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History 385W-000

Russia in War and Revolution, 1900-1924

1:00-2:15

Bowden Hall ???

Spring 2017

Prof. Matt Payne

119 Bowden

Office Hours: Thursday, 2:30-4:00

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Overview

This course will examine Russia’s turbulant revolutionary era, a world-historic event that shaped the

twentieth century. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of a self-confident Russia that

indentifies with the Tsarist system, we have more questions about the causes, course and legacy of the

Revolution that have caused us to look anew at this events. The most important new interpretation of

the Revolution sees it as closely tied to World War I and the crisis of imperial rule that beset all of

Europe in the first half of the 20th century. The victory of a small, extremist sect of radicals (Lenin’s

Bolsheviks) would have been inconcievable without the shock of total war and the profound

demoralization its slaughter caused. Russia suffered more casualties than any other belligerant in

World War I, and yet the war in Russia is rarely treated in depth. Moreover, having siezed power, it

was completely improbable that the Bolsheviks should hold onto it. Indeed, they nearly didn’t as

powerful counter-revolutionary armies, ubiquitous seperatist movements, peasant rebellions, anarchist

terrorists and most of the nations of the world intervened in Revolutionary Russia to survive and build

communism, as they saw it. But these struggles also deeply changed Lenin and his party—shaping

them into a fiercely autocratic movement that openly embraced terror and totalitarianism as methods of

rule. This class will cover such toics in depth. Through such texts as Figes’ A People’s Tragedy,

Sanborn’s Imperial Apocalypse and Lieven’s The Fall of Tsarist Russia, students will be exposed to

the most up-to-date historiography on these topics and explore some of their own.

Requirements and Grading

Participation: Students are expected to attend all class lectures and discussions. Everyone will

do all the required readings and assignments each week and students will be expected to discuss

the weekly themes and topics cogently. Attendance will be taken and unexcused absences will

affect a student’s participation grade. 15%

Discussion Responses: One-to-two page post to Canvass responding to the weekly discussion

questions focused on the assigned readings. Proper grammar and style are required as well as

historical analysis—not simply summation. All responses should be posted by 9:00 pm on the

evening prior to discussion (normally Wednesday night unless otherwise noted in the syllabus).

Failure to post on time will lead to a failing grade on the assignment. A one-to-two page short

review of the weekly movie may be substituted up to three times during the semester. 20%

Final Exam: A fifteen-minute oral examination on the readings, lectures, and class

discussions at a pre-arranged time during the final exam period (April 25-28th, May 1st-5th).

Key words and concepts will be written on cards which the student will draw; she will be

expected to identify and discuss them readily and coherently. This is the classical Russian

examination and is very efficient at determining knowledge in a given subject (i.e., to do well

in this test you must have done the work required for this course). 25%

Final Research Paper: A fifteen-to-twenty page term paper on a topic of the student's choice

within the chronological and topical limits of this class. Each week I will require students to

complete a weekly research assignment—very simple research-oriented tasks that aid the

student in discovering an exciting topic. I will give weekly feedback on how the research is

progressing. Mid-way into the semester, each student will submit a short paper proposal

consisting of a thesis statement and bibliography. I will in turn consult personally with each

student on the feasibility of their topic. Draft papers will be read and returned with feedback.

Completed papers will be turned in by our final exam date (Wednesday, May 3rd, 5:30 pm).

40%

Course Policies

Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory and unexcused absences will be detrimental to the class

participation grade. The lectures, in particular, represent a synthesis of material from a broad array

of historical approaches and treat many issues in a very different manner than the texts.

Classroom Participation: Discussion is also important, and your willingness to contribute to

discussion class will be reflected in your participation grade.

Extensions: Students must complete course work on time or arrange, before the assignment is due,

an extension with the instructor. Late assignments will be marked down.

Grading: The principles of grading in this class are succinct and clear.

o In those assignments that are brief (discussion responses, research assignments, pop quizzes

[should that become necessary due to a lack of reading the texts!]), grades will be a check (√)

or a check minus (√-). The final mark on this particular portion of your grade will simply be

a cumulating of all checks versus all possible checks (so, if you get a check plus on 12 of 13

discussion responses but a check on one, you would receive a 96% on your discussion grade).

o On more substantial assignments such as exams or the final paper, there are various criteria

which are examined. I will pass out a separate grading matrix to detail how I grade on long,

written assignments.

General Email policy: Prof. Payne reviews email daily during the work week but not necessarily more

than once daily. Please be patient. I’m not Google!

