Peasants, Nation, and Local Government in Wartime Russia

More than a decade ago, in a discussion in this journal, Leopold Haimson argued that peasant soldiers’ perception of Soviet power in 1917-18 “did not encompass any conception of the relationships between themselves, their village communities, or even the peasant estate as a whole, and other social groups—let alone any generalized view of the Russian body politic as a whole.” He went on to note that this peasant particularism “reflected a continuity in the mentalité of Russian peasants stretching back to the very inception of the Russian state.” Peasants rejected any superordinate authority and consistently acted out “a profound urge to be left alone.” Haimson's description of Russian peasants at the outset of civil war is a powerful evocation of peasant mentalités, not only of peasants in Russia but of peasants the world over, and would seem to preclude their inclusion in a nation.