Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia

Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth Century Russia is a comprehensive study of the participation of Jewish people in the Russian revolutionary movement of the nineteenth century. Approaching the subject from various angles--cultural, sociological, psychological and political--it examines when and why Jews joined the Russian revolution, the importance of their contribution, and the extent to which their roles were determined by their Jewishness. The book offers a new perspective on a Jewish community in the grip of modernity, and a new understanding of those who sought their salvation in revolution.

Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia is a carefully researched study of 100 years of Russian-Jewish revolutionary history, exploring the origins and characteristics of Jewish participation in Russian revolutionary politics between 1790 and 1890. Focusing sharply on Jewish motivations and the qualities of Russian Jewish activists, it drastically reverses the traditional historiographical trend of de-Judaising and minimising the role of Jews who joined Russian revolutionary circles, especially during the movement's Populist phase of the 1870s and 1880s. By the same token, it challenges many clichés and assumptions which have governed conventional wisdom on the radical behaviour of so-called assimilationist 'non-Jewish Jews'. This revisionist approach restores a neglected yet important group of Jews to their rightful place in the historical experience of the Jewish people in Russia.

Preface. 1. Introduction: The beginnings of Russian Jewish radicalism, 1790–1868; Part I. The Chaikovskii Circles: Jewish Radicals in the Formative Stage of Revolutionary Populism: 2. Jewish student activists in St Petersburg; 3. Chaikhovskyist Jews in Moscow, Odessa, and Kiev; 4. The rebellious Jewish youth of Vilna; 5. Socialist Jews and Russian populism; Part II. The Land and Freedom Party: Jews and the Politicisation of Revolutionary Populism, 1875–1879: 6. Jewish 'generals of revolution'; 7. The heresy of political terrorism; Part III. The Party of the People's Will: Jewish Terrorists of Socialist Conviction, 1879–1887: 8. Motives of revolution; 9. Technicians of terrorism; 10. The pogroms of 1881–1882; 11. Epigones and pioneers; 12. Conclusion: Haskalah and the socialist promise of salvation; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia is a comprehensive study of the participation of Jews in the Russian revolutionary movement from 1790 to 1890. It offers a new perspective on a Jewish community in the grip of modernity, and a new understanding of those who sought their saluation in revolution.