Other Resources: The Writing Center provides individualized mentoring on exposition provided

by a gifted cadre of mentors. Their sessions are rewarding and beneficial even to accomplished

writers. For more information and to schedule an appointment see:

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/WC/

Note on College Writing Requirements: This course does fulfill the College post-freshman writing

requirement.

Honor Code: As in all Emory classes, the strictures of the honor code apply. Infractions of the

honor code, especially cheating and plagiarism, will be handled with the greatest possible

severity.

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/WC/

Books

Texts:

1. Daly, Jonathan & Leonid Trofimov, trans. Russia in War and Revolution, 1914-1922: A

Documentary History. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2009. ISBN-10: 0872209873.

$18.00.

2. Dune, Eduard. Notes of a Red Guard. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

ISBN-10: 025206779. $25.00

3. Figes, Orlando. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. New York:

Penguin, 1998. ISBN-10: 104024364x. $30.00.

4. Lieven, Dominic. The End of Tsarist Russia; The March to War and Revolution. New

York: Penguin Books, 2016. ISBN-10: 0143109553. $18.00.

5. Sanborn, Joshua. Imperial Apocalypse: The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian

Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN-10: 01996420152. $28.00

Class Schedule

Week 1: Introduction

Tues. 1/10: Introduction

Thurs. 1/12: The Long View

READINGS:

Secondary:

Peter Holquist, “Violent Russia, Deadly Marxism? Russia in the Epoch of

Violence, 1905-21." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian

History 4, no. 3 (2003): 627-652.

Smith, S. A. "The historiography of the Russian revolution 100 years

on."Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 16, no. 4

(2015): 733-749.

Raleigh, Donald J. "The Russian Revolution after all these 100 years."Kritika:

Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 16, no. 4 (2015): 787-797.

Week 2: A Short History of a Long Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 1/17:

LECTURE: “Tsarism and Russia’s Revolutionary Tradition"

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, chs. 1-2, “The Dynasty” & “Unstable Pillars,” pp. 1-

83.

Sources:

T. H. Von Laue, “Document: A Secret Memorandum of Sergei Witte on the

Industrialization of Imperial Russia,” The Journal of Modern History 26/1

(1954): 60-74. (On Reserve)

Thurs. 1/19:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 4, “Red Ink,” pp. 122-156.

Sources:

Vladimir Lenin, “What is to be Done? (1902)” Documents in Russian History.

“S. I. Kanatchikov Recounts His Adventures as a Peasant Worker-Activist,” in

James Cracraft Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia, pp. 528-

550. (On Reserve)

Discussion Question (Due Weds., 1/18, 9:00 pm):

Research Assignment (Due Friday, 1/20, 5:30 pm):

Please identify three articles in the Modern Encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian

History [DK14 .M6 ref] that discuss topics of interest to you (Soviet women in Revolution, the anti-

Semitic pogroms, the Battle of Tannenburg). Submit a short summary of whether you believe this is a

workable topic for you. The form of your submission should be the citation and then one or two

sentences on the topics feasibility. In other words, “The Civil War: The subject is fascinating to me

but seeing the vast amount of scholarly literature on the topic, I think I need to narrow down the topic a

bit. I think I would like to focus on the Cossacks both on the

side of the Whites and the Reds..”

http://academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php/Lenin%2C_What_is_to_be_Done

Week 3: The “Dress Rehearsal”; The 1905 Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 1/24: LECTURE: Defeat and Revolution, The 1905 Revolution

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 5, “First Blood,” pp. 157-212.

Sources:

“Father George Gapon Describes Bloody Sunday,” James Cracraft Major

Problems in the History of Imperial Russia, pp. 596-602 (reserve).

Gregory Freeze, From Supplication to Revolution: A Documentary Social History

of Imperial Russia, “1905-1906; Peasantry,” pp. 274-286 (On Reserve);

Thurs. 1/26:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, Pt. 1, ch. 6, “Last Hopes,” pp. 213-241.

Sources:

Peter Stolypin, “We Need a Great Russia,” in Riha, Readings in Russian

History, pp. 456-464.


Research Assignment (Due Friday., 1/27, 5:30 pm):

Using Euclid, identify three historical monographs that represent a good, scholarly resource for

studying your topic of interest. A monograph is a scholarly, peer-reviewed book (usually put out by a

major university press) that focuses on one subject rather than trying to create a syncretic overview of

a subject, such as a textbook. Thus, Sheila Fitzpatrick’s The Russian Revolution would not be

appropriate (it’s a textbook) but Joshua Sanborn’s Drafting the Russian Nation would be an excellent

choice. Memoirs, letters, etc., as primary sources, would also not apply. Please physically examine

the monograph by going to Woodruff stacks and write up you observations of each based on a quick

skim. For example, “Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin is a very detailed account of the rise of Stalin to the

heights of the Bolshevik leadership but is even more so a political history of the late empire and

revolution. I think I might want to consider Montefiore’s Young Stalin, which is really focused more

on his development as a revolutionary.”

