Message in a bottle: Working-class culture and the struggle for revolutionary legitimacy, 1900-1929

Russian Review

Volumn 56, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 25-43

  Phillips, Laura L ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 60949322410     PISSN: 00360341     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/131484     Document Type: Review

References (116)

1. Examples include Moshe Lewin, Russian Peasants and Soviet Power: A Study of Collectivization (London, 1968), 132-34
2. and Theodore H. Von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev? The Rise and Fall of the Soviet System (New York, 1993), 62-64, 84
3. I have argued elsewhere that, although working-class women played an important political role in revolutionary crises, in nonrevolutionary circumstances women situated their concerns within a maledominated cultural framework. See "Everyday Life in Revolutionary Russia: Working-Class Drinking and Taverns in St. Petersburg, 1900-1929" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1993), chap. 5
4. These descriptions are taken from Timothy McDaniel, Autocracy, Capitalism, and Revolution in Russia (Berkeley, 1988), 200-201
5. Eugene Anthony Swift, "Theater for the People: The Politics of Popular Culture in Urban Russia, 1861-1917" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1992), 301
6. and Charters Wynn, Workers, Strikes, and Pogroms: The Donbass-Dnepr Bend in Late Imperial Russia, 1870-1905 (Princeton, 1992), 85
7. Wynn, Workers, Strikes, and Pogroms, is outstanding for its attention to this stratum of the Russian working class
8. Novaia rabochaia gazeta, 15 December 1913, 4
9. Edinstvo (19 March 1909): 15
10. Golos derevoobdelochnika (28 June 1908): 7
11. Fabrichnaia zhizn' (19 December 1910): 5
12. The same observation is made by Diane Koenker in "Class and Consciousness in a Socialist Society: Workers in the Printing Trades during NEP," in Russia in the Era of NEP: Explorations in Soviet Society and Culture, ed. Sheila Fitzpatrick, Alexander Rabinowitch, and Richard Stites (Bloomington, 1991), 45
13. Dry laws implemented with military mobilization in 1914 persisted until the Soviet government approved the sale of weak wines in 1921. Thereafter the legal alcohol content of beverages was steadily increased until October 1925, when the sale of full-strength vodka was reintroduced. Alcohol policy is summarized in A. I. Elistratov, Administrativnoe pravo (Moscow, 1929), 333-43
14. Neil Weissman, "Prohibition and Alcohol Control in the USSR: The 1920s Campaign against Illegal Spirits," Soviet Studies 38 (July 1986): 349-68
15. and Helena Stone, "The Soviet Government and Moonshine, 1917-1929," Cahiers du Monde Russe et Soviétique 27 (1986): 359-79
16. Rabochii bumazhnik (7 November 1928): 18
17. Pechatnyi dvor, 8 January 1929, 4
18. A. G. Kagan, Molodezh' posle gudka (Moscow, 1930), 176-80
19. The need to spend leisure time sensibly is also discussed in N. A. Semashko, Kul'turnaia revoliutsiia i ozdorovlenie byta (Moscow, 1929), 32
20. Dr. Mikhalov, Vodku pit' - vse gubit' (Moscow, 1927), 12; and Krasnyi derevoobdelochnik (15 June 1928), 1
21. N. Amosov, O p'ianykh prazdnikakh (Moscow, n.d.), 22-23
22. K. Mironov, Iz vospominanii rabochago (Moscow, 1906), 23-24
23. D. G. Bulgakovskii, Zhizn' Kass'iana: Chtenie s svetovymi kartinami (St. Petersburg, 1910), 25
24. I. V. Sazhin, Chto nado znat' o spirtnykh napitkakh (Leningrad, 1929), 33
25. and Iuli Martov, Zapiski Sotsial-Demokrata (Cambridge, 1975), 286-87
26. K. V. Skorobogatov, "Ot rabochei zastavy: Iz vospominanii artista," Zvezda, no. 1 (January 1967): 147
27. Golos kozhevnika (7 January 1929): 11
28. Krasnyi putilovets, 30 September 1929, 2
