony of the Chief Rabbi which he saw as ineffective outwith London’s United Synagogue. Thus, Daiches emerges as a case study that illustrates well the key issues in the debates about the bundling of religious authority in the Chief Rabbi and his court, the frustrations of immigrant rabbis whose religious training far surpassed that of the English Jewish ministers who excelled in preaching, and knowledge of civil law, but were embarrassed by their lack of halakhic competence.


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