CONFERÊNCIA | Civil War as Thought and Fought: the ‘Russian’ Case of 1917-1918

Civil War as Thought and Fought: the ‘Russian’ Case of 1917-1918

CONFERÊNCIA | 29 nov. ’24 | 14h00-16h00 | Sala de Formação | Entrada livre

A century later, the Russian Civil War remains a deeply contested topic in historical scholarship and political discourse. This presentation explores an under-researched aspect: the clashing political languages that framed the concept of “civil war” during the 1917-1922 conflict. Specifically, it examines how the term “civil war” was used to label and represent the conflict and advance the rival factions’ political agendas. The presentation will introduce an upcoming collective volume (soon to be published in Russian) and discuss the speaker’s chapter on the early stages of large-scale civil conflict in 1918. It argues that a critical factor driving societies into mass violence and terror is the distortion of political communication, which fuels conflicts over meanings. The ‘Russian’ case provides valuable insights into the role of political language, applicable to the study of civil wars, which remain among the most prevalent forms of conflict today.

About the author

Alexander Reznik holds a PhD in Russian History. Currently, he is a DAAD stipend at Bielefeld University. His research interests include political culture, communication, and the languages of the Russian Civil War, focusing on the concept of ‘civil war,’ leader cults, and the biography of Leon Trotsky. His latest articles have been published in Kritika, History, Historical Materialism, among others.

A conferência é promovida pelo IHC e está integrada na iniciativa permanente “Communisms. Lisbon Research Seminars on History and Politics”.