Teaching & Learning Guide for: Men, Women and an Integrated History of the Russian Revolutionary Movement

Abstract

This guide accompanies the following article: Katy Turton, ‘Men, Women and an Integrated History of the Russian Revolutionary Movement’, History Compass 9/2 (2011): 119–133, DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2011.00755.x. Author’s Introduction Scholarship on women’s experiences of and contributions to the Russian revolutionary movement has increased exponentially since the publication of a number of biographies of Aleksandra Kollontai in the 1970s and 1980s and a comprehensive picture has emerged of women’s involvement in all the major revolutionary parties, as leading figures as well as rank and file activists. Despite this wealth of historical discovery, remarkably little has found its way into so-called ‘general’ histories of the revolution. The integrated history, which is the ultimate aim of women’s history, has yet to be produced for the Russian revolutionary movement. This module is designed to help students interrogate this state of affairs and to build their own integrated understanding of the ways in which men and women cooperated and interacted on a daily basis in their campaigns to reform Russia. Author Recommends The following texts are useful starting points from which to explore the absence of women from the grand narrative of the Russian revolutionary movement and to gain an understanding of the roles women did play. They are listed in chronological order to give a sense of the development of the history of women in the Russian revolution. Cathy Porter, Fathers and Daughters: Russian Women in Revolution (London: Virago, 1976). This is an early English-language history of revolutionary women in Russia. Porter explores women’s position in Russia until the 1850s, takes in the development of feminist ideas, and then focuses on the activities of the radical women of the 1870s, from the peaceful populists to the terrorists. Like Barbara Engel’s 1983 book Mothers and Daughters: Women of the Intelligentsia in Nineteenth Century Russia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), Porter’s work at times discusses these women as a special case, separate and perhaps even superior to their male comrades. Nonetheless, this book represents an important contribution in the history of Russian radical women. R. Stites, The Women’s Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilism and Bolshevism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978). This is a critical work by another of the pioneers of Russian women’s history. It introduces readers to the full spectrum of activities women engaged in to improve their situation in Russia from the 1850s onwards. It is a useful monograph, for not only does it interrogate the historiography surrounding the women’s liberation movement, but it also sets the various strands of revolutionary campaign in a wider social and political context. Stites also takes the narrative beyond the revolution and discusses the achievements and disappointments of the Soviet regime’s attempts to emancipate women. M. Donald, ‘ “What did you do in the Revolution, Mother?” Image, Myth and Prejudice in Western Writing on the Russian Revolution’, Gender and History, 7/1 (1995): 85–99. A useful article to begin this module with, it offers an analysis of the way in which women are treated with a gender bias in both the primary literature of the revolution and in the historiography relating to it. Using a case study of the treatment of Trotsky and Alexandra Kollontai, arguably two of the most prominent revolutionary figures of 1917, Donald highlights how commentators of the time and historians used gendered language to praise Trotsky and dismiss Kollontai. She also exposes the way in which Kollontai was written out of the historiography between the 1920s and 1980s. Donald’s methodological approach can be used to explore the treatment of other revolutionary women or, indeed, revolutionary women as a group. B. E. Clements, Bolshevik Women (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). This monograph is the definitive work on the roles women played in the Bolshevik Party both in the underground period and during the Soviet regime. Based on the statistical analysis of a database of Bolshevik women, which is compared with a similar database on Bolshevik men, the book offers a clear indication of how women’s participation in the Party matched, and diverged from, men’s. This quantitative analysis is interwoven with an engaging narrative which traces individual examples and, in particular, six case studies of key Bolshevik women: Evgeniia Bosh, Konkordiia Samoilova, Rozaliia Zemliachka, Alexandra Artiukhina, Klavdiia Nikolaeva and Elena Stasova. A. Hillyar, and J. McDermid, Revolutionary Women in Russia, 1870–1917 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000). This is an excellent overview of the roles of revolutionary women in Russia. A collective biography of female revolutionaries of all political persuasions, this book offers a general picture of the various activities in which these women engaged but also numerous case studies of individuals who made a particular contribution to the movement. While less driven by statistics then Clements’ work, the tables of personal data on groups of revolutionary women are a useful addition to the text, as is the introduction, which includes a close analysis of the historiography of the Russian revolution as well as a discussion of the sources available to illuminate women’s role in the movement. Online Materials An integrated history of the Russian Revolution is yet to be written and Russian and Soviet women’s history has yet to be given an equal