Nation as Reaction: The Political Mobilization of the Far Right in Imperial Russia

• In Event: Interdisciplinary History I: The Russian Empire

Abstract

This paper examines determinants of the formation of far right parties in a developing society, considering an understudied case of the Russian Empire during the revolution of 1905--1907. Using previously untapped district-level information on the branches of far right monarchist parties and their publishing activity along with populational literacy and ethno-religious and occupational composition in rural and urban areas, we find that the local presence of far right parties and organizations in 1907--at the peak of their popularity--was strongly associated with literacy among Orthodox Christians, which is consistent with the influence of party propaganda. There is a strong negative relationship between the share of Orthodox and the organizational strength of the far right, which probably reflects the impact of perceived threats to the dominant ethno-religious group posed by minorities. We also show that the organizational strength of far right parties, seeking to combat the revolution, is positively associated with the intensity of revolutionary conflict, but only in rural areas.

Authors

• Dmitrii Kofanov, U of Pittsburgh

• Carles Boix, Princeton U