Reminiscences on the Revolution - article ; n°4 ; vol.18, pg 413-434

Marc Slonim

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Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique - Année 1977 - Volume 18 - Numéro 4 - Pages 413-434
Marc Slonim, Souvenirs de la révolution.
Dans ces pages extraites de ses Mémoires malheureusement inachevés, le critique Marc Slonim (1894-1976), qui a été le plus jeune député de l'Assemblée constituante élue en 1917, raconte son initiation aux idées révolutionnaires, puis son action de propagandiste et d'éducateur dans les cercles ouvriers à la veille de la révolution. Il évoque le témoignage des relations qu'il possède dans l'aristocratie sur le discrédit que Rasputin jette sur la famille impériale. Il décrit enfin son action au Comité de Petrograd du parti S-R au lendemain de la révolution de Février, les dissensions entre la droite et la gauche du parti au sujet de la guerre, l'efficacité des slogans bolcheviks face à ceux des S-R. Il évoque au passage les figures de Kerenskij et de Lénine, tels qu'il les a vus en 1917.
Marc Slonim, Reminiscences on the revolution.
In the extracts from his Memoirs (unfortunately unfinished) the critic Marc Slonim (1894-1976), who had been the youngest députée to the Constituent Assembly of 1917, tells of his initiation to the revolutionary ideas, then of his action as propagandist and educator in the workers' circles at the eve of the Revolution. He recalls the testimony of members of aristocracy about the discredit thrown by Rasputin on the Imperial family. Lastly, he describes his action as a member of the Petrograd committee of the S-R party, immediately after the February revolution, and the dissensions between the right and the left of the party on the subject of war. He stresses the efficiency of the Bolshevik slogans opposed to those of the S-R, and briefly evokes the figures of Kerenskij and Lenin, such as he had seen them in 1917.
22 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_MONDE_RUSSE_ET_SOVIETIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1977
• Nombre de lectures: 55
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Marc Slonim
Reminiscences on the Revolution
In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 18 N°4. Octobre-Décembre 1977. pp. 413-434.
Résumé
Marc Slonim, Souvenirs de la révolution.
Dans ces pages extraites de ses Mémoires malheureusement inachevés, le critique Marc Slonim (1894-1976), qui a été le plus
jeune député de l'Assemblée constituante élue en 1917, raconte son initiation aux idées révolutionnaires, puis son action de
propagandiste et d'éducateur dans les cercles ouvriers à la veille de la révolution. Il évoque le témoignage des relations qu'il
possède dans l'aristocratie sur le discrédit que Rasputin jette sur la famille impériale. Il décrit enfin son action au Comité de
Petrograd du parti S-R au lendemain de la révolution de Février, les dissensions entre la droite et la gauche du parti au sujet de
la guerre, l'efficacité des slogans bolcheviks face à ceux des S-R. Il évoque au passage les figures de Kerenskij et de Lénine,
tels qu'il les a vus en 1917.
Abstract
Marc Slonim, Reminiscences on the revolution.
In the extracts from his Memoirs (unfortunately unfinished) the critic Marc Slonim (1894-1976), who had been the youngest
députée to the Constituent Assembly of 1917, tells of his initiation to the revolutionary ideas, then of his action as propagandist
and educator in the workers' circles at the eve of the Revolution. He recalls the testimony of members of aristocracy about the
discredit thrown by Rasputin on the Imperial family. Lastly, he describes his action as a member of the Petrograd committee of
the S-R party, immediately after the February revolution, and the dissensions between the right and the left of the party on the
subject of war. He stresses the efficiency of the Bolshevik slogans opposed to those of the S-R, and briefly evokes the figures of
Kerenskij and Lenin, such as he had seen them in 1917.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Slonim Marc. Reminiscences on the Revolution. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 18 N°4. Octobre-Décembre
1977. pp. 413-434.
doi : 10.3406/cmr.1977.1302
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1977_num_18_4_1302MARC SLONÍM
REMINISCENCES ON THE REVOLUTION
... I was brought up as a typical offspring of the intelligentsia, in a
highly cultured environment, learned French and German in early
childhood and Italian at the age of twelve when my mother took me and
my brother to Italy in order to escape from the political turmoil of 1906.