Week 4: A Tottering Empire

FILM:

Tues. 1/31: LECTURE: One Sixth of the Earth; Russia’s Fragile Empire

READINGS:

Secondary:

Lieven, The End of Tsarist Russia, intro., ch. 2, “The Russian Empire,” & “The

Emergence of the Triple Entente, 1904-9,” pp. 46-90.

Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, “Introduction, Imperial Challenge,” pp. 1-21.

Sources:

Peter Durnovo, “Memorandum to Nicholas II” (c/o Robert Alan Kimball,

University of Oregon)

Thurs. 2/2:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Lieven, The End of Tsarist Russia, chs. 4-5, “The Emergence of the Triple

Entente, 1904-1909,” & “Crisis Follows Crisis,” pp. 182-290.

Sources:

Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Geok-Tepe. What does Asia Mean to Us?” A Writer’s

Diary, vol. 2, 1368-1378, 1441-1143 (On Reserve);

“S. D. Urusov Explains Russian Antisemitism,” in James Cracraft Major

Problems in the History of Imperial Russia, pp. 420-437 (reserve).


Research Assignment (Due Friday., 2/3, 5:30 pm):

Using the database function of Euclid, use three data bases to search for scholarly articles

appropriate for your topic. The three should be the American Bibliography of Slavic and East

European Studies (ABSEES), JSTOR, and Historical Abstracts. Cull three good articles from each and

examine them. For each data base give me a sentence or two on its advantages and disadvantages for

your research agenda. A fourth database should be identified by you on your own. (HINT: Google

would be a bad choice. On the other hand, Google Scholar would be quite appropriate). Example: "I

found JSTOR really convenient for my topic on the women fightin in the Great War, but it's coverage

was not as good as ABSEES. Google Scholar was a bit hard to use but surprisingly robust."

http://pages.uoregon.edu/kimball/durnovo.htm

Week 5: The Coming of War

FILM:

Tues. 2/7: LECTURE: Russia’s Leap into the Abyss

READINGS:

Secondary:

Lieven, The End of Tsarist Russia, chs. 6-7, “1914” & “The July Crisis,” pp.

291-343.

Sources:

Aleksandr Blok, Selected Poems, pp. 26-36 (On Reserve).

Barker and Grant, The Russian Reader, “Dear Nick, Dear Sunny; The

Correspondence of Nicholas II and Empress Alexander,” pp. 140-150.

Thurs. 2/9:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Lieven, The End of Tsarist Russia, ch. 8, pp. “War, Revolution, and Empire,”

343-364.


Research Assignment (Due Fri., 2/10, 5:30 pm):

Identify three primary sources and/or memoirs. This could be a government order, such as

Lenin’s April Theses, a work of contemporaneous fiction such as Blok’s “The Twelve” poem, or a

memoir such as Sukhanov's The Russian Revolution.

Week 6: Russia’s Apocalypse

FILM:

Tues. 2/13: LECTURE: World War and Societ Mobilization

READINGS:

Secondary:

Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, chs. 1-2, “The Outbreak of War and the

Transformation of the Borderlands,” & “The Front Migrates,” pp. 21-

108.

Sources:

“Miliukov’s Speech to the Duma, November 14, 1916” Digital History Reader

Daly & Trofimov, Russia in War and Revolution:

“Excerpts from Soldier’s Letters, Intercepted by Censors, 1915-1917,”

pp. 11-13;

V. I. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism; A Popular

Outline, pp. 14-16;

Selections from the Correspondence of Nicholas and Alexandra,” pp. 21-

23;

“The Murder of Rasputin, December, 1916,” pp. 27-30.

Thurs. 2/15:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, chs. 3-4, “Remobilizing the Military,” &

“Remobilizing Society,” pp. 109-170.

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, ch. 1, “To Moscow,” pp. 3-26.


Research Assignment (No due date):

No assignment this week—work on your bibliographies

http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/eu/mod03_1917/evidence_detail_18.html

Week 7: 1917—The February Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 2/20: LECTURE: The Downfall of Autocracy

READINGS:

Secondary:

Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, ch. 5, “Revolution,” pp. 171-204.

