“The Black Hundreds Went Underground and Vanished Without Trace”: Russian Rightists and the Revolution of 1917

Abstract

Over the past quarter-century, no less than two dozen monographs have been written on the Black Hundred and other conservative forces, and the number of articles on the same subject probably exceeds that by a factor of ten or so. But the overwhelming majority of those studies highlight the emergence, development, and crisis of the rightist parties and unions before World War I or prior to the collapse of the autocracy. Such mentions as there have been of what happened to them in 1917, the year of revolution, are far more sparse, and that is entirely understandable since from the spring to the autumn of 1917, the right-monarchist organizations—discredited, fragmented, and bereft of all authority in society— quickly disappeared without trace in the vortex of tragic events, having, with rare exceptions, proven unable to play an even remotely salient role in them. And as a result, the historiography has so far provided insights only into certain particular features of the rightist movement’s demise in 1917. That said, an analysis of how the Black Hundred conducted itself after the triumph of the revolution and its attitude toward that revolution enables a better understanding of the distinctive political evolution of rightist parties in Russia. By February 1917, they were in complete disarray and profoundly disheartened, discredited, and riven by schisms and infighting. Black Hundred membership had plummeted; practical activity in most sectors of the Black Hundred parties had come to a standstill during World War I, and many no longer existed at all. Having squandered during the war the remnants of their prior influence and the mass support they had once enjoyed, and recognizing that they were doomed, the Union of the Russian People (URP), the All-Russia Dubrovinite Union of the Russian