Revolution as a Socio-Political Phenomenon: V. V. Rosanov’s and P. A. Sorokin’s Views

This article examines revolution as a socio-political phenomenon through the prism of the views of two outstanding Russian social thinkers — V. V. Rozanov and P. A. Sorokin. Despite the obvious differences in their personal and professional biographies, they both, having offered in their own way a deep and comprehensive analysis of the causes, nature and consequences of the revolution from the point of view of individual, social and historical development, coincided in essential assessments that sound relevant later more than a hundred years. A common feature of the work of Rozanov and of Sorokin is the antinomy, contradictoriness of one’s views, which modern researchers pay attention to. Using the personal biographies of the presented scholars as an example, the article examines the phenomenon of revolution and the social and political context in which it was matured over many years. Rozanov was a direct witness to the revolutionary events, and Sorokin was even a participant. Such close acquaintance with this phenomenon allowed both authors to conclude that, as Sorokin put it, “the real nature of revolution is very different from these romantic representations of it which are usual among its apologists.” Both of them initially shared common inspiration and hopes, and both authors saw a common inevitable pattern in the development of this process — disappointment in ideals, the aggravation of all problems and revolution’s eventual reversal into its opposite.

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