ALEXANDER GUCHKOV’S RESIGNATION IN SATIRE AND CARTOONS IN MAY 1917

Abstract

The article analyzes the cartoons and satirical works published in May 1917 that mentioned Alexander Guchkov and his resignation from the post of war minister. The scrutiny of materials from specialized satirical publications has enabled the author to conclude that the highly popular satire magazines Pugach, Novy Satirikon, Trepach, Baraban, and Strekoza refrained from mocking Guchkov, his resignation and his political position, although many newspapers – and particularly the pro-Socialist ones – passed highly acerbic comments on the former war minister. Even if they mentioned him, they viewed him a neutral emblem of the epoch, a definite stage of revolutionary development rather than an object of satirizing. Only the magazines Bich and Budilnik offered an excited reaction to the resignation of the Provisional Government’s first defense minister. Their authors compared Guchkov with Napoleon and with more notorious personalities associated then with ‘dark forces’ and the ‘old regime’. In May 1917, Guchkov was also mentioned in the satirical works published by the Bolshevist press where he was portrayed as a personage, cooperation with which would defame the Socialists, who were more moderate than the Bolsheviks and their allies. Thus, the leftist newspapers, opposing the coalition cabinet and the Socialists’ participation in the Provisional Government, drew a parallel between the actual political situation of May 1917 and the engagement of some Mensheviks in the activity of war industry committees. By that time, Guchkov, the leader of those committees, was viewed as a potential helmsman of a counterrevolutionary revolt of the bourgeoisie not only by the Bolsheviks, but also by many of their opponents among the Socialists.