By August Hagemann
On Friday, October 26th, 2018, Miami University’s Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet studies hosted journalist Mikhail Zygar. Zygar got his start as a war correspondent with Kommersant, but became famous as the founding editor-in-chief of Russia’s only independent news station, TV-Dozhd’, and his book on Russian government corruption, All the Kremlin’s Men. Though these journalistic positions focusing on today are how Zygar began his career, one of his most influential recent projects focused on events that took place more than 100 years ago — Russia’s 1917 revolutions.
Project 1917 presents a day-by-day, primary source account of the final year of the Russian Empire, from just before the February Revolution, through the chaotic months of rule by the Provisional Government, to the October Revolution and the first months of Communist control. It is not simply a collection of diaries and letters, however. The most notable innovation of Project 1917 is that it presents every piece of information as a social media posts. Lenin, Trotsky, Kerensky, and thousands of others express their thoughts through status updates, and 1917 unfolds day-by-day in much the same way one can follow news stories via social media today. According to Zygar, Project 1917 is certainly an attempt to make history more known; beyond that, however, it is an attempt to socially and politically engage today’s youth, in the hope of changing Russia’s political culture in the future.
The most obvious purpose of Project 1917 is simply to bring the Russian Revolution into the spotlight, 100 years later. Despite the fact that 1917 is one of the most influential years of the last several centuries, especially in Russia, Putin’s government gave almost no attention to it. Zygar argues that this is because the Revolution and ensuing 74 years of Communist rule do not feature into the narrative and rhetoric of the current government, which prefers to focus on the Russian Empire as a model for a globally influential Russia. To Vladimir Putin, the Revolutions of 1917 are at best problematic, and at worst a direct challenge to the nationalist, expansionist values he claims for Russia today. In addition to simply bringing attention to such a significant event, Zygar also mentioned that Project 1917 is meant to convey a very specific theory of history, based on individual actors, and the idea that “history consists of irrational mistakes… there is no plan”. Though many participants in 1917 had their own ideas of what exactly is driving history, most notably the Bolsheviks, Zygar’s own explanation of history centers around individual actors doing their very best to adapt to coincidence and circumstance, usually acting illogically and without complete information. This is certainly not to say that Zygar believes all life is dumb chance, or that no Russian revolutionary had any idea what was going on — rather, it is to say that in telling a story involving thousands of characters, none of whom ever knew exactly everything else that was going on, Mikhail Zygar came to the conclusion that world history is driven by individual decisions and actions interacting in infinitely complex ways every single day, and that it is those actions that ultimately determine what path history will take.
History is only part of why Project 1917 was created, however. Mikhail Zygar’s goal in focusing on the past was to generate action and attention in the future, by engaging Russia’s youth. Zygar left journalism out of frustration with the way news was covered — nothing but the same coverage of the same events, mostly relating to Vladimir Putin, broadcast over the same tired television and print formats as always. Even liberal Russian news sources like Dozhd had limited audiences, mostly people who already agreed with the viewpoints being expressed seeking confirmation of their values. Mikhail Zygar wanted to reach a newer, younger audience, one that was not already following the news cycle. With the belief that modern media and technology are the keys to reaching this demographic, Zygar set out to create Project 1917, history presented as social media. Zygar argued that presenting information in this style, effectively treating social media as its own genre of writing, Russia’s youth would find it more accessible, and engage more with it. The data bear out his predictions — according to Zygar, Project 1917 reached a readership of 8 million people, with an average age between 15 and 25.
By presenting a young audience with interesting, accessible historical information, Zygar hopes to empower a future Russian political culture which is more open and positive than today’s. Arguing that “history is a rehearsal of the future”, Zygar sees Project 1917 and other attempts like it as absolutely essential adaptations to today’s media, to preserve engagement and discussion. He does not believe that he is a visionary, single-handedly changing the Russian political landscape, or that if all young people read all of Project 1917 Russia’s political climate will suddenly become more liberal. However, he does believe it is crucial that today’s youth, who will become tomorrow’s adults, are given access to historical information, and made to think about how they can build a better world.
Though every word of substance within Project 1917 was written 100 or more years ago, the novel, engaging social media format, which stresses individual action and interaction, makes everything feel fresh and modern. By acknowledging and embracing new media, Mikhail Zygar hopes to use history to inspire today’s young people to keep making history.
For more information on Zygar’s visit, you can read pieces by Emily Erdmann and Helen McHenry, respectively. In addition, feel free to join the Center’s next guest lecturer, prominent journalist Masha Gessen, on November 6th at 5 PM in Shideler 152.
August Hagemann is a junior majoring in REEES.