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To the Successor of the Decembrists' Cause A.F. Kerensky”, or the Unsuccessful Attempt to Legitimize the February Revolution

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.37816/2073‑9567‑2026‑80‑170‑183
  • УДК / UDC: 821.161.1:94(47)«1825/1917»
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • For Citation:

    Artamonova, Yu.D, Demchuk‑Golovina, V.A. “To the Successor of the Decembrists' Cause A.F. Kerensky”, or the Unsuccessful Attempt to Legitimize the February Revolution.” Vestnik slavianskikh kul’tur, vol. 80, 2026, pp. 170–183. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.37816/2073‑9567‑2026‑80‑170‑183 
  • Author 1: Yulia D. Artamonova
  • Information about the Author 1:

    Yulia D. Artamonova — PhD. in Philosophy, Associate Professor of the Department of History and Theory of Politics, Faculty of Political Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory, 1, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000‑0001‑5629‑4771

    E‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Author 2: Valentina A. Demchuk‑Golovina
  • Information about the Author 2:

    Valentina A. Demchuk‑Golovina — PhD in Economics, Associate Professor of English Language Department № 4, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vernadsky Ave., 76, 119454 Moscow, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000‑0002‑2104‑8148

    E‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Abstract: The aim of D.S. Merezhkovsky and Z.N. Gippius's essay on the Decembrists “Firstborns of Freedom” (1917), commissioned by A.F. Kerensky and published in the journal “Niva”, was not only “to remind of the first revolutionary officers and ease tensions in the troops”. The paper demonstrates that there is an even more important reason: turning to the Decembrists and interpreting the uprising on Senate Square as a popular uprising allows to create a mythologeme of the revolution as the people`s act. This mythologeme is extremely important for legitimizing the February Revolution (and justifying the violent actions of A.F. Kerensky himself). Сomparing the text of the essay “Firstborns of Freedom” with the novel “The Decembrists”, completed at least a year later, enables to come to the conclusion that in the novel D.S. Merezhkovsky is engaged in disavowing this mythologeme. Unlike in “Firstborns of Freedom”, here the people are portrayed as spectators, not participants in the act; it is shown that the imme‑ diate participants in the uprising, the soldiers, not only fail to understand the idea behind the uprising, but are not ready to be free people either —a point especially emphasized in the novel‑like “Diary” of Muravyov. Two new themes emerge relative to the essay — atrocities enacted by rebels and the necessity for revolution to go along with Christ. Further development of this theme in the novel is quite original and does not follow the line of F.M. Dostoevsky, including the theme of the “mother‑earth” in “Demons”; the author asserts that “Christ and someone else are needed”.
  • Keywords: decembrists, nation, February Revolution, popular uprising, A.F. Kerensky, D.S. Merezhkovsky, Z.N. Gippius, freedom
  • Страницы / Pages: 170–183
  • Received: December 18, 2025
  • Approved after Reviewing: January 23, 2026
  • Publication Date: June 25, 2026

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