Russian revolutionary democracy and its image in the Finnish military periodical press in 1917

Abstract

The aim of the research is to formulate a definition of Russian revolutionary democracy and its image based on materials from the Finnish Russian-language periodical press. The article demonstrates different models of perception of the revolutionary process, stemming from the intellectual activity of political agitators. The latter were interested in attracting the military to their side due to ideological considerations and power ambitions, which was embodied in the material intended for agitation, and approaches to its publication and dissemination. An important tool of agitation at that time was the Finnish Russian-language revolutionary periodical press, the widespread demand for which arose in connection with military censorship and the subsequent removal of information restrictions. This prompted the use of the political term "Russian revolutionary democracy" and attempts to model the image of this definition in order to adapt the propaganda material to the target audience. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian historical science, based on the material of Russian-language Finnish military periodicals, an attempt is made to develop the concept of "Russian revolutionary democracy" and reconstruct the image of this definition. The importance of developing this definition is due to the need to identify the regular features of the revolutionary process in the Grand Duchy of Finland. As a result of the research, a definition of Russian revolutionary democracy and its image was formulated. Under the influence of the dynamics of the revolutionary process, the exploitation of the term in periodicals changed, which led to the transformation of the term into an image with anthropomorphic features described by means of artistic expression. This transformation was associated with the need to simplify the understanding of this term not only by the target audience of agitators, but also by the agitators themselves, some of whom were not competent. This was allowed with the assistance of authoritative party leaders and revolutionary organizations that claimed the role of leadership. The symbolic meaning of the concept of revolutionary democracy was used by opposing revolutionary forces as an element of self-identification and status.

References

1. Андронов С. А. Боевое оружие партии. Л.: Лениздат, 1962.
2. Андронов С. А. Большевистская печать в трех революциях. М.: Политиздат, 1978.
3. Бажанов Д. А. Гельсингфорс в дни корниловского мятежа: слом «революционной демократии» на Балтийском флоте? // Политическая история России ХХ века: к 85-летию профессора Виталия Ивановича Старцева: сборник научных трудов конференции (г. Санкт-Петербург, 22 октября 2015 г.). СПб.: Российский государственный педагогический университет им. А. И. Герцена, 2016.
4. Бажанов Д. А., Бугаев Р. А. Деятельность комиссаров революционных органов власти в Финляндии в период подавления выступления Л. Г. Корнилова // Санкт-Петербург и страны Северной Европы. 2020. № 22 (1-2).
5. Дубровская Е. Ю. Гельсингфорсский Совет депутатов армии, флота и рабочих (март-октябрь 1917 г.). Петрозаводск: Карельский научный центр Российской академии наук, 1992.
6. Дубровская Е. Ю. Российские военнослужащие и население Финляндии в годы Первой мировой войны (1914-1918): учебное пособие. Петрозаводск: Изд-во Петрозаводского государственного университета, 2008.
7. Сазонов И. С. Большевистское слово. Идейно-политическая работа большевиков Петрограда в 1917 году. Л.: Лениздат, 1978.
8. Свечников М. С. Революция и гражданская война в Финляндии, 1917-1918 годы. М., 1923.
9. Chattopadhyay K. Revolutionary democracy in 1917 and the Bolsheviks // Economic and Political Weekly. 2017. Vol. 52.
10. Malik S. The Revolutionary Democracy of 1917 // Jacobin. 2018. April 27. https://jacobin.com/2018/04/1917-russian-revolution-democracy-bolsheviks
11. Saul N. Lenin’s Decision to Seize Power: The Influence of Events in Finland // Europe-Asia Studies. 1973. Vol. 24 (4).

Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: January 2, 2025.
• Published: February 13, 2025.

Keywords

• русская революционная демократия
• военная периодическая печать
• революционная агитация
• Великое княжество Финляндское
• Областной комитет армии, флота и рабочих Финляндии
• Russian revolutionary democracy
• military periodical press
• revolutionary agitation
• Grand Duchy of Finland
• Regional Committee of the Army, Navy and Workers of Finland

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)
© 2025 Gramota Publishing, LLC

User license

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)