Utopia's Discontents: Russian Emigres and the Quest for Freedom, 1830s-1930s

Lenin arrived in Petrograd in April 1917 after living in exile for over a decade. The returnees plunged themselves into politics, competing to shape the future of a vast country recently liberated from tsarist rule. The 1917 revolution marked the dawn of a new day in Russian politics, but it also represented the continuation of decades-long conversations that had begun in emigration and were exported back to Russia. Faith Hillis examines how émigré communities evolved into revolutionary social experiments in the heart of bourgeois cities, creating new networks, institutions, and cultural practices that reflected their values and realized the ideal world of the future in the present.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 360 pages
\n Publication date: 21 September 2021
\n Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
\n

In April 1917, Lenin arrived at Petrograd's Finland Station, marking his first return to Russian soil in over a decade. For seventeen years, the Bolshevik leader had lived in exile, traversing Europe's numerous Russian colonies, including London, Paris, and Geneva. Thousands of fellow exiles accompanied Lenin on his eastward journey in 1917, each grappling with their own sense of displacement. Upon their return, these activists plunged themselves into the political landscape, vying to shape the future of a vast country recently liberated from tsarist rule. However, their ideas bore a striking resemblance to the Russia envisioned by residents of the distant colonies, as much as they reflected the realities on the ground.

The 1917 revolution heralded a new era in Russian politics, yet it also carried forward the ongoing dialogues that had originated in emigration and were exported back to Russia. In her insightful work, Faith Hillis explores how émigré communities transformed into revolutionary social experiments within the heart of bourgeois cities. Feminists, nationalist activists, and Jewish intellectuals, driven by a desire to liberate and uplift populations oppressed by the tsarist regime, viewed the colonies as utopian enclaves, fostering the creation of new networks, institutions, and cultural practices that embodied their values and aspired to realize an ideal world in the present.

The colonies exerted a profound influence on their European host societies as well, shaping international debates about freedom on both the left and the right. Émigrés' efforts to reshape the world played a pivotal role in the articulation of socialism, liberalism, anarchism, and Zionism across borders. Yet, these endeavors also generated unexpected and explosive discontent.

\n Weight: 644g\n
Dimension: 167 x 241 x 39 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780190066338\n \n