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William Henry Chamberlin and Russia's Revolt Against Western Civilization

William Henry Chamberlin and Russia's Revolt Against Western Civilization DAVID C. ENGERMAN (Waltham, MA, U.S.A.) WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN AND RUSSIA'S REVOLT AGAINST WESTERN CIVILIZATION Like so many of the generation bom around 1900, William Henry Cham- berlin began his career as a socialist but retired a conservative, a path he him- self derided as "familiar enough to be banal."1 Also like many of his era, Chamberlin's political transformation was profoundly affected by his under- standing of the USSR. His position as a long-term correspondent in Moscow, however, distinguished him from his fellow-travellers along the road from youthful radicalism to mature conservativism. His writings about Russia and the Soviet Union thus provide an especially important window onto Cham- berlin's political trajectory. Given the amplitude of his political shift, the rel- ative constancy of some of his underlying assumptions (especially about Russia) is all the more revealing. His tendency toward historical determinism, for instance, could be applied as easily to his endorsement of the Bolsheviks as to his ultimate rejection of their ideas. At a slightly less abstract level, Chamberlin continued to describe Russia as an "Asiatic" nation - .and Rus- sians themselves as an "Asiatic people" - before, during and after his con- version experience. Similarly, his distaste http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Russian History Brill

William Henry Chamberlin and Russia's Revolt Against Western Civilization

Russian History , Volume 26 (1): 45 – Jan 1, 1999

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0094-288X
eISSN
1876-3316
DOI
10.1163/187633199X00030
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

DAVID C. ENGERMAN (Waltham, MA, U.S.A.) WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN AND RUSSIA'S REVOLT AGAINST WESTERN CIVILIZATION Like so many of the generation bom around 1900, William Henry Cham- berlin began his career as a socialist but retired a conservative, a path he him- self derided as "familiar enough to be banal."1 Also like many of his era, Chamberlin's political transformation was profoundly affected by his under- standing of the USSR. His position as a long-term correspondent in Moscow, however, distinguished him from his fellow-travellers along the road from youthful radicalism to mature conservativism. His writings about Russia and the Soviet Union thus provide an especially important window onto Cham- berlin's political trajectory. Given the amplitude of his political shift, the rel- ative constancy of some of his underlying assumptions (especially about Russia) is all the more revealing. His tendency toward historical determinism, for instance, could be applied as easily to his endorsement of the Bolsheviks as to his ultimate rejection of their ideas. At a slightly less abstract level, Chamberlin continued to describe Russia as an "Asiatic" nation - .and Rus- sians themselves as an "Asiatic people" - before, during and after his con- version experience. Similarly, his distaste

Journal

Russian HistoryBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1999

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