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8. Conclusion

Chapter of: Feliks Volkhovskii: A Revolutionary Life(pp. 275–290)

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Metadata
Title8. Conclusion
ContributorMichael Hughes(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0385.08
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0385/chapters/10.11647/obp.0385.08
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightMichael Hughes
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-06-28
Long abstractThis chapter reflects on some of the problems involved in writing a biography of a figure like Volkhovskii, given the changing focus of his activities, but suggesting that his life can serve as a prism through which to view the Russian revolutionary movement before 1917. Volkhovskii’s revolutionary career was shaped as much by contingencies as it was by deliberate planning. He was instinctively sceptical about the importance of the ideological differences that often split the revolutionary movement, believing that the shared commitment to overthrowing the tsarist government could provide a source of unity. The development of Volkhovskii’s revolutionary career was shaped above all by his loathing of the tsarist government and his commitment to helping those subject to poverty and oppression. Volkhovskii’s life can serve as a reminder that the history of the Russian revolutionary movement is a history of individuals as much as ideologies and organisations. It also serves as a reminder of the danger of a teleological reading of history in which the triumph of Bolshevism in 1917 appears inevitable. The development of the Russian revolutionary movement was shaped above all by the vagaries of chance and the character and outlook of its supporters.
Page rangepp. 275–290
Print length16 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Michael Hughes

(author)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2169-3451

Michael Hughes is Professor of Modern History at the University of Lancaster (where he has served in a number of senior management positions). He has published six monographs along with several edited and ‘popular’ books, as well as some sixty scholarly articles and chapters. He has been a Council Member and Treasurer of the Royal Historical Society and was on the History Sub-Panel for the UK Government’s recent Research Excellence Framework.