Contenu du sommaire : 1917, un moment révolutionnaire

1917, A Revolutionary Moment
The events of 1917 in Russia may seem distant today, especially given that the idea of radical social revolution has lost some of its power to seduce over the course of past century, due to the countless tragedies and failures encountered along the way. By examining commemorative events, this article first analyses how narratives and counter-narratives of the Russian Revolution were developed. Despite being later modified by the rise of Stalinism and the advent of the Cold War, these narratives have nonetheless remained profoundly shaped by the October Revolution and the concept of the blank slate. Next, this article looks at the rediscovery of the full diversity of the revolutionary period, of the various possibilities that have traditionally been obscured by a polarized description of the events. Working from more peripheral sources, historians have elaborated new timelines and interpretations that overlap with the questions of war, the Tsarist Empire, and national and colonial emancipation. Commemorating the events of 1917 one hundred years on is an opportunity to gain new perspectives on a historical moment of unprecedented social and political upheaval.

1917 and the Constituent Assembly in Russia
Preparations for elections to the Constituent Assembly spanned all of 1917. How to represent the Russian Empire's national diversity was a topic of debate, even as the Empire itself was in the process of disintegrating. Minority representatives sought the right to guarantee a certain number of seats for their own deputies in the future assembly. The elections finally took place in November 1917, soon after the Bolsheviks had seized power; one quarter of the electorate voted for lists that referenced nationality in some way. The results thus revealed widespread identification with specific territories and their representatives, on the one hand, but also a deep attachment to the unity of Russia as a federal state, on the other hand.

Kerenski the Untouchable
This article focuses on the extremely popular figure of Alexander Kerensky, the “citizen minister” who was first appointed Minister of Justice and then Minister of War in the Provisional Government formed after the February Revolution. Even though Lenin appeared to hold a very negative view of this Russian Louis Blanc (in reference to the 1848 revolution in France), the Bolsheviks did not dare to criticise him publicly ; Kerensky was seen as “untouchable” – at least until the first signs of disaffection from the soldiers appeared. Comparing contemporary writings by Kerensky and Lenin with those that they penned a posteriori, this article challenges many of the received ideas regarding political culture in revolutionary Russia.

The Russian Revolutions as seen from Europe at War
What did people in war-torn Europe know about the revolution that engulfed Russia in 1917 ? Very little, in fact. There was an enormous gap between the vast scale and historical significance of the Russian events of 1917 and the paucity of information on the matter that managed to trickle down to the broader European public. However, there was no shortage of foreign witnesses of this tumultuous period. Nevertheless, through the lens of military concerns, coupled with the two-fold legacy of representations of the Russian Empire and national appropriations of the socialist internationalist and revolutionary project, a set of myths were shaped that went beyond the actual events and cultivated the political imagery of the partisans of the October Revolution, as well as that of their opponents.

The 1917 Revolution in the Caucasian Borderlands
The shock waves of the February Revolution were felt even in the farthest reaches of the Tsarist Empire, in Eastern Anatolia and Northern Iran, territories that had been occupied by the Russian Army since 1915. The downfall of autocracy in Petrograd was interpreted locally through the prism of regional concerns and gave rise to fraternization between Russian citizens and their Iranian and Ottoman subjects on the basis of shared revolutionary ambitions. The political initiatives launched in the spring of 1917 nonetheless clashed with the limits of the shared memory of past revolutionary events. Ultimately, the socio-economic tensions latent in a disintegrating political space thwarted this attempt at transnational solidarity on the sidelines of the Revolution.

Ukraine and the 1917 Revolution
How did the 1917 Revolution in Ukraine turn into a properly Ukrainian revolution? Ruling out explanations that stress only the strength of local nationalism and the impetus granted by the period's revolutionary rhythm, this article shall explain how the outlying territories of the former Russian Empire gradually distanced themselves from the centre. We shall instead focus on the Provisional Government's repeated refusals to accommodate the cultural and political autonomy of Ukraine, which thus forced Ukrainian revolutionaries to become opponents rather than partners. At the same time, this article underscores the limits of this separation : land distribution remained incomplete, the country still had to shoulder the burden of the Army, the rights of minorities were not fully guaranteed, and Bolshevik subversion remained an issue.