29. Statistical investigations consistently showed that approximately 90 percent of male workers drank. Results for St. Petersburg's workers are published in Trudy pervago vserossiiskago s''ezda po bor'be s p'ianstvom. S. Peterburg, 28 dekabria 1909 g.-6 ianvaria 1910 g. (TPVS) (St. Petersburg, 1910), 2:845; and Leningradskii meditsinskii zhurnal, no. 7 (August-September 1928): 71
30. Solitary alcohol consumption was in fact one of the few symptoms rank-and-file workers themselves seem to have considered indicative of problem drinking. Lone drinking is mentioned in D. G. Bulgakovskii, Kak ia perestal pit' (St. Petersburg, 1906), 7
31. Pishchevik (30 November 1928): 4. Written and pictorial evidence shows patrons in drinking establishments sitting in groups of two to four individuals. See B. I. Ivanov, Zapiski proshlogo: Povest' iz vospominanii detstva i iunoshestva rabochegosotsialista (Moscow, 1919), 59
32. idem, Po stupeniiam bor'by: Zapiskistarogo bol'shevika (Moscow, 1934), 68
33. Rabochii bumazhnik (30 September 1927): 13
34. Petrogradskaia pravda, 20 October 1923, 4
35. Shveinik (15 September 1926): 284
36. Pechatnik (15 December 1923): 15
37. Krasnaia zaria, 31 March 1928, 6
38. Leningradskii metallist (20 May 1924): 1
39. M. Kurman, "Obsledovanie alkogolizma v Leningrade i Leningradskoi oblasti," Biulleten' Leningradskago oblastnogo otdela statistiki, no. 21 (1929), 199
40. and Leningradskii meditskinskii zhurnal, no. 7 (August-September 1928): 72
41. Petr Sergev, Za kompaniiu! (Byl) (St. Petersburg, n.d.), 7
42. V. Sergeevich, Zavod - kuznitsa revoliutsii (Moscow, 1929), 44-45
43. Leningradskii rabochii (31 March 1927): 11
44. Numerous sources mention elevated drinking levels on weekends, including Iu. Larin, Alkogolizm i sotsializm (Moscow, 1929), 26
45. I. D. Strashun, Na bor'bu za novyi trezvyi byt (Moscow, 1927), 20
46. M. G. Frenkel', Vodka - nosh vrag (Moscow, n.d.), 49-50
47. Leningradskii metallist (21 September 1928): 7
48. Elektrosila, 28 April 1928, 2
49. Leningradskaia pravda, 22 July 1925, 5
50. L. Zheleznov, Budem zhit' radostno bez sorokagradusnoi: Kak vesti antialkogol'nuiu rabotu (Leningrad, 1929), 74
51. The concept of cultured drinking is also challenged in M. Rafail, Za novogo cheloveka (Leningrad, 1928), 14
52. V dni velikoi Proletarskoi revoliutsii: Epizody bor'by v Petrograde v 1917 godu (Moscow, 1932), 218
53. Zhenshchiny goroda Lenina (Leningrad, 1963), 161
54. Bastiony revoliutsii, vol. 2, Bor'ba za uprochenie Sovetskoi vlasti igody grazhdanskoi voiny (Leningrad, 1959), 426
55. Znamia truda: Kratkii ocherk istorii Leningradskogo armaturnogo zavoda "Znamia truda" (Leningrad, 1960), 78-79
56. I. I. Gaza, ed., Putilovets na putiakh k Oktiabriu: Iz istorii "Krasnogo Putilovtsa" (Leningrad, 1933), 148
57. Soviet historians also linked the pogroms to counterrevolutionary elements. See P. Ia. Kann, "Bor'ba rabochikh Petrograda s p'ianymi pogromami (noiabr'-dekabr' 1917 g.)," Istoriia SSSR, no. 3 (May-June 1962): 134
58. Iu. S. Tokarev, "Petrogradskie rabochie v bor'be za ustanovlenie i okhranu revoliutsionnogo poriadka (aygust-dekabr' 1917 g.)," in Rabochie Leningrada v bor'be za pobedu sotsializma (Leningrad, 1963), esp. 28, 42, 46, and 52-54
59. and B. Ul'ianova, "Iz istorii bor'by s vinnymi pogromami v Petrograde v pervye mesiatsy Sovetskoi vlasti," in Narodnaia bor'ba za trezvost' v Russkoi istorii: Materialy seminara, provedennogo obshchestvami bor'by za trezvost' BAN SSSR, LGU, LOII AN SSSR (Leningrad, 1989), 32
60. Golos kozhevnika (10 November 1925): 15 (emphasis added)
61. Krasnyi putilovets, 17 December 1928, 2
62. Rabochii bumazhnik, no. 22 (November 1929): 2 (emphasis added)
63. Kul'turnaia revoliutsiia (15 April 1929): 6
64. Rabotnitsa, no. 4 (April 1923): 7
65. and N. Maslenikov and M. Averbukh, eds., Agit-sbornik na bor'bu s samogonkoi (Moscow, 1923), 11
66. B. S. Kovgankin, Alkogol', alkogolizm i bor'ba s nimi: Konspekt dlia vystuplenii vrachei, sester, agitatorov i propagandistov (Moscow, 1927), 17 (emphasis added). Other statements emphasizing the physical human power needed to improve the worker's life are contained in Pechatnoe delo (4 June 1917): 8