She failed, however, in her attempts to shield us from the revolutionary
contagion. My father was a moderate liberal, a constitutional-democrat
or cadet, as the abbreviation went. The arguments against socialism
and the violence he displayed during his brief appearances at home, had
no effect on my brother Vladimir who at seventeen joined the Socialist
Revolutionary party. Despite the seven-year difference between us we
were very close to each other, and, of course, he exerted a strong influence
on my intellectual and political development. One episode remains
forever in my memory. I was ten, a freshman in the classical "gymnasia"
(a Russian equivalent of State Lyceum). My brother was in his last
year at the same governmental establishment. We all wore uniforms
and submitted to an almost military discipline. In the fall of 1904
Odessa was expecting a visit from the tsar. Troops and gymnasia
students lined the streets forming a solid wall. A few last-year students,
including my brother, were assigned to keep order among the lower
classmen, and they were constantly inspecting our ranks. Suddenly we
saw a movement at the end of the street and somebody screamed, "the
Emperor is coming." And I shouted, "Long live the Emperor" and
other boys joined me in a chorus. At this moment my brother pulled
for?" His my sleeve and whispered angrily, "What are you bawling
sharp tone was like a blow. Apparently, he avoided shouting "Live the
Emperor" and did not seem to enjoy the whole affair. Terrible doubts
assailed my young mind. My blind faith in the Emperor was shattered
and the whole parade lost its glamor. This was a turning-point in my
political education. When we came home, my brother explained to
me that the tsar was a symbol of autocracy and tyranny, that his rule
kept the people in ignorance and poverty; the best men and women of
Russia had sacrificed themselves in the past to change conditions in our
country, and we all had to contribute to the cause of freedom.
It did not take me a long time to discover that my brother and a
large group of his classmates were involved in revolutionary activities.
I was allowed to help them in some menial tasks: binding booklets
smuggled from the Russian émigrés in Europe, printing appeals on home- marc sloním 414
made hectographs and mimeographs, and hiding incriminating objects
and leaflets from my mother, my uncles and visitors. We soon acquired
an invaluable ally in the person of Matriona, a young chambermaid.
She came to us as an uncouth, clumsy peasant girl, and my mother was so
appalled by her rough manners that she wanted to send her back to the
village. But she was pretty, there was something alive and open in
her looks, and my mother finally agreed to try her out for a few weeks.
She actually stayed with us five years, until she got married, I taught
her how to read and write. She learned all sorts of things, and by
listening to the French that we often spoke among ourselves, she picked
up a good deal of that language. She used it — to the general surprise —
quite adequately, and everybody began to call her "Madeleine". Then
she became interested in revolutionary ideas and kept subversive lite
rature and party documents in the servants' quarters. In 1907 during
a police perquisition nothing was found in our rooms — thanks to Madel
eine
When the great popular movement swept the country in 1905, my
brother who was already a law student at the University, and all his
friends firmly believed that the final hour of autocracy had struck. In
the summer there were demonstrations, strikes and riots culminating in
the mutiny on the battleship "Potemkin". It was for the first time in
Russian history that the red flag was hoisted on a unit of the Imperial
navy. "Potemkin" came to Odessa and fired a few shots into the city
to help the demonstrators who were building barricades. My brother
led me to a window and said, "Do you hear the salvo? Listen well,
perhaps this is the last time in your life that you will hear a big gun. " He
happened to be completely wrong, he could not foresee that I would hear
a great many other guns and bombs, and explosions in my life. Neither
could he anticipate that the revolution of 1905 would be crushed, and
that our hopes would fail. When we returned from Italy in the summer
of 1906 the people's revolt was over and a ruthless reaction was setting in.
For two years we heard nothing but grim news of executions, arrests, and
governmental terror. One of my brother's friends was Vsevolod ("Seva")
Libedintsev, son of a high magistrate. While studying astronomy in
Italy, he had become a member of the combat section of the Socialist
Revolutionary party and returned to Russia with a borrowed Italian
passport. He was arrested in St. Petersburg together with friends of his
who plotted the tsar's assassination. He spoke Italian so well that the
consul who visited him in prison asked Libedintsev to give his word of
honor he was an Italian — in which case the government of Rome could
intervene in his favor. Libedintsev smiled and remained silent. He was
hanged a few days later, and we knew the date of his execution. I could
not sleep that night. I kept seeing Seva and his companions dragged at
dawn to the scaffold. From that time date my horror of capital punish
ment and my firm opposition to this barbaric form of justice. The
Russian writer Leonid Andreyev depicted Libedintsev as Werner in his
"Tale of seven who were hung".
I cannot say at what moment my socialist and revolutionary convic
tions took a definite shape. Radicalism was a part of the very air I
breathed. When later asked about the date I joined the Socialist Revo- REMINISCENCES ON THE REVOLUTION 415
lutionary party I could not give a precise answer; it seemed to me that
I had belonged to it since my early adolescence. I took for granted
one should fight for the liberation of the people, for freedom and social
justice, and this belief was not an abstract construction of my mind but
the very essence of my being. I am not speaking of the revolutionary
activities, that were a part of daily life, but of the ideological influences
that formed my mentality and my attitudes toward the existing regime.
What was slightly unusual in my case was my involvement in art and
modern literature. I was not reared in the ascetic and intransigent uni
formity of the 1860's and 1870's, I rejected fanaticism, intolerance, and
dogmatism. Th