Heralds of Revolution: Russian Students and the Mythologies of Radicalism

by Susan K. Morrissey

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195353983
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/05/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

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

Editorial Reviews

"Morrissey tells this story...with great intelligence and sophistication. Her admirable effort is the most successful yet in the Russian and Soviet field at examining very carefully, and on the basis of extensive archival research and rich memoir literature, the inextricable links between discourse and consciousness, and the ways in which discourse itself structures social behavior as well as social meaning...Heralds of Revolution is essential reading for historians in and outside the Russian field."—Historian

"[W]ill be useful to those studying corporate identities of various social groups as well as those specifically interested in the Russian studenchestvo, intelligentsia and their role in the Russian revolution."—The Russian Review

"Morrissey makes good use of memoirs of student life. She ably demonstrates concurrences of the mythical and the real. Her style is crisp and lucid and a pleasure to read."—Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher