White Guard Research Articles

Relationship between Alash-Orda and the White Guard Movement in 1918–1919: from Cooperation to Confrontation

Relationship between Alash-Orda and the White Guard Movement in 1918–1919: from Cooperation to Confrontation

De Vries, Gerard Silent Love: The Annotation and Interpretation of Nabokov's ‘The Real Life of Sebastian Knight’ (review)

SEER, 96, 2, APRIL 2018 344 come to figure,’ she writes, ‘as a central dimension of a common European heritage, the defining feature of European civilization’ (p. 14). Her focus on personal documents allows Bulgakov to speak in his own voice. The result of this approach is an evocative book that offers a more rounded picture of his life to the reader, elucidating the often difficult circumstances surrounding his creative decisions under the Stalinist regime. The monograph consists of five chapters, which provide a chronological outline of Bulgakov’s life and a contextualization of his works. Chapter one introduces Bulgakov’s family background, which had influenced the poetics of The White Guard, details his transition from medicine to literature, and the eventual move from Kiev to Moscow. Chapter two is dedicated to Bulgakov’s journalistic career during the NEP years, the fate of his novella, The Heart of a Dog, whose typescript was confiscated by the OGPU together with his diaries, and addresses the dramatization of The White Guard for the Moscow Art Theatre. Chapters three and four focus on the fate of Bulgakov’s plays (and in most cases, their eventual ban by the Repertory Committee). Chapter five touches on Bulgakov’s work for the Bol´shoi Theatre, explores his celebrated novel,TheMasterandMargarita,andturnstoBatum,acontroversialplayabout young Stalin which, Curtis notes, has none of the inventiveness characteristic of his other dramatic works. The epilogue reflects on Bulgakov’s legacy in the light of the fascination drawn on him by Stalin in his later career. This brief and amply illustrated biography is lucidly written, eminently readable and will no doubt prove to be an excellent teaching tool. A welcome addition to the literature on Bulgakov, it is a stimulating read both for his lifelong admirers and for those who are new to his writing. UCL SSEES O. G. Voronina de Vries, Gerard. Silent Love: The Annotation and Interpretation of Nabokov’s ‘The Real Life of Sebastian Knight’. Academic Studies Press, Boston, MA, 2016. ix + 221 pp. Works cited. Index. $79.00. Gerard de Vries’s Silent Love is the first annotated study of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941), Vladimir Nabokov’s first novel written in English. This comprehensive analysis offers a very close reading of the text that proves to be particularly revealing in terms of Nabokov’s method. Nabokov notoriously wrote most of his novels on 3” x 5” index cards, which he would shuffle to organize the order of his narratives (see, for instance, his interview for the Paris Review, 1967). In the Knopf edition of his last, unfinished novel, The Original of Laura (New York, 2009), all 138 index cards are faithfully reproduced, offering readers a rare glimpse of Nabokov’s creative process, which was based on a REVIEWS 345 range of themes and motifs, sometimes noted down in the form of a single word. In Silent Love, de Vries considers these details as the primary source for an accurate interpretation of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. ‘In order to explore the referential wealth of the novel,’ writes de Vries, ‘my main aim was to annotate the text in a way that does most justice to the wide erudition and compositional craft invested in it’ (p. 6). After giving essential background information on the genesis of the novel (‘Introduction’, pp. 1–7), in the second and longest chapter of the book (‘Annotations’, pp. 8–75), de Vries illuminates its extraordinary complexity. His insightful comments unveil the scope of the novel’s references and allusions, which include colours, objects, literary themes, as well as historical and literary figures such as Blok, Khlebnikov, Pushkin, Proust, Shakespeare, Yeats, and many others. Yet, according to the author, ‘[w]hat makes a work by Nabokov so very intriguing is not only the affluent erudition hidden in references and allusions, but perhaps even more the way in which these are woven into many complex motifs, all interlaced and dovetailed’ (p. 6). Hence, de Vries categorizes these motifs ‘according to the overarching themes of the novel’ (p. 7), which constitute the three core chapters of his study: 1) narrative strategies (ch. 3, pp. 76–108); 2) problems of identity (ch. 4, pp...

