Russia’s Revolutionary Heritage

In Russia, there is a legacy of repression and revolution. Throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, an increasingly anachronistic regime, immobilized by fear and inertia, confronted rapidly changing social forces. Those who criticized the regime or spoke out for reforms were imprisoned or exiled. A self-perpetuating cycle developed: calls for reform resulted in police harassment, which further radicalized the dissidents and hardened their demands. With every repetition of the cycle, the political demands grew more strident, the protests more violent, and the responses of the authorities more repressive and brutal.