Soviet Rewriting of 1917: The Case of A. G. Shliapnikov

Abstract

The career of Aleksandr Gavrilovich Shliapnikov dramatically illustrates the interrelationship of politics and historical writing in Soviet Russia from the early 1920s until 1931. During that formative period, the Bolshevik Party sought uniformity in its ranks by the general suppression of dissent and a corresponding requirement that its historians regard their craft chiefly as an extension of party policy. Although Bolshevik historians increasingly felt compelled to justify the party's past and present policies, Shliapnikov resisted. He continued to advocate many of the opinions he had held in the early 1920s as a leader of the Workers' Opposition. Although he was condemned for his behavior, he began an equally controversial career as a historian of the 1917 Revolution.