Proclamations of the Tambov uprising: texts and people

Abstract

Introduction. The paper analyzes the content of proclamations of the Tambov uprising during the period of 1920–1921. The role of appeals in the ideological confrontation between the communist regime and the insurgent movement is revealed.Materials and methods. The ideological orientation, the persuasiveness of the arguments, the language intelligibility and the style of presentation were established based on studying leaflet texts. Opponents invested different meanings in the revolutionary agitation rhetoric and articulated different goals of the armed struggle. Through the printed word, both of them sought not only to prove their adherence to the ideals of the revolution, but to mobilize their supporters for decisive action in order to save it.Results. The antithesis of the assertion of Soviet propaganda about the threat of a return to the old order was the reality of communist violence against rural workers. The text of the anti-government leaflets contained criticism of the Bolsheviks food policy and condemnation of the God-fighting essence of the communist government. The effectiveness of printed agitation by the opponents was limited by the technical capabilities of the insurgents and the illiteracy of most of the local residents. The anti-Semitic character of the handwritten appeals was evidence of the peasants’ reaction to the Jewish dominance in the organs of communist power.Conclusion. The comparison of the texts of the opponents' proclamations leads to the conclusion that both of them called their reader to a decisive struggle in the name of the revolution, but the meaning of its ideals was understood in different ways. Another feature of such proclamations was that their authors and addressees were representatives of the revolutionary generation, which determined their fate, but split them on different sides of the front.