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The First Russian Revolution, 1825: The Decembrist Movement: Its Origins, Development, and Significance
Paperback
- GenresHistoryRussian History
328 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1965
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December 15, 2020
I was looking for a book on the Decembrists and finally found this one written in 1937 by a Stanford professor. It is a solid book that outlines the background of the movement, its historical context, the events of December 1825, the proceedings against the Decembrists in the wake of their unsuccessful rebellion, their lives in Siberian exile and their legacy. A more recent book would no doubt have a different historiographical perspective, and I assume that additional source materials are available today that would add to an updated account, but the book did not feel dated and it gave me the more complete understanding of the Decembrists that I was seeking.
From my previous background in Russian history, I had always thought of the Decembrists as naive schoolboys who were playing at revolution. When I read Isaiah Berlin's book on Russian Thinkers a few months ago, I began to wonder whether I had underestimated them. I see now that I did. They were definitely naive, but they were much more serious in their organization and philosophy than I had previously thought, and they were much more than schoolboys.
Pavel Pestel was a good organizer and a strong leader. If he had had more time and had better support from the Northern Society, he might have succeeded in putting together a more viable revolutionary organization. Even the fatal demonstration in the Senate Square on December 14, 1825 might have gone differently and blossomed into a viable revolution, if everyone had performed their assigned roles and different decisions had been made at critical points.
If the Decembrists had succeeded, it is interesting to speculate whether they would have taken Russia in a different direction. They had high ideals and wanted the best for the Russian people, but so did the Bolsheviks. And they had some of the same elements in their program that caused the Bolsheviks to ultimately become a regime of oppression instead of freedom -- lack of a concrete plan for a new government after the old one was toppled, a plan for a "temporary" dictatorship while the government was being organized (perhaps for a decade!), a willingness to use terror as an instrument of policy, utopian and unrealistic land reform schemes that would be imposed from above, and, last but not least, planning for the new government to have a force of secret police. In many ways the Decembrists were heroes, but there was also a little bit of Stalin lurking inside them.
From my previous background in Russian history, I had always thought of the Decembrists as naive schoolboys who were playing at revolution. When I read Isaiah Berlin's book on Russian Thinkers a few months ago, I began to wonder whether I had underestimated them. I see now that I did. They were definitely naive, but they were much more serious in their organization and philosophy than I had previously thought, and they were much more than schoolboys.
Pavel Pestel was a good organizer and a strong leader. If he had had more time and had better support from the Northern Society, he might have succeeded in putting together a more viable revolutionary organization. Even the fatal demonstration in the Senate Square on December 14, 1825 might have gone differently and blossomed into a viable revolution, if everyone had performed their assigned roles and different decisions had been made at critical points.
If the Decembrists had succeeded, it is interesting to speculate whether they would have taken Russia in a different direction. They had high ideals and wanted the best for the Russian people, but so did the Bolsheviks. And they had some of the same elements in their program that caused the Bolsheviks to ultimately become a regime of oppression instead of freedom -- lack of a concrete plan for a new government after the old one was toppled, a plan for a "temporary" dictatorship while the government was being organized (perhaps for a decade!), a willingness to use terror as an instrument of policy, utopian and unrealistic land reform schemes that would be imposed from above, and, last but not least, planning for the new government to have a force of secret police. In many ways the Decembrists were heroes, but there was also a little bit of Stalin lurking inside them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review