The Intelligentsia and the Anti-Bolshevik Regime in the Arkhangel´sk Region, 1918–20

Abstract

Abstract: This article seeks to trace the evolution of the sociopolitical stance of the intelligentsia of the European North of Russia under the conditions of the 1917 revolution and the anti-Bolshevik regime that followed (1918–20). The study utilizes a sociohistorical and cultural approach, according to which the intelligentsia is understood as a self-developing group of people professionally engaged in intellectual creative work and performing a socially significant role in the sphere of spiritual culture. The research is based on documents held at the State Archive of the Arkhangel'sk Region and periodicals published during the years 1917–20. The authors conclude that the bulk of the northern intelligentsia, who shared the values of the February Revolution, reacted cautiously and even negatively to the events of October 1917. However, the stance of the intelligentsia underwent a transformation during the Civil War as a result of their recognition of the lack of alternatives to the Bolsheviks.