Newspaper periodicals of Kyiv of 1919 as a source on the study of socioeconomic, international, and cultural and educational development of Ukraine in the period of the White Guard government

Newspaper periodicals of Kyiv of 1919 as a source on the study of socioeconomic, international, and cultural and educational development of Ukraine in the period of the White Guard government

«Левый дрейф» социалистов Сибири накануне и после разгрома Колчака (конец 1919 – начало 1920 года)

The article aims to fill the existing gaps within the national historiography related to the condition and behavior of socialist parties of Russia during one of the crucial stages of the civil war in the East of the country: during the defeat of Kolchak’s regime and the establishment of the bodies of the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat. This task is solved on both empirical and conceptual levels. In the first case, new factual materials found mainly in newspaper periodicals in central and local archives were introduced into scientific discourse. These materials make it possible to give a general idea of events, motives and causes which determined firstly an active participation of the majority of factions and groups of socialists in Siberia during the overthrow of Kolchak, and secondly the transition of their extreme left elements and groups to communist positions. On a conceptual level two main conclusions are made in the article. Firstly, it is stated that between late November 1919 and early January 1920, all principal towns of Siberian provinces except Omsk were reconquered by rebels prior to the arrival of the Red Army. Such a fast and almost bloodless overthrow of Kolchak’s power in most large administrative centers of Siberia is explained by an active participation of socialists in the struggle against the White Guard regime, by a spontaneous formation of the «United Revolutionary Front» throughout various separate local territories. Secondly, it is argued that the affiliation of some socialists with the RCP(b), and especially self-liquidation of the whole Menshevik and SRs groups of different directions and their transition to the communist party played a tremendous significance. Among them, there were many qualified specialists, experienced executives and simply educated people. In Siberia where the organization of the RCP(b) was inconsiderable in number and experienced a critical shortage of staff, they mitigated the difficult situation by their participation in creating and functioning the restored bodies of the Soviet power.

Художественные функции образа матери в творчестве Михаила Булгакова (на примере избранных произведений)

В творчестве Булгакова образ матери и проблемы материнства появляются крайне редко. Возможно, это связанно с тем, что у писателя никогда не было собственных детей, хотя он был три раза женат и рос в многодетной семье. Булгаков был самым старшим ребенком и остальные братья и сестры воспитывались на его глазах и с его помощью после смерти отца, который скончался в возрасте 48 лет. Автор Мастера и Маргариты создал много необыкновенных и трогательных образов любовниц, женщин, страдающих из-за любви, готовых посвятить себя и даже свою жизнь любимому мужчине. Одним из самых прекрасных и наиболее известных образов матери является образ матери семьи Турбиных в романе Белая гвардия. Ее прототипом была мать писателя – Варвара Михайловна в девичестве Покровская (1869–1922). Роман начинается с ее болезни и смерти, что является предвещанием трагических событий и страданий, которые ожидают ее детей во время гражданской войны. В Мастере и Маргарите на балу сатаны появляется душа матери-убийцы только что рожденного ребенка, в драме о Мольере изображена мать-предательница, которая на предсмертной исповеди выявляет тайну рождения своей дочери, чем уничтожает ее семью. На фоне этих образов матерей мать Турбиных является женщиной идеальной, поэтому писатель определяет ее как «светлую королеву». Этот образ становится своеобразным ключом к пониманию сущности образов молодых Турбиных, которые унаследовали у своей матери нравственный кодекс и способность жертвовать собой ради других.

The Russian Perspective in Vadim Andreev’s Prose: From A Tale about Father to The Wild Field

The literary legacy of Vadim Leonidovich Andreev (1902–1976) is considered as part of the writer’s key objective — to preserve national identity. The author uses the methods of immanent, historical and genetic, and comparative and typological analysis. Vadim Andreev appears as a literary artist of what is referred to as “Russian matters”: his prose reveals themes, ideas, and motifs typical of Russian literature. The article aims to study Andreev’s interpretation of those matters and reveal the evolution in the forms of addressing them in three of his texts. It is argued that A Tale about Father (Rus. Povest’ ob ottse , 1962) represents dominants of the national consciousness: “illness with Russia” determines the psycho-mentality of the autobiographical character. The tale The Story of a Journey (Rus. Istoriia odnogo puteshestviia , 1966) and the novel The Wild Field (Rus. Dikoe pole , 1965) primarily focus on the idea of charity and pose the problem of the right to violence, even in the situation of wars and revolutions. In The Wild Field , this issue is addressed within the national tradition and in the context of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ideas. The tale The Story of a Journey is regarded in its relation to young e migr e s’ literature, and, more particularly, it is compared to Gaito Gazdanov’s Evening at Clair’s (Rus. Vecher u Kler , 1929). However, the tale reveals a correlation with metropolitan literature; thus, it is contextually related to The White Guard (Rus. Belaia gvardiia , 1925) by Mikhail Bulgakov. The article traces back Andreev’s outlook to the substantial ideas of 19 th -century Russian literature and asserts that the advance of his own cultural logos takes place within the framework of the national humanist tradition.