67. James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven, 1990), 199
68. Strashun, Na bor'bu, 41
69. Zorkii glaz, 22 December 1924, 1. Drink also marked prerevolutionary observances of May Day (TsGAORgL, f. 6261, op. 33, d. 40, l. 104
70. Ivanov, Po stupeniiam bor'by, 88-89
71. Leningradskii rabochii (30 September 1927): 11. Drinking on revolutionary holidays is also cited in B. F. Didrikhson, P'ianku - 'k stenke' (Leningrad, 1929), 13-14
72. Skorokhodovskii rabochii, 24 August 1929, 4
73. Zheleznov, Budem zhit', 63
74. Leningradskaia pravda, 6 March 1929, 4
75. Krasnyi treugol'nik, 8 April 1929, 4
76. and I. Zhiga, Dumy rabochikh zaboty, dela (Zapiski rabkora) (Moscow, n.d.), 66-67. Included are examples of women drinking on International Women's Day
77. Leningradskii rabochii (4 January 1926): 3
78. John Hatch, "The Politics of Mass Culture: Workers, Communists, and Proletkul't in the Development of Workers' Clubs, 1921-25," Russian History 13 (Summer-Fall 1986): 143-44
79. idem, "Hangouts and Hangovers: State, Class and Culture in Moscow's Workers' Club Movement, 1925-1928," Russian Review 53 (January 1994): 115-16
80. Trezvost' i kul'tura, no. 1 (July 1928): 11
81. Rabochii bumazhnik (28 February 1925): 14
82. Leningradskaia pravda, 30 May 1926, 5
83. Pechatnyi stanok, 1 January 1924, 1
84. Krasnovyborzhets, 4 January 1929, 4
85. Didrikhson, P'ianku, 5
86. N. P. Tiapugin, Narodnye zabliuzhdeniia i nauchnaia pravda ob alkogole (Moscow, 1929), 46, 55-56
87. and V. Ia. Kanel, Alkogolizm i bor'ba s nim (Moscow, 1914), 362-63
88. Skorokhodovskoe ekho, 24 November 1928, 2
89. Kabel'shchik (25 September 1928): 3
90. E. P. Thompson, "Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism," Past and Present 38 (December 1967): 85
91. Gul vereten (November 1928): 3
92. Pechatnik (13 March 1926): 3
93. Ia. Aleksandrov and P. Stel'makh, Pochemu my p'em (Leningrad, 1929), 55
94. Rafail, Za novogo, 83-84
95. On avoiding the theater see Robert W. Thurston, Liberal City, Conservative State: Moscow and Russia's Urban Crisis, 1906-1914 (New York, 1987), 133
96. Vestnik trezvosti, no. 226 (October 1913): 17
97. and Kanel', Alkogolizm, 384
98. A. Z. Vakser and V. S. Izmozik, "Izmenenie obshchestvennogo oblika Sovetskogo rabochego 20-30-kh godov," Voprosy istorii, no. 11 (November 1984): 100
99. Gazeta kopeika, 30 September 1911, 4
100. Pishchevik (15 January 1929): 4
101. Metallist (23 June 1926): 41
102. Peter Bailey and Tim McDaniel have similarly suggested that "respectability" and "consciousness" were fluid categories. See Bailey, Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational Recreation and the Contest for Control, 1830-1885 (London, 1978), 176-78
103. and McDaniel, Autocracy, 185
104. Ivanov, Zapiski proshlogo, 77-78
105. O revoliutsionnom proshlom Peterburgskogo metallicheskogo zavoda (Leningrad, 1926), 44
106. Metallurgi s Matisova ostrova: Kratkii ocherk istorii Leningradskogo zavoda po obrabotke tsvetnykh metallov (Leningrad, 1967), 51
107. Rabochii golos (26 November 1905): 12
108. Naborshchik i pechatnyi mir, no. 125 (September 1906): 862
109. Golos pechatnika (4 November 1906): 13; Tsentral'nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Oktiabr'skoi revoliutsii SSSR, Moscow, f. 6876, op. 1, d. 59, l. 22
110. M. Mitel'man, B. Glebov, and A. Ul'ianovskii, Istoriia Putilovskogo zavoda (Moscow, 1939), 264-65
111. and idem, Istoriia Putilovskogo zavoda, 1801-1917 (Moscow, 1961), 224
112. Joan Neuberger, Hooliganism: Crime, Culture, and Power in St. Petersburg, 1900-1914 (Berkeley, 1993), esp. 262-66, 270-72
113. In November 1905, Putilov workers agreed to renounce drink for three months. See Mitel'man, Istoriia (1939), 264-65
114. Scott, Domination, 92
115. Leningradskii metallist (5 January 1925): 16
116. Verstatka, 25 September 1924, 1