From 1914-21, the Russian countryside underwent an enormous social and political transformation. World War I and civil war led to conscription into the tsarist, Bolshevik, and anti-Bolshevik armies, removing over fourteen million young male peasants from their villages. Revolution destroyed the centuries-old peasant-landlord relationship, redistributed land among the peasantry, democratized the countryside, and allowed villages to install autonomous governing bodies. War and social turmoil also brought massive famine and government requisitioning of grain and possessions, killing thousands of peasants and destroying their means of existence. The Bolshevik victory, a defining event of the twentieth century, was ultimately determined by the temporary support of the peasantry, the vast majority of Russia’s population.
This project studies the interaction between peasants and government in the Russian province of Viatka from the beginning of World War I to the end of the Civil War in 1921. In doing so, it will advance how scholars understand the nature of the Revolution, peasant-state relations, and peasant society and culture in general. On the one hand, I analyze Russia’s changes through a study of peasant responses to tsarist, Provisional Government, and Soviet recruitment into the armed forces; requisitioning of grain and possessions; and establishment of local administrations. In examining peasants’ language and interaction with the state, I show how the population adopted, rejected, and helped to shape government power, just as it shaped them. The destruction of the tsarist system created an ideal environment for the rural populations to break free from traditional roles. Indeed, political and social turmoil helped to fashion new peasant identities and social relationships. On the other hand, I strive to understand the diverse peasant experiences by conducting a case study of the internal dynamics and cleavages in the countryside. My study underscores that the experiences of war and revolution and participation in Russia’s national transformation differed for peasants based on a complex interaction of their geographic locale, social status within the village, gender, age, and ethnicity. This project thereby paints a more complicated picture of Russia’s peasantry and peasant-state relations as a whole.