![\"Kane\"](\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/hst-journeys\/files\/2016\/12\/Kane-1-300x260.jpg\")
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Fig. 1, Album of Revolutionary Russia Cover.<\/em><\/p>\n By Riley Kane<\/p>\n DK265.15.A43 1919<\/p>\n Al\u2019bom revoliuitsionnoi Rossii = Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em>. [New York] : Russian Socialist Federation, [1919], 1919.<\/p>\n The Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em> is a photo album depicting people and scenes from the early Soviet Union between 1917 and 1919.[1]<\/a> The book contains few words, only picture titles and brief descriptions that are often little more than the names of people or translations of Russian language visible in the photograph. This leaves the images to speak for themselves. The album was produced by the Russian Socialist Federation as a work of propaganda, seeking to promote Bolshevism and the emerging Soviet Union.<\/p>\n The Publisher of the Album<\/em><\/p>\n Considering the scant text within the album, an understanding of its publishers, the Russian Socialist Federation (RSF), would offer insights into its purpose and intended message. The album was produced during a tumultuous time for the American socialist movement, shortly after the album\u2019s publication it suffered a major split. The American Socialist Party divided into the Communist Party of America (CPA) and the Communist Labor Party (CLP) in 1919 over disagreements on revolutionary socialism and internationalism that resulted from the Russian Revolution.[2]<\/a> Both parties broke from the pre-existing American Socialist Party. The CLP focused on the United States and sought to ensure its movement was \u201can \u2018American\u2019 movement, not a \u2018foreign\u2019 movement.\u201d This \u201ctreacherous ideology\u201d exacerbated divisions between the CLP and CPA.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n The RSF was one of many socialist groups organized around ethnicity, in this case, Russian immigrants, and after the split it joined the CPA. In 1918 the RSF resolved to struggle for \u201cthe seizure by the working classes of power\u2026 with the object of effecting Socialistic overturn.\u201d Additionally they considered themselves \u201crevolutionary socialists\u201d who were \u201c[t]aught by the lesson of the Russian revolution.\u201d The RSF was pro-Soviet, and committed to the \u201crealization of [their] Bolshevik program.\u201d[4]<\/a> It is clear the album was produced as a propaganda tool.<\/p>\n The Album Itself <\/em>[5]<\/a><\/p>\n The book was produced to show Americans the Bolshevik state and depict it in a positive light. Interestingly, this may have been a novel idea among American socialists, suggested by Jason Martinek in Socialism and Print Culture in America<\/em>, where argued that their \u201cradical use of literacy\u2026 placed an inordinate amount of faith in ordinary people\u201d to grasp benefits of socialism and that such practices \u201csometimes, if not often,\u201d worked against the interests American socialists.[6]<\/a> The American socialist movement needed good propaganda, because they were fighting an uphill battle. Aside from the historical unpopularity of socialism in the U.S., which was further undermined by the First World War, there was also the problem of Americans\u2019 perception of Russia.[7]<\/a> Westerners have historically seen Russia in negative terms: Western civilization versus Russian barbarism, progress versus backwardness, and in the 20th<\/sup> century, democracy versus totalitarianism.[8]<\/a> A major effort of the Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em> then must have been to promote a positive image of Russia and Bolshevism while addressing historical Western preconceived notions.<\/p>\n The reader is greeted by photographic portraits of Lenin and Trotsky, then a litany of ministers, many responsible for unexciting-sounding positions like the People\u2019s Commissar of Post and Telegraphs. The album appears to show the entire<\/em> government. This was likely necessary, to put names to faces Americans read about in the papers and to prevent other people from being recognized as important leaders, which occurred in anti-Bolshevik albums such as Blood Stained Russia<\/em>.[9]<\/a> The Russians placed great importance on images of their leaders, perhaps the RSF, as a body of ethnic Russians, was following that tradition.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n Fig. 2,<\/em> The All-Russian Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal <\/em>[11]<\/a><\/p>\n One of the first pictures was a cheery shot of the \u201cKronstadt Council of Sailors and Workers Smiling,\u201d which looked like an image out of a family album, depicting the revolutionaries as personal and warm. \u201cThe All-Russian Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal\u201d also appears to make an effort to connect the revolution to ordinary people, the caption which describes the membership of the committee reads: \u201c[f]rom left to right, a Factory Worker, a Soldier, a Peasant, Zhukov [the president], an Artisan, a Soldier, a Clerk.\u201d[12]<\/a> The RSF was trying to highlight that common people are being placed on an important governmental tribunal, but merely referring to the people by their professions rather than including their names seems oddly dehumanizing and might not have been the best choice in attempting to appeal to Americans.<\/p>\n Fig. 3, Enlistment of Volunteers for the Red Army<\/em><\/p>\n There are many pictures of soldiers in uniform, but some carrying arms were wearing civilian clothes, likely shown to demonstrate the popularity of the revolution and perhaps to try and connect those Red Guards with the American Revolution\u2019s militia and minutemen to encourage a positive association between the revolutions. The photo \u201cEnlistment of Volunteers for the Red Army\u201d depicts rather excited peasants joining the Red Army. I suspect this picture was staged to play into Western perceptions of Russian backwardness, the picture seems too over-the-top with the young men waiting attentively or clustered excitedly around the desk. When viewed in combination with a photograph of students at \u201cThe First Soldier\u2019s University\u201d it appears the RSF is using these images in concert to portray Bolsheviks as a beneficial, modernizing influence on the Russian people\u2014playing into a stereotype to challenge it.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n Fig. 4, Bourgeoisie at Work<\/em><\/p>\n The \u201cBourgeoisie at Work\u201d is an interesting picture, one that seems like just the sort of despotic image that would fuel and anti-communist fears in America. Perhaps the album was meant for distribution among the poor, who would enjoy seeing the rich cut down to size, or perhaps the RSF misjudged their audience. The final picture, \u201cLong Live the International,\u201d showed another potentially counterproductive image of a crowd celebrating the global ambition of communism before a banner depicting a world map. It was an interesting note to end on, not explicitly aggressive, but suggestive of future expansionism.<\/p>\n The Album of Revolutionary Russia<\/em> compares interestingly with Blood Stained Russia<\/em>, another album of photographs in this collection that covers roughly the same period. Where this album is pro-Bolshevik, the other is openly anti-Bolshevik, and interestingly anti-German, painting the Bolsheviks as a mixture of German puppets, stooges, and spies. Its abundant text provides a clearer window into its author\u2019s thoughts and motivations. The album discussed here does not address the question of Bolshevik loyalty to Germany, perhaps because it was published after the war.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Works Cited:<\/p>\n Draper, Theodore. The Roots of American Communism<\/em>. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1957.<\/p>\n Dune, Eduard M. Notes of a Red Guard. Edited and Translated by Diane P. Kroenker, and S. A. Smith. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993.<\/p>\n Frame, Murray, Boris Kolonitskii, Steven Marks, and Melissa Stockdale editors. Russian Culture in War and Revolution: Book 2. Political Culture, Identities, Mentalities, and Memory.<\/em> Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2015.<\/p>\n Glisic, Iva. \u201dCaffeinated Avant-Garde: Futurism During the Russian Civil War 1917-1921.\u201d Australian Journal of Politics and History<\/em>, vol. 58, no. 3 (September 2012): 353-366.<\/p>\n Martinek, Jason D. Socialism and Print Culture in America, 1897-1920<\/em>. New York, NY: Routledge, 2016.<\/p>\n Miller, Sally. \u201cSocialist Party Decline and World War I: Bibliography and Interpretation.\u201d Science & Society<\/em>, vol. 34, no. 4, American radical History (Winter, 1970): 398-411.<\/p>\n Schneirov, Richard. New Perspectives on Socialism I: The Socialist Party Revisited. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era<\/em>, vol. 2, no. 3 (July 2003): 245-252.<\/p>\n U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Investigation. Minutes of the 4th<\/sup> Convention of the Russian Socialist Federation. September 28-October 2, 1918. NARA M-1085, reel 938, document 341853. Published by 1000 Flowers Publishing. Accessed December 7, 2016.<\/p>\n https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/MinutesOfThe4thConventionOfTheRussianSocialistFederation.<\/p>\n Poe, Marshall T. A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1476-1748<\/em>. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.<\/p>\n Further Reading:<\/p>\n Miller, Sally. \u201cThe Socialist Party Schism of 1919: A Local Case Study.\u201d Labor History<\/em>, vol. 36, is. 4 (1995): 599-611.<\/p>\n See also in the Henri de St-Rat Collection:<\/p>\n DK 265.15.T46<\/p>\n Thompson, Donald C. Blood Stained Russia. New York : Leslie-Judge Co., 1918.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Russia under Bolshevik rule did not become the Soviet Union until December 30, 1922. For Simplicity\u2019s sake I will refer to Russia under Bolshevik rule prior to that date as the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Richard Schneirov, \u201cNew Perspectives on Socialism I: The Socialist Party Revisited.\u201d The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era<\/em>, vol. 2, no. 3 (July 2003): 247.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Theodore Draper, The Roots of American Communism<\/em> (New York, NY: Viking Press, 1957), 187.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation, Minutes of the 4th<\/sup> Convention of the Russian Socialist Federation, September 28-October 2, 1918, NARA M-1085, reel 938, document 341853, published by 1000 Flowers Publishing, accessed December 7, 2016, https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/MinutesOfThe4thConventionOfTheRussianSocialistFederation.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> The only citation I discovered for the album was in Notes of A Red Guard<\/em>, where the pictures were used as ancillary sources in the translated autobiography of Eduard Dune, a Bolshevik and Red Army soldier. Little if any proper scholarship appears to have been performed on the album itself, nor does it appear to have been utilized in many historians\u2019 studies; Eduard Dune, Notes of a Red Guard<\/em>, ed. and trans. by Diane P. Kroenker and S. A. Smith (Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993).<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Jason Martinek, Socialism and Print Culture in America, 1897-1920<\/em> (New York, NY: Routledge, 2016), 116.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Sally Miller, \u201cSocialist Party Decline and World War I: Bibliography and Interpretation,\u201d Science & Society<\/em>, vol. 34, no. 4, American radical History (Winter, 1970): 403-404.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Marshall Poe, A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1476-1748<\/em> (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000), 3-4.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Thompson, Donald C, Blood Stained Russia<\/em> (New York, NY: Leslie-Judge Co., 1918), 193, also in\u00a0 Henri de St-Rat Collection, it shows a picture claiming to be of \u201cLenine and Trotzky,\u201d perhaps those are the\u00a0 men pictured because they definitely are not\u00a0 Lenin and Trotsky.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Boris Kolonitskii, \u201cRussian Leaders of the Great War and revolutionary Era in Representations and Rumors\u201d 27-29, in Russian Culture in War and Revolution, Murray Frame, Boris Kolonitskii, Steven Marks, and Melissa Stockdale eds., Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2015.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Unfortunately, none of the album\u2019s pages are numbered, so whenever I refer to a picture I use the full English title as it appears written in the album and I discuss the pictures in their order of appearance.<\/p>\n![\"Kane3\"](\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/hst-journeys\/files\/2016\/12\/Kane3-300x134.jpg\")
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