The Benefits of the "Cultural Turn" in Slavic Studies for the Studies of the Russian Revolution

Abstract

Among the huge amount of books and articles published at the Revolution’s Hundredth anniversary, the author focuses on several volumes translated from English into Russian: Yuri Slezkine’s “The House of Government”, Mark Steinberg’s “The Russian Revolution. 1905-1921”, and Martin Malia’s “History’s Locomotives.” Comparing the authors’ approaches the author draws conclusions about their scientific and political implications. The books reflect trends in the Slavic studies over the last decades. The main trend in the approach to the Revolution comes from the “cultural turn” - a new focus on everyday life. However, importantly, even the newest books do contain old ideological biases of the times of the Cold War era. This applies mainly to Slezkine’s and Malia’s books, while Steinberg’s research is free from old cliches.