FREE ESSAY ON RUSSIAN HISTORY 1917

RUSSIAN HISTORY 1917

Russia has always played a major roll in global politics, economics and thought. However,
in the past two centuries, Russia has had probably the greatest influence on the
international world in modern times, surpassed only by the United States. The Russia that
we've known this century though, has its roots in last centuries Russian. At the end of
the nineteenth century, Russia experienced great changes internally, politically,
socially and spiritually. The half century leading up to the Communist revolution in 1917
was a time filled with sweeping changes, literary triumphs and military defeat. All of
these factors played in the eventual revolution and not only affected politics and
thought in Russia, but in every nation on earth.
After the defeat of the Russian army in the Crimean War, Russian realized that it needed
to modernize its country, socially and militarily. Alexander II realized that to
modernize mean that Russia needed to westernize. So in 1861 he emancipated the serfs from
bondage. The emancipation was mean to bridge the gap between the elite and the general
population, but was not the first of such liberal western type reforms. Catherine and
Peter the Great had also made western type reforms during their respective reigns. All of
their reforms, and especially Alexander's, were influenced by western thought. These
thought were introduced into Russia by its Western European educated ruling class. Under
Alexander II, the ruling class began to see serfdom as an immoral part of society. This
moral problem was accompanied by the economics of the day, and the ethical conclusion was
that serfdom must be dismantled.
The abolition of serfdom was Alexander II greatest contribution to history. However, the
'Liberating Czar' enacted a whole series of fundamental changes including; comprehensive
reform of the judicial system that finally introduced the unheard of idea of equality,
trial by jury, public proceedings in legal matters and the impartiality of the courts. 
In the end though, none of these reforms really solved any of Russia's social or economic
problems, eventually called the 'accursed questions'. These were taken up by the various
political groups and writers of the time. The writers however were the most important. To
Russians, the writer is not only looked upon as an artist of the word, but also as a
guide and teacher in a deeper sense. The writer is supposed to understand life better
than ordinary mortals, so it's his duty to impart this knowledge to others in appropriate
shape and form.
The reign of Alexander II was an age of great literary achievement, the 'Golden Age' of
the Russian novel. Almost all of the great works of Russian fiction were produced during
this time. The best minds were attracted to the novel, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and
Asakov all produced some of the greatest literary works of all time during this period.
All of the writers during this time belonged to a political school of thought, and while
some of the schools worked for similar aims, they were all different and each one
possessed its own unique ideals. 
The Slavophiles were probably the oldest of the political schools at the time. The
Slavophiles during the reign of Alexander II were of the second generation, and they were
the ones to turn the Slavophile myth of old into a real modern political program. This
program included the endorsement of the Orthodox religion and a patrimonial monarchy. The
Slavophiles believed in the inherent virtue and goodness of the Russian people and
culture. A main part of this culture was the ideal of 'sobornost', that is, the communal
spirit. The Slavophiles saw this in action in the peasant communes, and believed that
communalism in conjunction with Christian communal worship would become the source of
Russia's sorely needed moral and cultural regeneration. In accordance with Russia's
regeneration, Slavophiles saw the west as corrupt and immoral. They saw Russia's destiny
as one in which it would save the west from spiritual decay. 
Fyodor Dostoevsky was Slavophilisms more down-to-earth and democratic member. He was also
the movements' most effective proponent. In his book Discourse on Pushkin, Dostoevsky
describes the Slavophile position.
The major opponents of the Slavophile position were the western influenced Nihilists.
These leftist radicals rejected religion, the authority of the state, the family, social
conventions and aesthetic values as irrelevant. They were highly influenced by Western
Europe in their atheism and material positivism. They flaunted the social rules and
conventions of the day, they wore dark sunglasses, men wore their hair long and the women
short. They were also socialists, but unlike their Slavophile counterparts, they did not
believe in a utopia. The nihilists had many sympathizers in the literary and journalistic
worlds, but most importantly Turgenev, who's novel 'Fathers and Sons' expressed the
nihilist point of view, and was widely acclaimed. 
The other main political force of the day was the populists. This relatively new ideology
was based in socialism, and shared some views with nihilism. They were anti-orthodoxy and
steeped in the scientific thinking of the west. However, instead of the material
positivism of the nihilists, the populists relied upon idealist moral principals of
social justice, social duty and human integrity. The populists wanted Russia to achieve
socialism, but without passing through the capitalist stage like many of the western
nations were currently in. 
During the summer of 1879, many young and rich populists went to the countryside to
follow their idealistic instincts, and teach the peasantry about socialism. However the
peasants saw these socialists as troublemakers and turned in many of them to police.
Populism though, did not die. Eventually the Populist Party turned into the Socialist
Revolutionary party, and would have an integral part in the 1917 revolution.
The one downfall to this great period of social, literary, and political breakthroughs
was that its leaders and prominent figures were of an older generation and they had no
worthy successors. Not one of the young writers for example, was seen as worthy to stand
beside the masters, and as the old men disappeared, no one was left to take their place.
The end of the era came soon after 1880. Alexander II was assassinated in 1881, the same
year that Dostoevsky died. Turgenev died in 1883 and Tolstoy withdrew from literature a
year later. 
In this short period of fifty years, the world saw a literary and political output like
nothing even experienced before. The accomplishments of the Russian writers were fueled
by deep political ideologies and in some cases deep spiritual conviction. Russia would
enter the twentieth century as a powerful and complex nation, and soon would soon emerge
as the world's first socialist-communist entity. Owing thanks to the political and
literary changes and advances of the late nineteenth century. 
Bibliography
Bibliography
A Cultural History of Russia by Joel Carmichael
Weybright and Talley; 1968
A Panorama of Russian Literature by Janko Larvin
Barnes and Noble; 1973
A Concise History of Russian Literature by Thais Lindstrom
NYU Press; 1966