Sources:

Barker and Grant, The Russian Reader, Viktor Shklovsky, “Revolution and the

Front,” 319-326;


“Petrograd’s Police Chief Describes the Breakdown of Authority,” pp.

38-41;

“A Socialist Describes the Creation of the Executive Committee of the

Petrograd Soviet,” pp. 43-47;

“Order No. 1, March 1, 1917,” pp. 48-49.

“The February Revolution in Irkutsk,” pp. 59-60;

Thurs. 2/22:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, chs. 8-9, “The Glorious Revolution,” & “The Freest

Country in the World,” pp. 307-406.

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, ch. 2, “The February Revolution,” pp. 27-42.



Prepare a working bibliography of primary sources, monographs and scholarly articles (as well

as other resources) you have identified as critical for your research project. Please use Turabian’s

Manual of Style format for this bibliography, NOT social science citation. Please be comprehensive.

Week 8: The “Dual Power”

FILM:

Tues. 2/27: LECTURE: An Unstable Settlement

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 10, “The Agony of the Provisional Government,”

pp. 406-473.

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, ch. 3, “Workers’ Power,” pp. 43-74.

Thurs. 3/1:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse, ch. 6, conclusion, “Decolonization,” & “Imperial

Apocalypse,” pp. 205-263.

Sources:


“Ukrainian Declaration and the Provisional Government’s Reply, June,

1917,” pp. 62-65;

“What is Revolution?” Novoe vremia, March 12, 1917, pp. 66-67;

“A Princess Experiences the Revolution, Early 1917,” pp. 69-70;

V. I. Lenin, “The April Theses,” April 4, 1917, pp. 70-72;

Alexander Kerensky at the Front, July 7, 1917, pp. 91-93;

Alexander Kerensky on the Kornilov Affair, August 1917, pp. 96-99.



Work on your paper proposals

Spring Break

Week 9: 1917—The October Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 3/13: LECTURE: The Bolshevik Seizure of Power

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 11, “Lenin’s Revolution,” pp. 474-555.

Sources:


“Vladimir Lenin Urges the Seizure of Power, September 12-14,” pp.

106;

“Vladimir Lenin Urges Immediate Seizure of Power, October 1, 1917,”

pp. 107;

“Speeches by Lenin and Trotsky to the Petrograd Soviet, October 25,

1917,” pp. 109-112.

“The October Revolution in Saratov, October 26-28,” pp. 117-119;

“A Soldier Rails against Officers and Elites, November 14, 1917; pp.

129;

Thurs. 3/15:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Trotsky, A History of the Russian Revolution, ch. 44, “The Capture of the

Winter Palace,” pp. 793-818. (On reserve)

Geldern, James. "Putting the Masses in Mass Culture: Bolshevik Festivals,

1918–1920." The Journal of Popular Culture 31.4 (1998): 123-144.

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, chs. 4-5, “Rob the Robbers,” & “The Russian

Vendee,” 75-116.


Research Assignment (Due Fri., 3/16, 5:30 pm):

Hand in your paper proposals. Each proposal should include a topic, a working thesis and a

discussion of the methodology you plan to use and its appropriateness. For instance, a proposal on

“Operation Barbarossa” might have a working thesis such as “Hitler's Invasion of the USSR was wildly

successful, not only due to Nazi planning but also Stalin's extraordinary incompetence. Even so, it was

overly ambitious as the Soviets rallied." Include a detailed bibliography.

Week 10: From Revolution to Terror

FILM:

Tues. 3/20: LECTURE: The Commune State

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 12, “The Last Dreams of the Old World,” pp.

555-589.

Sources:


V. I. Lenin, The State and Revolution, August, 1917, pp. 142-44;

Alexandra Kollontai, “Communism and the Family,” 1920, pp. 149-152;

“Letter by an Unknown Soldier to Lenin,” February 20, 1918,” pp. 170-

172;

“Gregorii Zinoviev at the All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions,

January 7-14, 1918, pp. 183.

“The Murder of the Imperial Russian Family,” pp. 130-133;

“A Local Misunderstanding about the Role of Muslim Clergy,”

September 1918,” pp. 137;

“The Well-Fed and the Hungry,” A Newspaper Commentary, April

1918, pp. 156.

Viktor Chernov, “Russia’s One-Day Parliament,” January 5, 1918, pp.

213-216;

Zinoviev’s Hysterical Reaction to the Assassination of Uritskii, August

30, 1918,” pp. 233-34.

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, ch. 6-7, “Soviet Power in 1918,” & “On the Don

Again,” pp. 117-150.

