"Novyi Satirikon," 1914-1918: The Patriotic Laughter of the Russian Liberal Intelligentsia during the First World War and the Revolution

Abstract

SEER, Vol.84, No.4, October 2006 Novyi Satirikon, I9I4-I9I8: The Patriotic Laughter of the Russian Liberal Intelligentsia during the First World War and the Revolution LESLEY MILNE THE subject of 'the intelligentsiaand the Revolution' has always been central to debates on Russian culture of the I920S, with ramifications that extend throughout the subsequent decades of the Soviet regime. Patriotism plays a key but problematic role in the response by the Russian liberal intelligentsiato the Revolution. It is key because it can be viewed as an important determiningfactor. It was rendered problematic , however, because the concept of Russian patriotismwas not consonant with the socialist internationalistideology of the ultimate victorsin the revolutionarystruggle,the Bolshevikpartythat concluded a separatepeace with Germanyand took Russia out of the FirstWorld War in springI9I8. In its time, I908 to i9i8, Satirikon/Nozyi Satirikon was the foremost satiricaljournal in Russia, widely read across a broad spectrumof educated,politicallyawaresociety.As ajournal of humour and satire,it used laughterboth to entertainand to attack,thusillumining the daily life of its readers and expressingtheir political concerns. Dominant among these concernswas the patrioticideal of dismantling the tsaristautocracyand transformingRussia into a liberaldemocratic state, a project that can be summed up as 'savingRussia'. When war brokeout in the summerof 19I4, the patrioticprojectof 'savingRussia' took on a drastic new dimension. The aim of the present study is to approach the theme of 'the intelligentsiaand the Revolution' through the concept of 'savingRussia' as expressedin thejournal NovyiSatirikon and its patriotic stance during the FirstWorld War. When it started life in I908 Satirikon quickly established itself as a barometer of educated public opinion. Particularlypopular with the Lesley Milne is Professor in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham. The material for this article was collected in Moscow on a research visit funded by the British Academy, to which I should like to express my gratitude. I should also like to thank Violetta Gudkova, who helped me locate certain key numbers of the journal. 640 NOVYI SATIRIKON, 19I4-I9I8 youth studentsin the universitiesand seniorschools its reach also stretched to deputies in the State Duma and Ministers and Senators in the State Council, where it would be quoted in debates.' In June 1913 a financial dispute between its publisher and a group of its core contributorsled to a walk-outby the latter,who founded a newjournal on co-operative principles and gave it the name NovyiSatirikon. For a period, until spring I914, there were two competing 'Satirikons'on tlhe market,but in its firstissue the 'new'journal had affirmedthat the line of legitimateinheritancehad passedfrom Satirikon to NogyiSatirikon, and the readershipduly confirmedthis assessmentof affairsby transferring loyalty to this 'new' Satirikon, which flourished, while its rival, st;ill bearing the original title, failed.2 Thus the 'brand name' of Satirikon encompassesalsoNovyiSatirikon, which ran until August I9I8, when the Bolshevikgovernment closed it down. Although it was published over only one decade, in the annals of Russian satiricaljournalism in the twentieth century the title Satirikon was to become a legend, a benchmark ,a model. Severalattemptswere made to reviveit: in emigration, in Parisin 193I and in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1951; again in post-Soviet Moscow in 1997. These attempts at revival, although all short-lived, indicate the resonance of thejournal's name and the importanceof its legacy for Russian intellectualculture. NovyiSatirikon had adopted an aggressively anti-Bolshevik stance, and its editor,ArkadiiAverchenko,went into emigration,as did several of its core contributors.This created obvious complications for any assessmentof the journal by Soviet scholars,but in the I960s the area began to open up for study and some of the works of those who had emigrated were republished.3This process culminated in I968 when Liudmila Evstigneeva devoted a book to the journal and its poet;s.4 Although Evstigneeva was operating within a clearly marked Soviet ideological framework,she nonetheless provided an extremely useful overview and communicated a genuine appreciation. A book on Russian satirical literature of the early twentieth century, which she publishedin I977 under the name of Spiridonova,contained an extensive section on Satirikon/Novyi Satirikon, and restatedher earlierviews.5 Finallyin I999, when the literatureof the Russianemigrationhad been fully integrated into the cultural heritage, Spiridonova took her...