PROPAGANDA IN THE DON FOLKLORE IN 1920-1930s

The article is devoted to the formation of modern public consciousness in the Don region in 1920-1930s. It would be appropriate to mention that political propaganda, reflected in folklore, reacted to the introduction of new values. The subject of the article is acute due to the fact that the study of the research developed by Soviet agitators often becomes a determining factor in the planning and practical implementation of agitation in modern society. The main purpose of the article is to fill in the gaps in the study of agitation and propaganda activities in the south of the country in the 1920-1930s. The main themes reflected in the Don folklore are presented in the article: the life of workers and women, “white guard crimes”, praise of the leninists. The author draws attention is paid to the exalted image of the leader of the revolution - V.I. Lenin. In the conclusion of the research the author asserts that folklore must undergo through strict censorship: artificially created Soviet folklore comes to the place of the child prison and thieves' folklore, rumors and anecdotes. The author sums it all up by saying that folklore, which includes songs, proverbs, sayings, ditties, as well as other types of folklore that emerges on the basis of the everyday life of the Don nationalities, is an important tool in agitation and propaganda activities on the Don in the period of the formation of the USSR.

A Reading of "White Guard" as the Predecessor of "The Master and Margarita": On the Theme of Apocalypse in M. Bulgakov’s "White Guard"

A Reading of "White Guard" as the Predecessor of "The Master and Margarita": On the Theme of Apocalypse in M. Bulgakov’s "White Guard"

The “Well-Timed Quotation”

Bulgakov's predilection for literary quotations in his early works is explored in his novel White Guard as a strategy for embedded cultural critique of the new Soviet state.

Метаморфозы еврейской мистики в «Белой гвардии» Михаила Булгакова

The article analyzes the elements of Jewish mysticism employed by Mikhail Bulgakov in his The White Guard and aims to trace the sources of motifs used to create a sense of mystery in the novel. The author enumerates multiple uses of Jewish mystical elements in the depiction of the characters. Mikhail Shpolyansky is both an image of the evil and refers to the Messiah. According to Jewish beliefs, the Messiah must suffer from disgusting open fester wounds. Likewise, Shpolyansky suffers from a repugnant disease but his ailment is unknown to the public unlike that of the Jewish Messiah. The disgust caused by the Messiah’s wounds is meant to verify the scale of humaneness and the capacity for mercy in the ones for whose sake the Messiah must descend to this world. If Jews can overcome the disgust they feel when looking at the Messiah’s wounds and help him, demonstrating benevolence and compassion, God will heal the Messiah’s imaginary diseases and send him to people where he will rule in God’s name and usher in a time of peace and eliminate all suffering. The author questions whether the use of Jewish sources was a conscious decision made by Bulgakov, when he interpreted the Messiah’s diseases and gave gory details of them. The question is that if Bulgakov emphasizes disgust caused by the patient and by his demonic nature, why he did not consider the motif of the repugnant wounds of the Jewish Messiah then. The author describes the writer’s digression from the traditional Jewish interpretation of Abaddon used by Bulgakov to refer to Antichrist who symbolizes the Demon of Darkness and Destruction. The elements of Old Jewish sources extensively used by Bulgakov when describing the supernatural, mystical and demonic quite often possess a meaning uncharacteristic of the one used in the Jewish original and are quite often presented inaccurately. It is likely to have been caused by the fact that while creating the mystical background of the novel, Bulgakov relied on the data on Jewish mythology he could find in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. However, it does not reflect the original meaning of Jewish mythology but gives a distorted picture of it. Despite the discrepancies, Bulgakov managed to create an atmosphere filled with Old Jewish mystical beliefs and do it convincingly for the reader.