place on the web in terms of resources. I would recommend two websites, though neither offer in depth coverage of women’s involvement in the Russian revolutionary movement. Seventeen Moments in Soviet History http://www.soviethistory.org This website contains essays, documents, photographs, art, posters, film clips and music related to the Soviet Union, organised around 17 key years of the regime. The first year is 1917 and this section includes details of women’s involvement in the February revolution, as well as information about the Bolshevik government’s agenda for the transformation of women’s lives in the new regime. Marxists Internet Archive http://www.marxists.org This website contains the biographies and writings of numerous key Marxists, including Russian women. For some individuals, photographs, recordings of speeches and film clips are also available. Again this website does not offer an integrated history of the Russian revolution, indeed the Russian revolution is not the focus of the website at all, but it does offer insights into the lives of some prominent women in the movement. Sample Syllabus Modules on the history of the Russian revolution tend to deal with the revolutionary movement as one element in a range of factors that brought about the seismic events of February and October 1917, thus the six classes suggested here might necessarily be conflated into one or perhaps two sessions. If, however, the module was centred on the revolutionary movement alone, each week might be expanded to cover two sessions. I have provided suggested primary readings, but students should also read relevant secondary literature as well. Week 1: The History of the Russian Revolutionary Movement This session involves engaging with the established historiography of the Russian revolutionary movement. The discussion should centre on students’ own understanding of the key figures, parties and events of the revolutionary movement. Without giving the students prior warning, the tutor could also ask questions about the roles women played. Can the students name any female revolutionaries? The discussion could then be expanded to explore why women do not feature prominently in the grand narrative of the underground, or why only certain women do? Readings: E. Acton (ed.), The Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution (London: Hodder Headline Group, 1997). M. Ferro, October 1917: A Social History of the Russian Revolution, trans. Norman Stone (London: Routledge, 1980). A. Geifman (ed.), Russia Under the Last Tsar: Opposition and Subversion (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1999). R. Wade, The Russian Revolution, 1917 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). A. Wood, The Origins of the Russian Revolution, 1861–1917, 3rd edn. (London: Routledge, 2003). Week 2: Histories of Women’s Involvement in the Russian Revolutionary Movement This session will concentrate on introducing students to more recent scholarship, which concentrates on women’s roles in the Russian revolutionary movement. This session may also require some exploration of the key types of historical studies which concentrate on women: women’s history, feminist history, gender history as well as compensatory and contribution history. While this session should be useful in highlighting the gaps in the ‘grand narrative’ of the history of the Russian revolutionary movement, questions should also be raised about the extent to which women’s histories have been successful in addressing them. Do these separate histories of women in fact perpetuate the absence of women from general histories? Readings: B. E. Clements, Bolshevik Women (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). M. Donald, ‘ “What did you do in the Revolution, Mother?” Image, Myth and Prejudice in Western Writing on the Russian Revolution’, Gender and History, 7/1 (1995): 85–99. A. Hillyar and J. McDermid, Revolutionary Women in Russia, 1870–1917 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000). C. Porter, Fathers and Daughters: Russian Women in Revolution (London: Virago, 1976). R. Stites, The Women’s Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilism and Bolshevism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978). Week 3: An Integrated History? Early Revolutionary Groups (Land and Liberty, The People’s Will, The Black Partition) This week will concentrate on the early revolutionary parties and their activities. Critical issues to address include the socialist agenda for the emancipation of women and the way in which socialists attempted to ensure the equality of male and female comrades. Family ties should also be explored, as this is one measure of how much men and women worked together on a daily basis. Students should be directed to learn about the programmes of the key parties, and to read relevant secondary literature, but the main reading of the week will centre on the memoirs of key male and female figures. These memoirs should help illuminate the extent to which women’s equality was achieved and the way in which the parties operated on a daily basis. They will also show how family ties continued to be of importance to revolutionaries. Some time should also be devoted to discussing the challenges of using memoirs as historical documents. Readings: B. A. Engel and Clifford N. Rosenthal (ed. and trans.), Five Sisters: Women Against the Tsar (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975). V. Figner, Memoirs of a Revolutionist (London: Martin Lawrence Limited, 1929). P. Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist (New York: Horizon Press, 1968). S. Stepniak, Underground Russia: Revolutionary Profiles and Sketches from Life (London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1890). M. Sukloff, The Life Story of a Russian Exile (New York: The Century Co., 1914). Week 4: An Integrated History? The Social-Democrats By the 1890s, a new revolutionary force was emerging in Russia, in the form of the Social-Democrats. Students should explore the programme of the RSDLP as well as relevant secondary literature, while the memoirs this week will offer an insight into how the RSDLP functioned. What should become clear is the way in which family networks offered support to revolutionaries in daily operations like keeping safe houses, but also at times of crisis, when individuals were in prison or exile. The experiences of SDs can be compared with those of the populists. The class could centre on a case study of a particular family eg Lenin’s or Martov’s, or a more general exploration of the memoir literature. Readings: Interview with Lydia Dan [Martov’s sister] in L. H. Haimson, The Making of Three Russian Revolutionaries: Voices from the Menshevik Past (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). I. Getzler, Martov: A Political Biography of a Russian Social Democrat (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967). N. K. Krupskaia, Reminiscences of Lenin (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1970), http://www.marxists.org/archive/krupskaya/works/rol/index.htm. R. Service, Lenin: A Biography (London: Macmillan, 2000). K. Turton, Forgotten Lives: The Role of Lenin’s Sisters in the Russian Revolution, 1864–1937 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). And/or C. Bobrovskaya, Twenty Years in Underground Russia (London: Martin Lawrence Ltd, 1934). E. L. Broido, Memoirs of a Revolutionary, ed. and trans. Vera Broido (London: Oxford University Press, 1967). V. Broido, Daughter of Revolution: A Russian Girlhood Remembered (London: Constable, 1998). O. Piatnitsky, Memoirs of a Bolshevik (London: Martin Lawrence Ltd., 1927), 15. L. Trotsky, My Life: The Rise and Fall of a Dictator (London: Thornton Butterworth Ltd., 1930). D. Tutaev (ed. and trans.), The Alliluyev Memoirs: Recollections of Svetlana Stalin’s Maternal Aunt Anna Alliluyeva and her Grandfather Sergei Alliluyev (London: Michael Joseph, 1968). Week 5: An Integrated History? The Socialist Revolutionaries This week looks at the re-emergence of populist socialism in the form of Socialist Revolutionaries. Similar issues to the previous 2 weeks should be addressed, but the question of terrorism and men and women’s role in this form of political activity might be explored more thoroughly. Very few memoirs by SRs and biographies of key SR figures are translated into English, so the class will probably be best devoted to a case study of Maria Spiridonova, Boris Savinkov or Catherine Breshko-Breshkovskaia, based on memoirs and the secondary literature. Readings: E. Breshko-Breshkovskaia, The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution: Reminiscences and Letters of Catherine Breshkovsky, ed. by A. Blackwell (Westport, Conn: Hyperion Press, 1973). A. Rabinowitch and M. Spiridonova, ‘Maria Spiridonova’s “Last Testament” ’, Russian Review, 54/3 (1995): 424–44. B. Savinkov, Memoirs of a Terrorist (New York: A. & C. Boni, 1931). Week 6: The Revolutions This week will concentrate on the February and October revolutions of 1917. This is often the moment when women disappear from the secondary literature and students should be asked to consider why. In terms of primary reading materials, students should return to the memoirs used throughout the module so far and investigate what activities revolutionary women of all persuasions were involved in and the way in which family networks continued to function. This week might also look ahead to the roles played by male and female revolutionaries in the new regime and explore the extent to which family ties remained important, particularly in Communist Party and government circles. Larissa Vasilieva’s Kremlin Wives (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1994) and Sebag-Montefiore’s Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2003) offer an intimate picture of the family lives of the Soviet elite in the 1920s and 1930s, but they are melodramatic at times and the former contains almost no footnotes. Readings: Parts I, II and III of SR Ekaterina Olitskaia’s Memoirs in Sheila Fitzpatrick and Yuri Slezkine (eds.), In the Shadow of Revolution: Life Stories of Russian Women from 1917 to the Second World War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000). Optional Focus Questions The following focus questions will help readers to spring-board into the wider subject matter: 1 Is an integrated history of the revolutionary movement important or possible? 2 How did men and women work together on a daily basis in their revolutionary struggle? 3 In what ways does researching family networks in the revolutionary movement help contribute to an integrated history? 4 What problems exist with the current historiography when researching this topic? 5 What challenges are faced in terms of primary sources when researching this topic? Family Trees Project Idea To help bring the subject to life, students could be asked to build up a family tree for a particular revolutionary family over the course of the module, highlighting parents, siblings, spouses and children, as well as the roles played by each individual in the revolutionary movement. Alternatively students could take a list of the central committee members of one party at a particular moment and trace the immediate family of each. This again would highlight interconnections between revolutionaries, as well as their dependence on family members. These family trees could be presented at the end of the module.