What's The Historical Context of The Events of The Novel?
As I stated on the previous page, in order for a proper analysis of the novel to be made its overall context must be understood, and so here on this page I am discussing the historical context of the novel, that is the historical events referenced and that transpired within it.
The most general piece of historical context of the novel relates back again to the quesiton of why it was written in the first place. Essentially in the classical Marxist worldview of things, history is driven by the struggle between oppressing and oppressed classes, rising and falling classes. Or as Marx put it "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles"[1]. I could get more into the nitty gritty of the details of the marxist worldview of history, historical materialism, but that would veer beyond the scope and purpose of the site a bit so I will just encourage, you, the reader conduct their own investigation on the subject matter. A quick search of "historical materialism" followed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, or Mao, or any other notable figure of interest or just the term on its own, will yield results of interests and lots to read up about. Essentially, however, it is via this understanding of history, that this novel positions itself. That is an agitational piece for the rising of the proletarian (working) class to overthrow the ruling bourgeois (rich) class. Particularly since it is perceived that we, even now, are in the period where the bourgeoisie is on its way out and the proletariat is the rising class soon to sieze power.
And so the events of the novel are taking place in the context of a world in chaos, so to speak, as was the situation in the early 20th century. When various political ideologies were vying for supremacy not just within the former Russian Empire but across the globe as well. In the novel the shifting of control of the village where the novel takes place, plays a major role in the development of the plot and communication of the themes overall, from the SRs, to the Ukrainian nationalists, to the Bolsheviks, to Polish Legionaries, and then back to the Bolsheviks.
Why Was There Revolution in The Russian Empire?
Revolution broke out in the Russian Empire first with the February revolution of 1917 led by a coalition of forces that overthrew the tsar due dissatisfaction with the war, WW1, food shortages, economic hardships, autocratic rule, among other things. Then secondly with the October revolution in the same year lead by the Bolsheviks due to the other coalition forces inability to uphold their promises, notably failing to end the Russian involvement in WW1.[2]. Another thing of note was the failure to properly eradicate feudalism in the Russian Empire which sharpened the class divides of the society and so provided a wide base of support for revolution, of any kind whether national or social. Before the October revolution the Russian Empire was still comprised of 80 percent peasants,[3] all the while an opulent aristocracy still existed living lavish lives and violently repressing any movement even for the most basic of rights and of course the burgeoning bourgeoisie and remaining feudal landlord and oppressing classes that made the lives of the peasants and developing proletariat miserable. It is thus no surprise that when the opportunity struck the entire empire shattered into a thousand warring shards.
Also important to note is the aspect of national oppression in the Russian Empire. From around the 1500s through till the 1800s, Russia underwent massive expansions mainly eastward but really in all directions. As a result many different nationalities, Ukrainians, Caucasians, Baltic peoples, North Asians, among countless others, were subjugated under Russian rule. And as the October revolution approached the Russian governemnt underwent ever more campaigns to "Russify" their subjugated national minorities, particularly the western ones. That is force them to adopt Russian cultural customs and language. These campaigns were extremely unpopular and lead to increased rebellion of the national minorities against Russian rule.[4] The Russian Empire had so many caged national minorities within it and was so repressive to them that is was sometimes referred to as a "prison house of nations". And so when revolution broke out essentially every nation broke away, for one reason or another, and attempted to establish their own independence. They nearly all, for some reason or another, wound up being reintegrated into what became the Soviet Union. They, however, were given actual national autonomy and even right to secession if that was a popular policy among them. Though with the degeneration of Soviet socialism in its latter years Russification, ironically, resumed, though to a significantly less extreme degree. The most dramatic former SSR, Soviet Socialist Republic, being Belarus where Belarussian is considered a vulnerable language by UNESCO now.[5]
Who Were The Factions Fighting in The Civil War?
Next up would be the factions in the civil war. Naming them all would be a tedious and difficult task, as well as unnecessary, so I will only describe the ones which make an appearance in the Novel.
The "Socialist Revolutionary Party" - The Socialist Revolutionary Party, more often referred to as "SRs" or "SR party", was a major progressive party at the tail end of the Russian Empire. Between the February and October revolutions they were the most popular and powerful party. After the October revolution they split into left and right factions. The left faction joining with the Bolsheviks before they were criticized and suppressed, and the right faction joing with the "Whites". They were considered the ideological successors of the "Narodniki", populists, which was a major progressive force based among the peasantry of the former Russian Empire before the revolution(s) which mainly engaged in terrorist activities against the tsarist government.[6]
The Ukrainian Nationalists - The group denoted as "Ukrainian nationalists" is a bit more vague as it refers to multiple forces which sometimes fought each other. But the main forces of note were the West Ukraine People's Republic and the Ukraine People's Republic, ironically both failed to garner mass support.[7] The nationalists play a pretty big part in the first volume, and if there is any indicator about how popular they were, the leader of the Nationalists, Symon Petliura, was assassinated in Paris, while in exile by a Ukrainian jew. The final words he heard allegedly were "dirty dog, killer of my people, defend yourself!" And the assassin wrote in a note when he gave himself in, "I have killed Petliura to avenge the death of the thousands of pogrom victims in Ukraine who were massacred by Petliura's forces without his taking any steps to prevent these massacres."[8]
The "Bolsheviks" - The Bolsheviks of course being the most important faction in the novel, and of course in actual reality as well. They followed the line espoused by Lenin in regard to Marxism. They fought for the interests of the peasants, workers, and other oppressed classes. They were initially just the radical faction of the "Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party" Before splitting with the moderates in 1903. They were the lead force in the October revolution which overthrew the Kerensky, SR, government which thus triggered the civil war.[9]
The "Second Polish Republic" - The Second Polish Republic in the civil was mainly interested in irredentist claims from the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth which is what drove them to attack the Soviets since they had been pursuing to resecure those lands after the German withdraw.[10] The Polish Republic having a major impact on the events of the latter chapters of volume one of the novel.
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