Vlast', Power, and Revolution: the Fundamental Political Conflicts of 1917

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

As the centennial of 1917 approaches, historians are reexamining many of the fundamental political conflicts of 1917. Each member of this panel each will address a significant problem in understanding revolutionary politics and the formulation of power in 1917 (based upon assessment of new archival sources as well as reassessment of more familiar evidence). Lyandres will examine the import of conspiratorial circles in pre-revolutionary opposition politics on the formulation of the first Provisional Government. Lih will examine the importance of "soglashatelstvo" ("agreementism") in conflicts within and between revolutionary parties and factions in 1917. Thatcher will address arguments concerning chronology and the waning of the Provisional Government's ability to exercise power.

Sub Unit

• History: Russian and Eurasian, since 1924

Organizer

• Michael C. Hickey, Bloomsburg U

Chair

• Rex A. Wade, George Mason U

Papers

• Opposition Politics on the Eve of the February Uprising: Prerevolutionary Conspiracies and the Question of the First Provisional Government's Leadership - Semion Lyandres, U of Notre Dame

• Soglashatelstvo ('Agreementism'): The Fundamental Political Conflict of 1917. - Lars Thomas Lih, Independent Scholar

• The First Provisional Government, March-May 1917 - Ian Thatcher, U of Ulster (UK)

Discussant

• Michael C. Hickey, Bloomsburg U