О сотрудничестве и взаимодействии российских консульств в Синьцзяне с белогвардейскими частями атамана Б.В. Анненкова в 1919–1920 гг.

О сотрудничестве и взаимодействии российских консульств в Синьцзяне с белогвардейскими частями атамана Б.В. Анненкова в 1919–1920 гг.

The Accidental Evolution of the Moscow Art Theatre Prague Group

During the period of confusion and divided loyalties that followed the 1917 Revolution in Russia, the resources of the Moscow Art Theatre were severely depleted, and its artists and staff found themselves giving barebones performances for the enlightenment of often mystified working-class audiences. By 1919 the decision was taken to split the company, with a contingent sent out on tour with the intention of rejoining the parent group for the new season. In the event, with civil war raging between the forces of the Red Army and the White Guard, this did not happen, and groups of former members of the Art Theatre worked independently in the provinces and eventually abroad. While some returned to Moscow in 1922, the ‘Prague Group of the Moscow Art Theatre’ continued to lead an independent existence, and in this article Laurence Senelick traces the events leading up to and following its creation – which caused much annoyance to Stanislavsky and confusion in the West. A frequent contributor to New Theatre Quarterly, Laurence Senelick is Fletcher Professor of Drama and Oratory at Tufts University and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a recipient of the St George medal of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation for services to Russian art and scholarship. His latest books are Stanislavsky: a Life in Letters (Routledge) and the forthcoming Soviet Theatre: a Documentary History (Yale University Press).

«The White Guard» on TV: fascinated by masscult mythology

The article analyzes the television adaptation of the famous novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, shown on Russian television in 2012. The author juxtaposes the TV-series with the renowned Soviet film Days of the Turbins, premiered in 1976. The analysis is carried out in the context of the history of a theatre version of the novel The White guard, staged in the Moscow Academic Art Theatre in the 1920s, that is Days of the Turbins, highly appreciated by Stalin. Traditionally, both theatre and cinema directors were drawn to the play adapted by Mikhail Bulgakov after his novel. Anyhow, there is a certain subject and semantic difference between these two works. The author analyzes the structure of the TV version, its style, elaboration of on-screen characters, based on the literary source and previous interpretation of the play Days of the Turbins. However, the author argues, that ideological and figurative interference into the original, adaptation to the stereotypes of mass culture significantly distort the perception of Bulgakovs works, largely obliged to the writerss mood and emotions experienced in the years of Revolution and Civil war. Concluding, the author pinpoints both - complexity unit of Bulgakovs text adaptation towards contemporary TV, and misjudgements of the TV-series makers in the way of conception and realization.

Локальный текст с региональной и общенациональной точки зрения (на материале критической рецепции романа М. Булгакова «Белая гвардия»)

Локальный текст с региональной и общенациональной точки зрения (на материале критической рецепции романа М. Булгакова «Белая гвардия»)

A Welsh Award-Winning Novel on Russia: Petrograd by Wiliam Owen Roberts

In our paper we present the novel Petrograd by the Welsh author Wiliam Owen Roberts, written in Welsh. Winner of the Wales Book of the Year 2009 award, this substantial 544-page volume is the first part of a trilogy dedicated to the fates of Russian well-to-do families in years previous and following the revolutionary year 1917. Taking his inspiration from Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard, as well as the works of Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorkij and Alexi Tolstoj, the Welsh author writes full of sympathy about those who lose their normal way of life, his main characters being three adolescents. In our paper we discuss both the surface features of the novel, e.g. the Russian names the writer gives to his characters, as well as the main elements which make this novel so interesting for Wales and Russia, including the importance of the First World War and its consequences for both countries.

Selected haematological and biochemical indicators in different breeds of rabbits

