THE SPRING OF 1917 IN RUSSIA: REVOLUTIONARY EUPHORIA AND REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE AS MARKERS OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT AND BEHAVIORAL PRACTICES

Abstract

The article examines the features and content of revolutionary euphoria and revolutionary violence in Russia during the spring of 1917. These indicators largely formed the reaction of Russian society to the events that took place and became decisive for the further history of 1917. The emotional coloring of Russian society on the eve of 1917 contained various indicators of the destructive beginning, aggravated by the complex political background and heavy inancial situation of ordinary people. For the mass moods of the spring of 1917, high expectations and an extreme degree of activity were characteristic. The collapse of the inflated expectations of the changes that have taken place and the activity of the masses in various directions threatened with heavy disappointment, accompanied by acts of unmotivated violence. The objects of violence were not only individual citizens who did not accept new changes, but also signs of the old world, symbols of the overthrown regime. The struggle with the past, the search for enemies and the emotional instability of the masses led to disorder and robbery. Moreover, the public moods and behavioral practices of this period were characterized by obvious ambivalence and dichotomy, manifested in the craving for destruction and self-organization.