“OPTIMISTS” AND “PESSIMISTS” ABOUT THE REASONS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
( Pp. 85-99)

More about authors
Kamynin Vladimir D.
Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation Vladimir V. Zapariy
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin
Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation
Abstract:
Pre-revolutionary economists wrote about the plight of the peasantry in Central Russia, about agrarian overpopulation, peasant land shortages, and constant hunger strikes that provoked peasant uprisings. The difficult material situation of the peasantry was considered one of the main causes of the Russian revolution. The same “pessimistic” opinion was held by Soviet, and at first by Western historians. But the 1970s. In the West, an “optimistic” school appeared, whose representatives claimed that the standard of living of the population was gradually rising, and the revolution was caused not by economic, but political and, to some extent, random circumstances. In the 1990s, optimistic historians also appeared in Russia, their leader was B.N. Mironov, who presented new evidence of improving the welfare of the population. The main argument of B.N. Mironov was the increase in the growth of recruits obtained in his calculations in 1874-1912. Since the growth of recruits is dependent on nutrition, an increase in growth seemed to indicate an improvement in nutrition and other living conditions.The publication of B.N. Mironov’s materials provoked a heated discussion among Russian historians. In this discussion, the recognized leaders of the “optimists” were B.N. Mironov and M.A. Davydov, while the most famous representatives of the “pessimists” were A.V. Ostrovsky, S.A. Nefedov, M. Ellman. In the end, S.A. Nefedov and M. Ellman managed to prove that B.N. Mironov’s calculations contained an error, that the growth of recruits actually decreased. B.N. Mironov was forced to admit his mistake and exclude data on new recruits from the “optimistic” argument.
How to Cite:
Kamynin V.D., Vladimir V.Z., (2019), “OPTIMISTS” AND “PESSIMISTS” ABOUT THE REASONS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. History and Modern Perspectives, 4 => 85-99.
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Keywords:
Russian revolution, historiography, political and economic problems, discussion, welfare, people.


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