Power and intellectuals in their attitude to the October Revolution of 1917

Abstract

The article analyzes the estimates of the October revolution of 1917, given by various sources. The positions of the intelligentsia and the authorities are compared on the role of the revolution in the lives of Russians, as well as the consequences that have occurred in the public and private life of the people. In the assessments of the October revolution of 1917, one can see a clear discrepancy between the official literature presented by V.I. Lenin, the textbook “History of the CPSU (b)”, released under the control of I.V. Stalin, and the thoughts of intellectuals – P.A. Sorokin, N.A. Berdyaev, I.A. Bunin and others. It is revealed that representatives of the intelligentsia of those years speak out about the changes in the darkest shades, their book-works and articles are full of the despair, pessimism and bitterness. Many scientists having experienced those events and analyzing it after the years do not lose sight of the losses suffered by the Russian people. The official literature of the Soviet era expresses the position of the ruling elites, does not allow doubts about the success of the revolution, its uniqueness on the world stage, extols the personality of Lenin as a talented and great leader and theorist, and emphasizes the inevitability of the difficulties that the masses endured, especially that all those challenges were in the name of the great goals of the proletarian revolution.