Former People: the Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy, book review by David A. Schwinghammer
Last edited: Saturday, February 22, 2014
Posted: Saturday, February 22, 2014
Dictators, ideological zealots, and killers usurped the Russian revolution.
"Former People" was the designation Bolsheviks gave Russian aristocrats and nobles. Class warfare was embraced and the Bolsheviks did everything they could to harass or eliminate them.
Many aristocrats fought for the White army during the civil war. When the red army won, anyone who fought for the whites was as good as dead; their relatives were also considered fair game.
Former people focuses on two of the great Russian aristocratic families, the Sheremetevs and the Golitsyns and their children and grandchildren. At the end of the civil war Count Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev and Prince Vladimir Mikhailovich Golitsyn were the heads of the two families. Sergie lay dying as the Cheka harassed him and his family.
The economy went to pot almost immediately after the state assumed ownership of all land and businesses. This forced Lenin to allow some local businesses to operate and things began to improve. He also allowed The American Relief Administration to enter the country. Young aristocrats idolized the Americans and took on a lot of their culture, including jazz and the dance craze, the fox trot. This infuriated some of the older Bolsheviks. When Lenin died Trotsky and Stalin fought over who would take his place, with Stalin ultimately prevailing. Believe it or not, the fox trot got a lot of people sent to prison or killed.
I've read a lot of Russian history through the years, but I didn't know Lenin was considered a noble; his father was superintendent of schools; civil servants were designated minor nobles. Lenin didn't try to hide it and mentioned it in some of his speeches. I also didn't know that the higher ups in the Bolshevik/Communist circle sometimes lived as though they were the new aristocrats. For instance when in the Crimea, Stalin lived in the former palace of Prince Felix Yusupov who killed Rasputin. Vyacheslav Molotov, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, drove a sixteen-cylinder Cadillac along with several Packards and Fords. Their excuse was that they didn't own any of these properties; they were allowed to use them by the state.
Some of the aristocrats contributed to their own misery as several fought for the Reds during the Civil War. Many were repaid by being shot during the purge.
At times this book is as hard to read as a Russian novel, mainly because several of the Golitsyns and Sheremetevs and Trubetskoys have the same first name. Vladimir is a common name, and it's hard to tell which Vladimir author Douglas Smith is talking about.
Millions of people were killed and sent to the Gulags during the Great Terror, but perhaps the most disgusting event was when the Communists dug up graveyards and used the marble, building materials etc. to help build the new Moscow subway.
What can we learn from this book? Karl Marx certainly had a point when he criticized capitalism's depredations, but ideology under any form ultimately goes off the deep end, and the original intentions are debased.
Dave Schwinghammer Fargoesque mystery, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available on authorsden.com and Amazon.com, new and used. Thank you.
I think the harshness and vastness of the northern Asian countryside has a lot to do with what happened. First there was Genghis Khan who was perhaps the most vicious conqueror of all time, followed by the Vikings who viciously killed, sacked and raped wherever they went. All of the spread out villages in the vast countryside were consolidated by warlords into what became Czarist with the Christian religion separating the aristocrats from the unworthy descendents of the Viking pagan religions. I believe that the Czars were not benign rulers, but very vicious in their control of the population. That story needs to be written. After such a brutal history, it's easy to see why the idealism of Marxism quickly became compromised by the brutality of dictatorship. It is easy to romanticize the aristocrats because they controlled all art and literature. Every Russian coveted that lifestyle, that's why it was easy for the Bolsheviks to quickly fall into the trap of personal greed. It happened again with the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean revolutions.
I see a parallel between what you describe and what is happening in the Arab Spring. While well meaning people are overthrowing brutal dictatorships in these countries, centuries of brutal rule remain ingrained in the people and they find it very difficult to forget and forgive when they reach power. Fortunately, the Internet and its communicative ability is rapidly exposing atrocity before it has a chance to become widespread. Eventually, all people on the planet will be able to live and speak freely without being punished by evil leaders only intent on greed. That includes here In the United States.
I learned a lot from your review, although I doubt that I will read the book.
I see a parallel between what you describe and what is happening in the Arab Spring. While well meaning people are overthrowing brutal dictatorships in these countries, centuries of brutal rule remain ingrained in the people and they find it very difficult to forget and forgive when they reach power. Fortunately, the Internet and its communicative ability is rapidly exposing atrocity before it has a chance to become widespread. Eventually, all people on the planet will be able to live and speak freely without being punished by evil leaders only intent on greed. That includes here In the United States.
I learned a lot from your review, although I doubt that I will read the book.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane