Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal. 2022. № 4 (44). P. 245—259
HISTORICAL SCIENCES
UDC 94(47)
Larin Andrey Borisovich, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Researcher
Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences
“IN ALLIANCE WITH THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS OF RUSSIA, THE PERSIAN FARMER WILL CONQUER A BETTER FUTURE FOR HIMSELF”: THE RECEPTION OF THE IDEAS OF THE RUSSIAN CIVILIZING MISSION IN PERSIA IN EARLY SOVIET POLITICAL WRITINGS
Abstract
The article is devoted to the formation of the early Soviet discourse in relation to the countries of the East and the policy of the Bolsheviks in the region, primarily in Iran. The main material for the analysis was the journalistic writings of Soviet authors, one way or another affecting the problem. It is shown that, despite the postulated break with the previous intellectual tradition, the radically different political practice of the Bolsheviks in building bilateral relations with Persia, the new proposed discourses were not free from the influence of earlier ideas. Thus, in the political concepts formulated by the Bolsheviks, in a refracted form, one can see the influence of the former Orientalist constructions based on the idea of a hierarchy of peoples and states, their inequality.
Key words
Iran, Russian Empire, modernization, orientalism, civilizing mission, the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks.
1. Aliev S. M. Istoriya Irana. XX v. [History of Iran. 20th century]. Moscow, In-t vostokovedeniya RAN ; Kraft+ Publ., 2004. 648 p. (In Russian)
2. Vestnik Narkomata inostrannykh del [Bulletin of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs]. 1919, no. 2, Aug. 13. (In Russian)
3. Vishnegradova A. Revolyutsionnoe dvizhenie v Persidskom Azerbaidzhane [Revolutionary Movement in Persian Azerbaijan]. Novyi Vostok [New East]. Moscow, 1922, book 2, pp. 249—253. (In Russian)
4. Gods M. Reza. Iran v XX veke. Politicheskaya istoriya [Reza. Iran in the 20th century. Political history]. Moscow, Nauka. Izdat. firma “Vostochnaya literatura” Publ., 1994. 355 p. (In Russian)
5. Deklaratsiya prav narodov Rossii. 2 (15) noyabrya 1917 g. [Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia. November 2 (15), 1917]. Dekrety Sovetskoi vlasti [Decrees of Soviet Power]. Moscow, Gos. izd-vo polit. lit. Publ., 1957, vol. 1, pp. 39—41. (In Russian)
6. Dekret II Vserossiiskogo s’’ezda Sovetov o mire. 26 oktyabrya (8 noyabrya) 1917 g. [Decree of the II All-Russia Congress of Soviets on Peace. October 26 (November 8), 1917]. Dekrety Sovetskoi vlasti [Decrees of Soviet Power]. Moscow, Gos. izd-vo polit. lit. Publ., 1957, vol. 1, pp. 12—16. (In Russian)
7. Dzhentile E. Politicheskie religii. Mezhdu demokratiei i totalitarizmom [Political religions. Between democracy and totalitarianism]. St. Petersburg, Vladimir Dal’ Publ., 2021. 400 p. (In Russian)
8. Dogovor mezhdu Rossiiskoi Sotsialisticheskoi Federativnoi Sovetskoi Respublikoi i Persiei [Treaty between the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and Persia]. Sobranie uzakonenii i rasporyazhenii pravitel’stva za 1921 g. [Collection of legalizations and government orders for 1921]. Moscow, 1944, pp. 970—975. (In Russian)
9. Lenin V. I. O prave natsii na samoopredelenie [On the right of nations to self-determination]. Lenin V. I. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 55 t. 5-e izd. [Lenin V. I. Complete works. In 55 vols. 5th ed.]. Moscow, 1969, vol. 25. March — July, 1914, pp. 255—320. (In Russian)
10. Martin T. Imperiya “polozhitel’noi deyatel’nosti”. Natsii i natsionalizm v SSSR, 1923—1939 [Empire of “positive activity”. Nations and nationalism in the USSR, 1923—1939]. Moscow, Rossiiskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya Publ., 2011. 664 p. (In Russian)
11. Miller A. Imperiya Romanovykh i natsionalizm: Esse po metodologii istoricheskogo issledovaniya [The Romanov Empire and nationalism: An essay on the methodology of historical research]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2006. 240 p. (In Russian)
12. Miroshnikov L. I. Angliiskaya ekspansiya v Irane (1914—1920) [British expansion in Iran (1914—1920)]. Moscow, Izd-vo vostochnoi literatury Publ., 1961. 228 p. (In Russian)
13. Obrashchenie “Ko vsem trudyashchimsya musul’manam Rossii i Vostoka”. 20 noyabrya 1917 g. [Appeal “To all working Muslims of Russia and the East”. November 20, 1917]. Dekrety Sovetskoi vlasti [Decrees of Soviet Power]. Moscow, Gos. izd-vo polit. lit. Publ., 1957, vol. 1, pp. 113—115. (In Russian)
14. Orientalizm/Oksidentalizm: yazyki kul’tur i yazyki ikh opisaniya: sbornik statei [Orientalism/Occidentalism: languages of cultures and languages of their description. Collect. of articles]. Moscow, Sovpadenie Publ., 2012. 416 p. (In Russian)
15. Orientalizm vs. orientalistika: sbornik statei [Orientalism vs. oriental studies. Collect. of articles]. Moscow, OOO “Sadra” Publ., 2016. 490 p. (In Russian)
16. Pavlovich-Volonter M. P. (Vel’tman M.). Voprosy kolonial’noi i natsional’noi politiki i III Internatsional (Sovetskaya Rossiya, Azerbaidzhan, Gruziya, Armeniya, Turtsiya) [Questions of colonial and national policy and the III International (Soviet Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey)]. Moscow, Tip. III Kommun. Internatsionala Publ., 1920. 71 p. (In Russian)
17. Pavlovich M. Aziya i ee rol’ v mirovoi voine [Asia and its role in the World War]. Petersburg, Tip. gaz. “Novaya zhizn” Publ., 1918. VIII, 72 p. (In Russian)
18. Pavlovich M., Iranskii S. Persiya v bor’be za nezavisimost’: (sb. statei) [Persia in the struggle for independence. (Collect. of articles)]. Moscow, Nauch. assotsiatsiya vostokovedeniya pri TsIK SSSR Publ., 1925. 184 p. (In Russian)
19. Persidskaya pressa [Persian press]. Novyi Vostok [New East]. Moscow, 1922, book 1, pp. 345—353. (In Russian)
20. Riza Sha̒bani. Kratkaya istoriya Irana [Riza Sha̒bani. Brief history of Iran]. St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie Publ., 2008. 386 p. (In Russian)
21. Rossiiskaya imperiya v zarubezhnoi istoriografii: Raboty poslednikh let [The Russian Empire in foreign historiography: Works of recent years]. Moscow, Novoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 2005. 696 p. (In Russian)
22. Sakharov A. M. Russkaya kolonizatsiya Astrabadskoi provintsii v Persii [Russian colonization of the Astrabad province in Persia]. Petrograd, Tip. Sodruzhestvo Publ., 1915. 75 p. (In Russian)
23. Sergeev E. Yu. Bol’sheviki i anglichane. Sovetsko-britanskie otnosheniya, 1918—1924: ot interventsii k priznaniyu [Bolsheviks and British. Soviet-British relations, 1918—1924: from intervention to recognition]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2019. 832 p. (In Russian)
24. Soplenkov S. V. Doroga v Arzrum: rossiiskaya obshchestvennaya mysl’ o Vostoke (pervaya polovina XIX veka) [The road to Arzrum: Russian public thought about the East (the first half of the 19th century)]. Moscow, Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2000. 210, [4] p. (In Russian)
25. Sultan-Zade A. Persiya [Persia]. Moscow, Gos. izd-vo Publ., 1925. 92 p. (In Russian)
26. Timofeev A. Imperialisticheskoe “mirnoe” zavoevanie Persii [Imperialist “peaceful” conquest of Persia]. Novyi Vostok [New East]. Moscow, 1922, book 2, pp. 254—271. (In Russian)
27. Tol’ts V. “Sobstvennyi Vostok Rossii”: Politika identichnosti i vostokovedenie v pozdneimperskii i rannesovetskii period: per. s angl. [“Russia’s Own East”: Identity politics and oriental studies in the late imperial and early soviet periods. Transl. from English]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2013. 332 p. (In Russian)
28. Chirkin G. F. Otchetnaya zapiska o poezdke vesnoi 1916 g. v Astrabadskuyu i Mazanderanskuyu provintsii Severnoi Persii [Reporting note on a trip in the spring of 1916 to the Astrabad and Mazanderan provinces of Northern Persia]. Petrograd, Ekaterininskaya tip. Publ., 1916. 48 p. (In Russian)
29. Andreeva E. Russia and Iran in the Great Game: Travelogues and Orientalism. New York, Routledge Publ., 2007. 288 p. (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern History).
30. Imperium inter pares: rol’ transferov v istorii Rossiiskoi imperii (1700—1917): sbornik statei [Imperium inter pares: the role of transfers in the history of the Russian Empire (1700—1917). Collect. of articles]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2010. 392 p. (In Russian)
31. Ramazani R. K. The foreign policy of Iran: a developing nation in world affairs, 1500—1941. University Press of Virginia, 1966. 330 p.
32. Said E. W. Orientalism. New York, Pantheon Books Publ., 1978. 368 p.
33. Schimmelpenninck van der Oye D. Russian Orientalism: Asia in the Russian Mind from Peter the Great to the Emigration. New Haven and London, 2010. 312 p.
34. Orientalism and Empire in Russia. Ed. by M. David-Fox, P. Holquist, A. Martin. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2006. 364 p.
Bibliography link to this article:
Larin A. B. “In alliance with the Workers and Peasants of Russia, the Persian farmer will conquer a better future for himself”: the reception of the ideas of the Russian civilizing mission in Persia in early Soviet political writings. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2022, no. 4 (44), pp. 245—259. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2022.44.11.