The aim of the study was to evaluate differences in haematological and biochemical indicators in young rabbits of breeds embedded in the Czech genetic resources. Seven breeds (Moravian Blue, Czech Spotted, Czech Solver, Czech White, Czech Red, Moravian White of Brown Eyes and Czech Black Guard Hairs) represented by six males of each breed were used. Weaned rabbits were fattened under identical conditions till the age of 91 days. Haematological values were measured by using automatic analyzer; biochemical indicators were determined photometrically. From the haematological indicators, mean cell volume was significantly (P≤ 0.05) higher in Czech Black Guard Hairs (83.00 fl) and the lowest (73.75 fl) in Czech Red. Significantly higher (P ≤0.05) concentration of haemoglobin (143.3 g·l-1) was recorded in Czech Spotted; values of 125.6 and 123.4 g·l-1were found in Czech White and Czech Black Guard Hairs, respectively. From the biochemical indicators, cholesterol and triacylglycerols significantly differed in rabbit breeds. Significantly (P≤ 0.05)higher level of cholesterol (3.16 mmol·l-1) was determined in Moravian Blue, decreasing with body size in other breeds. Significant correlations of 0.390 were determined between live weight and serum cholesterol content. Significantly different (P≤ 0.05) content of triacylglycerols was found in Czech White and Moravian White of Brown Eyes (1.30 vs. 0.75 mmol·l-1). Our results showed for the first time haematological and biochemical indicators in rabbits from Czech genetic resources and the results revealed that some of these variables could be affected by the rabbit genotype.

White guard

White guard

The Master and the Devil: a study of Mikhail Bulgakov

Andrzej Drawicz. Master and the Devil: A Study of Mikhail Bulgakov. Studies in Slavic Language and Literature, Volume 18. trans. Kevin Windle. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. xxiii, 352 pp. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. £74.95, cloth.Although it has been years since Mikhail Bulgakov wrote his very last novel, his work continues to generate great interest among scholars of Russian and Soviet literature. latest study comes from a Polish writer, Andrzej Drawicz, whose Master and the Devil: A Study of Mikhail Bulgakov is certainly one of the most informative books on the subject of Bulgakov to be published in the last two decades. Drawicz (1932-1997), a leading expert in Russian literature and culture, was the author of numerous books and articles on Russian writers of the twentieth century as well as, an accomplished translator of Bulgakov, Akhmatova and others. He devoted many years to studying Bulgakov's works and in 1987 he published the first edition of Mistrz i Diabel (The Master and the Devil). He revised and completed his study in 1990. Mistrz i Diabel was translated from the Polish into English by Australian translator Kevin Windle in 2001.This book examines all Bulgakov's known prose and dramatic works, and is divided into ten chapters that outline Bulgakov's life in a somewhat chronological order. Drawicz begins with Bulgakov's family, first place of residence, and includes vivid descriptions of places, objects and people that would later influence his works. In the first chapter, Bulgakov is presented as a child with an extraordinary imagination who would often write scripts for family theatricals and entertain peers with humorous improvisations. And although signs of Bulgakov's literary talent surfaced very early on, his path from adolescence to adulthood, and eventually to his literary calling, took him, first through medical school and a short-lived employment as a country doctor. Chapters two and three continue with Bulgakov's time spent working obscure jobs and learning to survive hardships and a housing shortage in Moscow. These early years would inspire the creation of several works including Notes of a Young Doctor, Notes on Shirt-Cuffs and Diaboliad. Subsequent chapters serve as a background for what is to come in the last one. Drawicz argues that everything Bulgakov ever wrote ultimately paved the way and led to his greatest work Master and Margarita. Moreover, he claims that Bulgakov needed to write White Guard and The Fatal Eggs in order to grow as a writer and to prepare for the culmination of his ideas, thoughts and passions that were expressed in Master and Margarita. …

'Svobodnaia veshch": poetika neostraneniia u Andreia Platonova by Ol'ga Meerson (review)

