“LOAN OF LIBERTY” AS AN INDICATOR OF A PRO-GOVERNMENTAL AND PATRIOTIC SENTIMENT (BY THE MATERIALS OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER VOLGA REGION)

• Main Author: V. N. Kuznetsov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Penza State University Publishing House 2020-09-01
• Series: Известия высших учебных заведений. Поволжский регион: Гуманитарные науки
• Subjects: loan of liberty; provisional government; bolsheviks; mensheviks; socialist revolutionaries; constitutional democrats

Background. The Loan of Liberty issued by the Provisional Government turned out to be not only an apple of discord between political parties, but also once again put on the agenda the question: what is “patriotism”. This concept was widely used by the Russian authorities earlier and will be used in the future, and the appeal to its analysis on the basis of concrete historical materials cannot be but relevant. The purpose of the work is to show how various political parties related to the Loan of Liberty and, in this regard, what content they put into the concept of “patriotism”, with which the government associated the subscription to the Loan. Materials and methods. The implementation of research tasks was achieved on the basis of data from periodicals of the Bolshevik, Menshevik, Socialist Revolutionary and Cadet parties of Saratov, Samara and Simbirsk provinces. The methodological potential includes a comparative historical method, the application of which allows us to compare the assessment of the “Loan of Liberty” with various political parties, and on this basis to reveal what they understood by such a significant concept as “patriotism”. Results. The attitude of political parties in Saratov, Samara and Simbirsk provinces to the “Loan of Liberty” conducted by the Provisional Government is investigated. The attitude to the Loan, in turn, shows their assessment of the Provisional Government and its policies, the nature of the revolution, as well as the most important moral and political category of “patriotism”. The features of propaganda or antipropaganda of the “Loan of Liberty” by various political parties are considered. Conclusions. A study of the reaction of political parties in the region to the “Loan of Liberty” issued by the Provisional Government made it possible to conclude that the attitude to the Loan was an important element of party activity in the spring of 1917, and that the Loan was a marker showing the attitude of the parties to the government and its policies, especially in the social sphere and in relation to the war, as well as to the widely exploited concept of “patriotism”. Cadets who appeared after February 1917 on the right flank of the party spectrum supported the Loan, which meant the Provisional Government, the continuation of the war, and the economic policy in the interests of business as well. Patriotism for them was to maintain power and a strong state, defeat Germany along with the allies. A close position was occupied by the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The Mensheviks and Socialist- Revolutionaries of the center supported the Provisional Government and the Loan issued by it. Considering the revolution a bourgeois one, they were against breaking the bourgeois system. At the same time, they criticized business for the continued exploitation of the working classes and predatory profit at the expense of the working people. The Bolsheviks were the only ones opposing the Loan that would strengthen the government and allow it to continue the war and exploit the poor. Patriotism, from their point of view, consisted in the struggle for a change of power, the immediate end of the war and the transition to a more social policy.