The St Petersburg/Petrograd Mezhraionka, 1913-1917: The Rise and Fall of a Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party Unity Faction

Author: Thatcher, Ian D.

Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 87, Number 2, 1 April 2009 , pp. 284-321(38)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

Memoirs, encyclopaedias and textbooks on the Russian Revolution make reference to the Mezhraionka, a `unity' faction of Russian social democracy that existed largely in St Petersburg/Petrograd from 1913 to 1917. Despite its fame, to date there no specialist article or monograph has been written. This is the first comprehensive account of the Mezhraionka's origins, development and disappearance when, in 1917, it joined the Bolshevik faction. Sources are scarce, especially on ordinary membership, so that on many key questions one encounters a blank: `all that is solid melts into air'. Nevertheless the article questions or challenges some major historiographical claims, including that the October Revolution is better understood as a Mezhraionka Revolution.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Brunel University

Publication date: 2009-04-01

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The Review is the oldest British journal in the field, having been in existence since 1922. Edited and managed by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, it covers not only the modern and medieval languages and literatures of the Slavonic and East European area, but also history, culture, and political studies.