Russian Populism: A History

About the Author Christopher Ely is Professor of History at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University, USA. He is the author of This Meager Nature: Landscape and National Identity in Imperial Russia (2002) and Underground Petersburg: Radical Populism, Urban Space and the Tactics of Subversion in Reform-Era Russia (2016). He is also the co-editor, along with Mark Bassin, of Space, Place and Power in Modern Russia: Essays in the New Spatial History (2010).Jonathan D. Smele is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at Queen Mary, University of London. For a decade (2002-2012) he was editor of Revolutionary Russia, the journal of the Study Group on the Russian Revolution and is the author of The 'Russian' Civil Wars 1916-1926:Ten Years That Shook the World (2016), Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926 (2016; 2 vols.) and Civil War in Siberia: The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920 (1997). He is also the co-editor, along with Anthony J. Heywood, of The Russian Revolution of 1905: Centenary Perspectives (2005) and compiled The Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921: An Annotated Bibliography (2003).Michael S. Melancon is Professor Emeritus at Auburn University, USA. He is a co-editor of the Wildman Series, a monograph series issued by Slavica Publishers (Indiana University, USA) that focuses on the revolutionary experience in Russia. Michael is the author of The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Russian Anti-War Movement, July 1914 Through February 1917 (1990) and The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of Late Tsarist Society (2005). He is also the co-editor of New Labor History: Russian Workers' Experiences and Discourses, 1800-1917 (2002; with Alice Pate), Russia in the European Context, 1789-1917: A Member of the Family (2005; with Susan P. Mccaffray), Russia's Century of Revolutions: Parties, People, Places (2012; with Donald J. Raleigh). Michael also serves on the editorial board for the journal, Revolutionary Russia. Product Description Russian populism, the belief that the peasantry embodied authentic Russian identity and once liberated from their poverty would lead the country to a brighter future, has animated Russian thought across the political spectrum and inspired much of Russia's world-historical literature, music and art in the 19th century. This book offers the fullest and most authoritative account of the rise, proliferation and influence of populist values and ideology in modern Russia to date.Christopher Ely explores the complete story of Russian populism. Starting from the cursed question of how to reconnect the popular masses with the Europeanized elite, he examines the populist obsession with the peasant commune as a model for a future socialist Russia. He shows how the desire for revolution led Russian radicals to flood into the countryside and later to pioneer terrorism as a form of political action. He delves into those artists influenced by populist ideals, and he tells the story of the collapse of populist optimism and its rebirth among the Socialist Revolutionary neo-populists. The book demonstrates that populism existed in forms ranging from radical socialist to religious conservative. Blending lively theoretical analysis with a wealth of primary sources and illustrations, Russian Populism provides a highly engaging overview of this complex phenomenon; it is invaluable reading for anyone interested in the momentous final decades of the Russian Empire. Review "Dr Ely has written a book, accessible to students, on the populist movement among educated Russians after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. He explains how populists understood the newly-freed peasantry, how they imagined the peasants could be incorporated into the rest of society, and their hopes for a progressive future for Russia. The book ranges from terrorism to populist-inspired literature, art and music. Tracing the movement’s origins before 1861,