The clash between scholarship and politics\u2014between truth and propaganda\u2014was ruthless for historians in Istpart, the Russian Communist Central Committee’s official historical department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Istpart was tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution<\/em>, Larry E. Holmes examines the role of Istpart’s historians, in both the Moscow office and a regional branch in Viatka, who initially believed they could adhere to the traditional standards of research and simultaneously provide a history useful to the party. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party’s master narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revising the Revolution<\/em> explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Preface Larry E. Holmes<\/strong> is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of South Alabama. He is author of Kremlin and the Schoolhouse: Reforming Education in Soviet Russia, 1917\u20131931<\/em>; Stalin’s School: Moscow’s Model School No. 25, 1931\u20131937<\/em>; and Stalin’s World War II Evacuations: Triumph and Troubles in Kirov<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Praise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Revising the Revolution<\/em> is a fascinating project that engages both with the relevant historiography and surviving archival documentation in serious and thoughtful ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ~David Brandenberger<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Revising the Revolution<\/em> shows a major command of a rich provincial archive and of other sources. . . . It is well written and readable, punctuated with personalities, local color, and a wealth of ironic and even humorous stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ~J. Arch Getty<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this innovative and readable study of the creation of the official history of the Russian Revolution, Larry Holmes documents how a politicalized history favored in Moscow wrestled with and eventually toppled a more balanced historical scholarship being written in the provinces. Holmes reminds us that to understand how Russian history was really made, we need to look beyond the center. The leading scholar in provincial history has struck gold again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ~Aaron Retish<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Revising the Revolution<\/em> is an interesting contribution to specifics of history and politics in the Soviet Union supporting the claim that the province did not follow the centre. It was a sort of specific mimicry: The local conflict over biographies and involvement in the 1917 revolution resembled the discussion sparked by Trotsky’s article “The lessons of October”. In other words, the writing on the October Revolution in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s was about one’s own biography. That does not bode well for a historian, as overcoming the temptation to attack the contemporary political opponent and embellish one’s own involvement is very hard if not impossible. Time and distance are needed, as well as a lack of political pressure. This is the lesson of Holmes’ book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ~Bartlomiej Gajos, H-Soz-Kult<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Indiana University Press \/ 220 Pages \/ June 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Abbreviations
Timeline
Introduction
1. Istpart’s Origins and Mission
2. At the Periphery
3. Multiple Scripts for 1905 and 1917
4. Viatka’s 1917 Revolution in the Past and the Present
5. Fractured Finances
6. Moscow’s Embrace of the Political
7. The Passing of Istpart and Professional Civility
8. Methodology Ex Cathedra: Stalin Speaks and Istpart’s Legacy
9. Their Fate
Conclusion
Glossary of Prominent Individuals
Selected Bibliography
Index<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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