Recent Israeli Historiography of the 1917 Revolution(s)

The article surveys contemporary Israeli historiography of the 1917 revolutions, focusing mainly on studies that appeared in Hebrew, but also considering some works by Israeli historians that were published in Russian and English. The article examines the research problems addressed by Israeli historians, including such questions as the inevitability vs. unpredictability of the February and October revolutions; the conflicting character of the Russian revolutionary cultures; elements of modern utopianism in the revolutionary ideology; and individual and communal survival during the revolutionary era. Special attention is paid to the representation of the 1917 revolutions in Jewish history, including biographies of historical figures who were active in both the Russian revolutionary and the Jewish national movement in Palestine. The article claims that the studies of Israeli historians are characterized by a rich documentary basis and approach the 1917 revolution as a profound cultural, and not only political and social, event.