Heralds of Revolution Russian Students and the Mythologies of Radicalism

by Morrissey, Susan K.

• ISBN13: 9780195115444
• ISBN10: 0195115449
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-02-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Reading Russian revolutionary culture through its stories, author Susan Morrissey examines how the quest for consciousness evolved into a master-plot of student radicalism. Based on interdisciplinary sources and extensive research in Russian archives, this study throws new light on the dynamics of political and cultural change in late Imperial Russia and poses provocative questions about both the pre-revolutionary antecedents and the founding myths of the Soviet Union. This work will appeal to historians of Russia and the Soviet Union, as well as specialists in Slavic culture and literature.

Author Biography

Susan Morrissey is currently Research Fellow at Friedrich-Alexander Universitat in Germany.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION Narrative and Identity in Russian Radical Culture	3	(14)
Part One The Making of Revolutionary Heroes	17	(110)
ONE Myths and Memories: The New People in the University	17	(27)
The Birth of Student Radicalism	20	(3)
The Studenchestvo	23	(4)
Radicalism as Bildungsroman	27	(6)
Students' Stories	33	(5)
From a Female Point of View	38	(6)
TWO The Rise of Consciousness: The Student Movement, 1899-1904	44	(31)
The 1899 Strike	45	(6)
A Bourgeois Studenchestvo?	51	(2)
The Call of Solidarity	53	(3)
Assessments of 1899	56	(2)
Turning to the Streets	58	(6)
The Boundaries of Community	64	(4)
The Period of Differentiation	68	(7)
THREE Righteous Men and Sinners: Honor and the Politics of "Personal" Life	75	(24)
The Politics of Purity	78	(2)
The Politics of Gender	80	(8)
The Politics of Daily Life	88	(11)
FOUR When the Street Entered the University: The Revolution of 1905-1907	99	(28)
Students on Strike	101	(2)
The Powers of Studenchestvo	103	(3)
The Hearth of Democracy	106	(3)
The People's University	109	(7)
The Specter of Violence	116	(1)
Temple of Science or Building for Meetings?	117	(1)
The Free University	118	(9)
Part Two The Mire of Life	127	(100)
FIVE From Icon of New Order to Symbol of Disorder: Students and the End of Revolution	127	(28)
A Reappraisal of Values	128	(3)
Rewriting the Past	131	(3)
The Lures of Capitalism	134	(6)
The Triumphant March of History	140	(6)
The Decline and Fall of Studenchestvo	146	(9)
SIX The Promise of Education: Women Students in the Public Eye	155	(23)
Prostitute and Mother	157	(3)
Fruits of Revolution	160	(2)
Women in the University	162	(6)
A New Woman?	168	(5)
Feminism, Socialism, and Science	173	(5)
SEVEN "It Is Good to Die Young": Heroic Ends and the Search for a New Story	178	(28)
Epidemic Suicide and the Revolutionary Experience	182	(5)
The Epidemic in the Press	187	(1)
From a Poverty of Means to a Poverty of Values	188	(9)
The Eternal Masquerade	197	(9)
EIGHT Radicalism Reborn? Students in Protest, War, and Revolution	206	(21)
Autonomy in Ashes	207	(7)
Science under Guard	214	(4)
Patriotism and Protest	218	(5)
Revolution	223	(4)
CONCLUSION Heroism and Everyday Life	227	(4)
EPILOGUE The Making of the "Former People"	231	(4)
Abbreviations	235	(2)
Notes	237	(30)
Bibliography	267	(12)
Index	279