732 SEER, 79, 4, 200 I Tsvetaeva. Yet the majority of translations 'worked' for me and many are wholly free of such blemishes. Both translators,particularlyTerras, have a feeling for the beauty and weight of words, the mystery and music, the importance of intonation. There are, unfortunately,only three translationsby Terras's late friend, Ants Oras. These lines from Mandelstam's 'To the memory of Andrei Bely' give an impression of their quality: 'Alunatic's cap you were given for mitre and crown, / You, our teacher and torturer,radiant ruler and clown ... // A mere fluke, a mere flurry in Moscow, too easily stirred, / Too whimsical, flimsy and nebulous, tangled and blurred. // A skateroutskatingyour age, you escaped fromitsmesh / Withyour silverydust of inflections,deflected and fresh.. .' (p. 2 I I). This unprecedented book should be in every poetry-lover'slibraryand on the 'essentialreading'list of everyRussian Studiescourse. Ustinov Institute AVRIL PYMAN University ofDurham Meerson, Ol'ga. 'Svobodnaia veshch". poetikaneostraneniia u AndreiaPlatonova. Berkeley Slavic Specialties. University of Berkeley,Berkeley, CA, I997. I37 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. $I4.00 (paperback). Tins book, published four years ago, is a bright star in the constellation of recent books devoted to Andrei Platonov. I shallmention some of these at the end of my review. The notorious 'strangeness'of Platonov'smaturestylehas been the focus of many scholarlyworks. Olga Meerson's originalitylies in her discerning at the heart of this strange style a governing device of 'non-estrangement' (paradoxically extending, not denying, Shklovsky's 'estrangement' theory). While many have registered oddities, solecisms, lacunae; discussed ambivalences , polyphony, what Iablokov calls the 'principle of reversibility';speculated about an authorial 'unconsciousness'; uncovered 'ontological' profundities Meerson sets the whole debate in a new perspective by brilliantlyexamining Platonov'seffectupon his reader.Shefindsthat, through regular and deliberate (and that it is deliberate is an important part of her thesis) non-estrangement of the strange, refamiliarizationof the unfamiliar, Platonov annihilatesnotjust the distance between charactersand narratoror implied author, but the distance between all those and the reader.This investigationof a styleis also an aetiology of reader-anxiety. The peculiar unease felt by readers of Platonov has been discussed by Valerii Podoroga 'We do not notice how this pain enters deeply into us' (Voprosy filosofii,3, I989, p. 33) and by Joseph Brodsky who wrote that, reading Platonov, you get 'marooned in blind proximity to the meaninglessnessof the phenomenon this or that word denotes [. . .] throughyour own verbal carelessness' (LessthanOne,Harmondsworth, I986, P. 287). Meerson now delves very much deeper into the vulneral/moral predicament and its literary-technical causation. With tireless lucidity analysing passages from Chevengur and Kotlovan aswell asfromten otherworks,she showshow Platonov, 'catching us in a snare' (p. 32), makes us read about weird or horrificmatters REVIEWS 733 unquestioningly because, again and again, his only slightly extraordinary language (about the weird, the horrific)bringsto mind the ordinary(colloquial, etc.) languagewhich he has avoided, so that, thinkinghe has used it, we swiftly read on. By failing to take in the non-ordinary words, automatically 'correcting' them, we become co-responsible for the abnormalities we have not reacted against. Only on re-readingdo we graspwhat has happened. An example of a verbally based non-estrangement is when we imagine we have read:'Sovietpower can be establishedwhen thereexistsan impoverished class and when the White Guard is out of the way'. Yet what is written is not Iimpoverishedclass' (bednota) but 'poverty' (bednost'), and the phrase 'somewhere far off' is placed before, not after, 'the White Guard': 'Soviet power requirespeople to sufferpovertyand needs an enemy in the vicinity.'Platonov begins to seem a magician whose tricks seem all the cleverer once they are exposed. But Meerson is looking for far more than skill:for values and wisdom; she calls her approach 'axiological' and 'sophiological'.A frequentlyused form of narrative-basednon-estrangementoccurswhen the fictionalcharactersaccept the surprisingwithout surprise, whereby the reader is lured into a similar acceptance. Like Chevengur's bolsheviks,we too are undismayed when a voice is heard singing from inside a stray round tank rolling unpropelled through deserted countryside, and when they push it over a ravine-edge neither they nor we knowwhetherthey whetherwe areguiltyof a murder.No longer may we 'divide people up into "I" and "they", or even...

Nikolai Chaikovskii in revolution and counter‐revolution

Nikolai Vasil'evich Chaikovskii was one of the outstanding activists in the populist movement. The creator of the concept of bogochelovechestvo and a practitioner of religio‐communistic experimentalism, he was among the originators of the Parties of Socialist‐Revolutionaries and Popular Socialists. He was called ‘a Tolstoyan before Tolstoi’, ‘the grandfather of the Russian Revolution’ and ‘the father of Russian co‐operation’. During his 75‐year lifetime, he got to know, see and experience a great deal. Devoting the greater part of his life to the revolutionary‐emancipatory struggle, N.V. Chaikovskii in his declining years entered the camp of the enemies of the revolution, became an outstanding activist in the anti‐soviet movement and joined in several White Guard governments. This is an astonishing political metamorphosis whose origins and causes are investigated in this article.