The Revolutionary Situation in Turkestan (February 1917-February 1918)The February revolution and the arrest of the governor of Turkestan in 1917 signalled the end of the colonial regime, consequently raising high hopes. However, this democratic spirit was rapidly undermined by the pervasiveness of a revolutionary ideology marked by the old colonial mentality, by the tensions emerging between various political currents (Slavic and Muslim populations), and above all, by a major economic and food crisis. Rather than analysing a vast period that encompasses revolutions, civil war and the continuum of long-term violence, this article shall examine a smaller period of time and all its internal dynamics: that of a revolutionary situation, properly speaking, the latter being defined as a political State where multiple sovereignties co-exist. This situation lasted one year, including the events of October 1917, spanning from February 1917 to the fall of the autonomous government of Kokand (in February 1918).

The Russian Peasant Revolution
In 1917, peasants were involved not only in the national political revolution (the end of the monarchy, democratisation), but also conducted their own revolution in their villages and in the military. Disappointed by the unfulfilled promises of their national leaders, peasants decided to take control of local agrarian, agricultural and social matters. Feelings of class solidarity were strengthened and the community imposed its tyranny. This situation nonetheless did not prevent the emergence of a desire to become personally involved and lay claim to a collective peasant conception of the nation's regeneration. The Russian peasant revolution of 1917 was unique in its combination of local socio-economic concerns and global ambitions of social transformation, reasoned protest and physical violence, all of which were supposed to institute a fairer social order.

The Confiscation of Personal Property in Russia (1917-1923)This article looks at the early years of the Soviet State from the angle of personal property in everyday revolutionary life, as well as the administrative practices and legal procedures associated with the former. Drawing upon individual complaints, legal documents, and internal investigations, among other sources, this article traces the history of the multifaceted dispossession that was operated amidst a context of revolution and civil war in two major cities, Moscow and Petrograd. It also examines the institutional infighting that occurred at all levels in an attempt to use dispossession, officially a weapon of the State, for personal gain. It suggests that two key dilemmas in early Soviet society (the creation of an authoritative state and a Socialist relationship to property) were resolved simultaneously, through a process of administrative clarification and simplification that was applied retroactively, beginning in the early 1920s, to the messy history of the first three years of the Revolution.

A New “Time of Troubles”This paper analyses the personal diaries of three Russian historians, Mihail Bogoslovsky, Yuri Gautier and Stepan Veselovskii, during the Russian Revolution, emphasising in particular their accounts of the political and social situation in Russia between February and October 1917. Compared to some of the other reactions of the intelligentsia, these historians had no illusions with regard to the regime change: they had a pessimistic view of the process that had been initiated. As early as February of that year, these historians began to interpret the revolutionary moment as a new Time of Troubles (1598–1613), whose destructive actions, social unrest, stirrings of independence on the fringes and foreign appetites would precipitate the collapse of the State and lead the country to lose all integrity.

Christian Dynamics and Reconfigurations in the Wake of the Russian Revolution
While 1917 is often seen as the beginning of a long, uninterrupted ordeal for Christians in Russia, the reality was in fact more complex. After the great uprising of 1905, the February Revolution reenergised a number of initiatives among the various Christian denominations, the most famous being the Moscow Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (summer 1917–autumn 1918). The year 1917 was therefore a turning point, marked by significant intra-denominational reconfigurations, the establishment of a new relationship between the State and society, and a tangible shift in the representation of religious actors.

Revolution or Rebellion?
This article examines the events of 1917 in the context of the major systemic crises of the Russian State and in broader relation to war, globalisation and civilizational unrest. It suggests looking at a revolution that was ruled by the emotions of the masses, in turn analysing the important myths and misinterpretations that the Russian Revolution has inspired for over a century.