Comrade Kerensky

Boris Kolonitskii is Professor of History at the European University at St. Petersburg.

• Dedication AcknowledgementsIntroductionNotesI Revolutionary Biography and Political Authority1 Biographies and biographers2 The youth of the Leader3 ‘Tribune of the people’4 ‘Hero of the revolution’5 ‘Champion of freedom’ and the cult of champions of freedomNotesII ‘Revolutionary Minister’1 The great conciliator2 The omnipresent ‘minister of the people’s truth’3 ‘Democratic minister’4 ‘Minister of revolutionary theatricality’ and ‘poet of the revolution’5 ‘Great martyr of the revolution’6 Kerensky as Louis Blanc: features of the Bolsheviks’ political propaganda7 ‘Rebellious slaves’ and the ‘great citizen’NotesIII ‘Leader of the Revolutionary Army’1 The iron discipline of duty2 The visit to Helsingfors3 The ‘Kerensky Declaration’4 ‘Tireless victor’: Kerensky at the front5 ‘Wanted: a Napoleon’: Kerensky and Bonapartism6 The Bolshoy Theatre and the birth of the New Man7 Kerensky and the Socialist Revolutionary PartyNotesIV The ‘Kerensky Offensive’1 ‘Commender-in-chief’: rhetorical preparations for the offensive2 ‘Kerensky’ and ‘Lenin’3 The June Crisis and the June Offensive4 A popular ‘brand’ and symbol of the revolutionNotesConclusionNotesIndex

"In this thoughtful and original study of Russian political culture in 1917, Boris Kolonitskii shows how Alexander Kerensky became the charismatic symbol of the new order.  Forging a cult of the irreplaceable Leader, Kerensky used it as a powerful tool of political legitimation. Lenin and later Stalin followed in his footsteps, helping to embed older authoritarian traditions in post-revolutionary life. Here is a book to savour, full of the ironies of the times." Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University "Neither Tsar nor Bolshevik, Alexander Kerensky has tended to fall into a black hole of Russian history. Even his government in 1917 was called provisional. A major historian, Boris Kolonitskii, has now filled that gap not with a standard biography, but with something much more ambitious. This is a study that uses  multiple sources and a range of disciplines to explore and explain the cult of a leader." Sir Hew Strachan, Professor of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews "Boris Kolonitskii has done more than any other scholar to explore the political culture of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Here, in sparkling detail, he reveals the democratic hopes, ideas and illusions that attached themselves to the propaganda image of Alexander Kerensky, the 'first love of the Revolution', whose dramatic rise and fall from grace personified the Revolution's destiny. This is the work of a master scholar which demands to be widely read." Orlando Figes, author of A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924"Comrade Kerensky is a valuable addition to the vast literature on the Russian revolution."Shepherd Express"important and engaging"The Russian Review"[T]he richness of the materials makes this book a must-read for people interested in Kerensky or the history of 1917"Europe-Asia Studies