revolution

Yuri Chekalin23.07.2026

Political revolutions do more than replace governments. Political revolutions transform the language through which political communities understand authority, citizenship, obligation, and collective identity. Inventing a New Political Language New institutions require new concepts, and new concepts gradually reshape political expectations. Vocabulary therefore becomes an important historical source for understanding how revolutionary governments sought to establish […]

Yuri Chekalin22.07.2026

How do revolutionary governments transform the collapse of an existing political order into a new and durable form of political legitimacy? The Historical Question This question directs attention away from revolutionary ideology alone and toward the broader historical processes through which new governments establish authority. Why do revolutions almost invariably generate new political symbols, ceremonies, […]

Yuri Chekalin18.07.2026

The temperature was pushing 40°C. The humidity felt like a steam bath. Still, a man has to eat. So I bought some fruit and wandered through a park in central Tokyo, happily snacking on grapes. Then I noticed a portrait of the Russian imperial family. A group of Russian expatriates was putting on some sort […]

Tony Rocchi07.01.2026

The Russian Revolution of 1917-1922 as the Apocalypse of the 20th Century. More than 100 years have passed since the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922, but, in so many respects, this revolution is still a great unknown for us. We can say the same about other great revolutions in Europe. Asked what he thought was the […]

Dmitry Litvinov21.12.2025

Some believe that the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in March 1917 was the result of a “conspiracy of Duma deputies and generals.” This belief persists despite the fact that the February events in Petrograd have been studied in considerable detail by historical scholars. During World War I, Russia experienced a veritable boom in the […]

Tony Rocchi20.10.2025

In his own way, Vladimir Lenin had to rebel against his own Bolshevik Party to lead the Bolsheviks to overthrow the Provisional Government in the October Revolution of 1917. Beginning with his April theses almost immediately after his return to Russia from Switzerland, Lenin’s calls to launch a socialist revolution left many Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and […]

Vladimir Golstein11.10.2025

According to the highly respected University of Chicago professor, Robert Pape, who studies political violence, 39% of democrats would approve violent removal of Trump. This is scary. Furthermore, another poll suggests that 2/3 of American students think that it is OK to use violence against “offensive” speakers. This is all pretty disturbing and brings a […]

Tony Rocchi04.10.2025

From Multi-Party State to One-Party State: the disintegration and collapse of non-Bolshevik parties and movements in the Russian Revolution. The former Russian Empire was the most multi-party country in Europe. However, by the early 1920s, the Soviet Union, its successor state, had become Europe’s biggest one-party state. The history of how the Bolsheviks or Communists […]

Tony Rocchi22.09.2025

Nobody really ruled Russia between the February and October Revolutions of 1917. A governmental and legal vacuum opened in Russia in 1917 with the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II in the February Revolution. Neither the Provisional Government nor the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies showed much enthusiasm in establishing themselves as rulers of […]

Tony Rocchi09.09.2025

Every European revolution had a counter-revolution. Russia in 1917 was a huge exception to this historical pattern because there was no counter-revolution in the former Russian Empire between the February and October Revolutions of 1917. In fact, the conditions for a counter-revolution were completely absent. Russian revolutionaries prided themselves on their understanding of revolutions of […]

Political Myths: Authority and Legitimacy (Part.8)

Political Myths: Authority and Legitimacy (Part.7)

How Japan Marked the Anniversary

The Apocalypse of 1917

Was There a “Conspiracy” in February 1917?

Lenin—Rebel Against the Bolshevik Party in 1917

Terrorism as a manifestation of “pedocracy”

From Multi-Party Russia to One-Party State

Reluctant Rulers in Russia, February to October 1917

Why Was There No Counter-Revolution in Russia in 1917?

Political Myths: Authority and Legitimacy (Part.8)

Integrity

Political Myths: Authority and Legitimacy (Part.7)

Beneath the Shadow of the Fleeting: A Woman’s Voice from the Heian Court