Obshchestvennost’ and Civic Agency in Late Imperial and Soviet Russia

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   • Yasuhiro Matsui

   Pages 1-15

3. Russian Critics and Obshchestvennost’, 1840–1890: The Case of Vladimir Stasov

   • Yukiko Tatsumi

   Pages 16-33

4. From Workers’ Milieu to the Public Arena: Workers’ Sociability and Obshchestvennost’ before 1906

   • Yoshifuru Tsuchiya

   Pages 34-60

5. The Notion of Obshchestvennost’ during the First World War

   • Yoshiro Ikeda

   Pages 61-81

6. Nikolai Bukharin and the Rabsel’kor Movement: Sovetskaia Obshchestvennost’ under the ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’

   • Zenji Asaoka

   Pages 82-108

7. Obshchestvennost’ in Residence: Community Activities in 1930s Moscow

   • Yasuhiro Matsui

   Pages 109-127

8. What Was Obshchestvennost’ in the Time of Stalin? The Case of the Post-war Soviet Medical Profession

   • Mie Nakachi

   Pages 128-151

9. Obshchestvennost’ in the Struggle against Crimes: The Case of People’s Vigilante Brigades in the Late 1950s and 1960s

   • Kiyohiro Matsudo

   Pages 152-170

10. Public and Private Matters in Comrades’ Courts under Khrushchev

    • Kazuko Kawamoto

    Pages 171-197

11. Obshchestvennost’ across Borders: Soviet Dissidents as a Hub of Transnational Agency

    • Yasuhiro Matsui

    Pages 198-218

12. Conclusion

    • Yasuhiro Matsui

    Pages 219-224

13. Back Matter

    Pages 225-234

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In modernizing Russia, obshchestvennost', an indigenous Russian word, began functioning as a term to illuminate newly emerging active parts of society and their public identities. This volume approaches various phenomena associated with the term throughout the revolution, examining it in the context of the press, public opinion, and activists.

• Obshchestvennost'
• agency
• Russia
• Russian history
• Soviet Union
• Civil Society
• Public
• Public Sphere
• dictatorship
• First World War
• history
• revolution
• Stalin
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
• russian and post-soviet politics

“This collection of essays provides an excellent starting point for further research on both conceptions of obshchestvennost’ and obshchestvennost’ as lived experience. ... This collection of essays then is a useful addition to the literature not only on obshchestvennost’ but also on the role of agency even under the most oppressive governments.” (Curtis Richardson,Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. jgo.e-reviews, Vol. 8 (1), 2018)



“The nine chapters that make up this book are arranged chronologically and written by leading scholars from a variety of Japanese universities and institutes. They display an impressive mastery of the latest scholarship in English, Russian, German, and Japanese and make a valuable contribution to our understanding of both the late tsarist and Soviet periods.” (Tracy Nichols Busch, The Russian Review, Vol. 76 (1), January, 2017) 

“The collection covers a truly admirable scope of topics, and the chapters can serve as reference for scholars of various fields … . significant contribution to the literature on state and society in modern imperial and Soviet Russia. It addresses many themes to which earlier works did not pay enough attention and opens the way for uncharted areas of research. It provides important insights in particular to the complexity of the relationship of state and society in Soviet Russian times.” (Alexandra Medzibrodszky, Contributions to the History of Concepts, Vol. 12 (2), 2017)

“This is a carefully structured monograph composed of nine chapters, each focused on the same phenomenon of obshchestvennost’ … . the collection presents a major contribution to the field, clearing the ground for the development of a new comprehensive model of obshchestvennost’.” (Ilya V. Gerasimov, Revolutionary Russia, Vol. 29 (1), 2016) 

• Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Japan

  Yasuhiro Matsui

Yasuhiro Matsui is Professor at the Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Japan. He previously lectured in political science and international relations at the Faculty of Law, Kagawa University in Japan. His past research has been on the Communist Youth League (Komsomol) in the 1920s and the proto-public sphere under Stalin.

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