Thurs. 3/22:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Holquist, Peter. "" Conduct merciless mass terror": decossackization on the Don,

1919." Cahiers du Monde russe (1997): 127-162.

Sources:

Aleksandr Blok, The Twelve.


Research Assignment (To be scheduled):

Meet with me one-on-one to discuss your proposal.

Week 11: War Communism

FILM:

Tues. 3/27: LECTURE: War Communism and Total Mobilization

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 13, “The Revolution Goes to War,” pp. 589-649.

Sources:


“Lenin on the Inevitabilty of Civil War, December 1917,” pp. 238;

“Intellectuals in Late 1918 and Early 1919,” pp. 174-175;

“Ordinary Life in Moscow, as seen by a Schoolboy, November 1919,”

pp. 176-77;

“Notes of a Grain-Confiscation Worker, October 1918,” pp. 157-159;

“A Letter to Lenin from Peasants of Vologda Province, 1920,” pp. 163-

4;

“Correspondence of Maxim Gorky and V. I. Lenin,” September 6 and

15, 1919,” pp. 138-9;

“Putilov Plant Workers Denounce Bolshevik Policies, August 1918,” pp.

231-2;

“Winston Churchill Urges French Support for Anti-Bolshevik Forces,

Late 1919,” pp. 255-7;

Thurs. 3/29:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Isaac Babel, Red Calvary, “Argamak,” “A Letter,” “Dolgushov’s Death,” “The

Life of Matvey Rodionovich Pavlichenko,” “The Story of a Horse,” The

Continuation of the Story of a Horse,” “After the Battle,” pp. 180-185, 44-

48, 78-81, 89-95, 98-101, 116-121, 140-141, 160-163. (On Reserve)

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, chs. 8-11, “Retreat,” Prisoner of the Volunteer

Army,” “In the Novorosiisk Underground,” pp. 151-202.


Research Assignment: (None this week)

Work on detailed outline of research paper.

Week 12: The Third International and World Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 4/2: LECTURE: Soviet Russia and the World

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 14, “The New Regime Triumphant,” pp. 650-

720.

Sources:

The Baku Conference (1920) (on reserve)


“The Polish-Soviet War, 1920,” pp. 199-201;

Report on Activities of the Comintern, March 1921, pp. 201-3.

Thurs. 4/4:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Robert Service, Spies and Commissars; The Early Years of the Russian

Revolution, ch. 25, “Bolshevism: For and Against,” & ch. 27, “The

Spreading of Comintern,” pp. 259-267, 280-288. (On reserve)



Please hand in a fairly detailed outline of your planned research paper. Remember to include an

introduction and conclusion—as well as citations of all quotes and important arguments and data.

Week 13: Revolutionary Retreat and the Making of The USSR

FILM:

Tues. 4/11: LECTURE: The Soviet Thermidor?

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 15, “Defeat in Victory,” pp. 721-773

Sources:


“The Kronshtadt Revolt,” pp. 288-94;

“The New Economic Policy and the Countryside,” pp. 299-307;

“Draft Resolution on Party Unity, March 1921,” 308-309;

“Speech by Abram Gots, Trial of Socialist Revolutionaries,” pp. 314-

316;

“Official Denunciation of Non-Communist Intellectuals, August 1922,”

pp. 332-4;

“The Institutionalization of Soviet Censorship, December 2, 1922,” pp.

337-9

“The Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, December

1922,” p. 339.

Lenin’s “Testament,” December 1922 to January 1923,” p. 340.

Thurs. 4/13:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, ch. 16, “Deaths and Departures,” pp. 773-807.

Sources:

Dune, Notes of a Red Guard, chs.

11-12, “On My Own

Again,” “Rebellion in

Dagestan,” “Postscript,”

pp. 203-233.



Hand in draft paper.

Week 14: The Soviet Century—The Legacy of the Revolution

FILM:

Tues. 4/17: LECTURE:

READINGS:

Secondary:

Lieven, The End of Tsarist Russia, Afterword, 365-368.

Figes, A People’s Tragedy, “Conclusion,” pp. 808-824.

Sources:

Trotsky, “The Soviet Thermidor,” in The Revolution Betrayed.

Thurs. 4/19: No readings—final discussion

Discussion Question (Only for class):

Research Assignment (None due):

Draft papers returned

Finals Week

Fri. 4/20: Optional Review Session

WEDS. 5/3: FINAL PAPERS DUE (5:30 p.m.)

4/25-28, 5/1-5: ORAL EXAMS