"RADICAL WORKER IN TSARIST RUSSIA, A" (IVANOVICH KANATCHIKOV).   Term Paper ID:25757 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reviews autobiography of peasant's political radicalization in early 20th Cent.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Reviews autobiography of peasant's political radicalization in early 20th Cent. Paper Introduction: THE WORKER AS RADICAL In the autobiography of Ivanovich Kanatchikov, A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia, Kanatchikov is radicalized by his work experience. He lives at a time of major change as many of the peasant class who worked the farms were being transferred by circumstances and economic change to urban factories where the work was very different. The radicalization of this worker takes place as he moves from the rural to the urban region, from farm work to factory work, from a state of political apathy to a state of political concern, and from worker to radical. Kanatchikov's early life is in the rural regions, and there is no indication that this was some sort of ideal life later changed by the harshness of the factories. The life of the peasant was no better and perhaps worse than that of the factory Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The students are given new respect when theyagitate for the workers and are punished by the police: Previously, the mass of workers had looked upon students as restless rioters, as atheists who attacked the tsar for obscure reasons and, in any case, stood at a very great distance form the workers' day-to-day interests. I feared them because they didn't believe in God and might be able to shake my faith as well, which could have resulted in eternal hellish torments in the next world . . Kanatchikov also seeks to improve himself andreads all that he can to educate himself. The radicalization of thisworker takes place as he moves from the rural to the urban region, fromfarm work to factory work, from a state of political apathy to a state ofpolitical concern, and from worker to radical. His life storysays much about the nature of his society and the way it developed at theend of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Kanatchikov goes through a period during which he is fired over andover again as he moves from one factory to another, and always he seeksjustice and finds none (76). Nevertheless, we knew of approximately ten fully organized underground circles there (117). Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1986.----------------------- 8 As a healthy, cheerful, sociable young man, I experienced my solitude, my isolation from life, friends, and normal surroundings very acutely (121).Kanatchikov is sent to prison many times and learns form the experience.His activities come about because of his concern for the way he and hisfriends are made to work and treated by the owners, and the fact that hetakes action draws attention to him so that he is no longer able to findwork: After the arrests it was impossible for me and my comrades to find employment in local factories, o even in small artisinal workshops. Petersburg,for instance, when he is very much a part of the activity taking place: Considering our level of development and the recent vintage of our revolutionary work, my comrades and I made up only a minor part of the existing cadre of advanced revolutionary workers, and we could not, of course, be aware of everything that was happening in that part of the city. Helives at a time of major change as many of the peasant class who worked thefarms were being transferred by circumstances and economic change to urbanfactories where the work was very different. It cameabout because of the economic structure under which the rich controlled theproduction of all goods and the workers were kept poor. He says it made a strongimpression on him, and he learned the words of the "song of the weavers"and repeated it many times: The book had a very disturbing effect on me, stirring up my animosity toward the rich and my pity for the oppressed and awakening many new, previously unknown emotions, yet it did not really satisfy me. Kanatchikov tells his story in a clear and interesting way andmanages to illustrate the changes in his thinking and his actions withconcrete examples drawn from his day-to-day experience. (34). His reading leads more and more to what he calls his apostasy, hisshift in thinking from the way his father and other religious men of thetime view the world and the way he now sees it, as a place where the richexploit the poor and where justice is difficult to come by as aconsequence. This was natural given that the exploitation of the workers by factoryowners was a primary reason for the revolutionary actions. THE WORKER AS RADICAL In the autobiography of Ivanovich Kanatchikov, A Radical Worker inTsarist Russia, Kanatchikov is radicalized by his work experience. . Even so, there is a certain sense of alienation thatcomes over the boy just from exposure to the impersonal nature of the city: My delight was beginning to turn into depression, into some kind of inexplicable terror before the grandiose appearance and cold indifference of my surroundings. Some of the books he readcontributed more directly to his radicalization, such as Hauptmann's theWeavers, which at that time was banned. The radicalization of Kanatchikov and of his comrades came aboutbecause of the exploitive way the government and the business leadersconducted their affairs. It failed to answer the questions that were tormenting me: how should I live and what should I do? He notes this when he is in the Nevsky region of St. This is another source for theradicalization that occurs, because he gains a wider perspective on theworld and so is more aware of how he is being exploited than some of theother workers who are resigned to their lot. A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia. It came aboutbecause work is such a vital part of human life and so the conditions ofwork determine many political, cultural, and social attitudes andinstitutions. In other ways, of course, hisradicalization is greater than theirs because they have not yet beenexposed to the working environment as he is, so his alienation from work ismore real and less theoretical than that of the student radicals of theera. Kanatchikov's activities eventually lead him to prison, and prisonadds to the forces that are changing his way of viewing the world andmaking him a more revolutionary individual: Prison made an unbearably painful impression on me . Work CitedKanatchikov, Semen Ivanovich. But I admired them because they were so free, so independent,, so well-informed about everything, and because there was nobody and nothing on earth that they feared (27-28).This is partly a rosy misperception of a young outsider, and onceradicalized, Kanatchikov himself would not feel quite so free as heimagined these students to be. Kanatchikov is at first taken with the nature of the city, with thesights and sound and with the people he encounters. The peasant class wouldalso have been a target but was too spread out in less populated areas, sothe actions centered on the urban regions where factory workers could befound in abundance. The boy wassixteen at the time and was sent as an apprentice to the "Gustav List"engineering works, where he went to work in the painting shop. . He describes Moscow asa "stunning" place, and he sees this as a luxurious world compared to theone he left behind. . I felt like a small insignificant grain of sand, lost in the unfamiliar and hostile sea of people that surround me (7-8). The gendarmes had advised employers not to hire "unreliables," and their advice was followed to the letter (255).This really shows how the society only added to the radicalization takingplace and gave more fuel to its enemies, heaping new insults on top of oldand and giving the workes new reasons for becoming revolutionaries. Kanatchikov mentions again and again how muchrevolutionary activity is taking place in the different regions where helives. The life of the peasant was no better andperhaps worse than that of the factory worker, and Kanatchikov indicatesthis in the beginning when he says there is nothing outstanding about hischildhood except that he survived: I wasn't devoured by a pig, I wasn't butted by a cow, I didn't drown in a pool, and I didn't die of some infectious disease the way thousands of peasant children perished in those days, abandoned without any care during the summer harvest season (3).The move to the city made by the young man was a manifestation of the usualdesire of youth to get away from home an make it on their own, but inaddition, Kanatchikov wanted toe scape from the monotony of village lifeand from the despotism and religious teaching of his father. Kanatchikov's early life is in the rural regions, and there is noindication that this was some sort of ideal life later changed by theharshness of the factories. But now many workers were beginning to speak sympathetically of students who, unafraid of punishment, "seek after justice" (45). The way thetsar treated the people in general was another. At first, Kanatchikov is amazed that these radicals are allowed toremain free, and his sympathies seem to be with the authorities. Thischanges as he sees more and more of the ways in which the tsar and hisfollowers oppress the people. Kanatchikov does not begin as a revolutionary, and in the beginninghe sees these "students," as they are called, in much the same way associety sees them: My own conception of these "students" was extremely confused. My only encounters with them were on the streets, and my feeling toward them was always one of great admiration mingled with fear and terror. It came about because of the intellectualcurrents of the time, as indicated in the different books read byKanatchikov and by the discussions of the students in the region. In addition, the young man was surrounded by revolutionary activity,much of which centered on the factories and the workers in those factories. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.