Coming to Terms with the Soviet Regime: The "Changing Signposts" Movement among Russian Émigrés in the Early 1920s

331 Pages·1994·8.624 MB·English

by  Hilde Hardeman

Coming to Terms
with the Soviet Regime

Coming to Terms
with the Soviet Regim e
The “Changing Signposts” Movement
*
among Russian Emigrés
in the Early 1920s
H ilde Hardeman
im Northern Illinois University Press DeKalb 1994
© 1994 by Northern Illinois University Press
Published by Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb,
Illinois 60115 ® @
Manufactured in the United States using acid-free paper
Design by Julia Fauci
Uitgegeven met de steun van de Universitaire Stichting van België en
van het Francqui-Fonds.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hardeman, Hilde.
Coming to terms with the Soviet regime : the “Changing
signposts" movement among Russian émigrés in the early
1920s / HÜde Hardeman.
p. cm. f
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87580-187-0
1. Russians—Foreign countries—Politics and
government. 2. Russians—Foreign countries—Intellectual
life. 3. Soviet Union—History—Revolution, 1917-
1936. I. Tide.
DK35.5.H37 1994
947.084'!—dc20 94-7871
CIP
ToJan and Laura

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Translation Note xi
Introduction 3
CHAPTER ONE Mir i Trud 17
The Illusion of a Modus Vivendi between the
Soviet Regime and its Opponents
CHAPTER TWO N. V. Ustrialov 29
Joining the Bolsheviks for the Sake of “Great Russia“
CHAPTER THREE Smetta Vekh 58
The Mystique of the Revolution
CHAPTER FOUR Indignation and Condescension 89
Reactions to Smena Vekh
chapter FIVE The Weekly Smena Vekh 108
A Second Step toward Reconciliation
CHAPTER SIX Nakanune 139
Smenovekhovstvo as an Instrument in Moscow's Hands
CHAPTER SEVEN The Effects of Smenovekhovstvo 163
CHAPTER EIGHT Smenovekhovstvo and the Bolsheviks 176
Conclusion 187
Abbreviations and Conventions 193
Notes 197
Bibliography 281
Index 311

merits
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the many
people who have contributed to this project.
In the first place, I wish to thank Professor E. Waegemans, who introduced
me to the world of Russia Abroad, for his enthusiasm and support. I am grate­
ful also to Professor M. Raeff, whose suggestions and constant encouragement
have been a great help to me.
This project was started during a one-year stay at the History Department
of Stanford University, where I was fortunate to work with Professor T. Em­
mons. I wish to thank him, along with Professors L. Fleishman and M. Con-
fino, for their counsel and inspiration. In the following years, I had the
opportunity to study and do research in Paris, Amsterdam, and Moscow. There
as well I was privileged to receive the support and advice of many people,
including Professors A. Berelowitch, N. G. Dumova, M. Heller, lu. V. Muk-
hachev, B. Naarden; Mme T. A. Ossorguine-Bakounine, V. A. Osipov, and
Professors W. H. Roobol, J. Scherrer, and N. A. Struve. I am grateful to them
all, especially to Professor Naarden, who took the time to go through a draft
of this work. Warm thanks are extended also to I. B. Diushen for sharing
memories of his father, B. V. Diushen, and to G. G. Derviz for sharing those
of his uncle, lu. N. Potekhin. My work has gready benefited from the help of
all these people; any mistakes and inadequacies, therefore, are my own.
While preparing the present book, I was fortunate to work in rich and
accommodating archives and libraries, most importandy the collections of the
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University; the
Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine at Nanterre;
the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Archives Nationales and the Bibliothèque
Tourguénieff in Paris; the Intemationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
and the Oost-Europa Instituut in Amsterdam; the New York Public Library
and the Bakhmeteff Archive at Columbia University in New York; the former
Lenin Library, the former Central State Archive for Literature and the Arts
(TsGALI), and the former Central State Archive of the October Revolution
(TsGAOR) in Moscow. My gratitude goes to the staffs of these institutions, in
particular to Hilja Kukk of the Hoover Institution and Tat’iana Gladkova of
Acknowledgments
the B.D.I.C. and the Bibliothèque Tourguénieff. I am obliged also to Professor
N. G. Dumova, without whose help in September 1989 I hardly would have
seen more of TsGAOR than its cloakroom.
These numerous stays abroad were only possible thanks to the financial
support of several institutions and the generous hospitality of many people.
I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Belgian American Educational
Foundation, which made possible my stay at Stanford, and of the Council of
Europe, which funded my research in. Paris. Special thanks go also to Mr.
and Mrs. A. Waelkens. In addition, I enjoyed the warm hospitality of Sabine
Breuillard, Mrs. Martine Cohen, Mr. and Mrs. L. Dewulf, N. G. Dumova,
Hank Geerts, Marijke Hardeman, Jeff and Ingrid Keustermans, Mlle H.
Morize, Ol’ga and Rafik Shakirov, and Galina Aleksandrovna.
I wish to thank also Professor A. K. Isaacs, Ania Krok-Paszkowska, and
Amy Crawshaw, who reviewed the entire text and helped me with the En­
glish. In preparing this book for publication, I was privileged to work with the
staff of Northern Illinois University Press, especially Mary Lincoln, Director.
Publication of this book was supported by a grant from the “Universitaire
Stichting van België.’’
My greatest debt, however, is owed to Jan Dings, my husband, who has
borne the burdens of, and has guided me through, the most difficult stages of
the process. With his sober advice and technical support, his loving assistance
and encouragement, he has helped me in more ways'than he knows.