The Fall of the Autocracy and the Russian Emigrés in Argentina

Abstract

The article tells us about the formational process of the Russian colony in Argentina since 1870s until 1917. Special attention is paid to the interaction of different groups of Russian immigrants and a variety of official institutional representatives when the news of the fall of the monarchy was received. The Russian revolution represented a strong uniting force in previously disparate circles of Russian emigrants, who had little in common except their historical homeland. There were many groups of immigrants — colonists, revolutionaries, workers, writers, diplomats — with very little in common but suddenly, when the Russian revolution occurred, the majority of these people quickly reacted to express positive opinions concerning these political changes. Seemingly from one day to the next there was a complete reversal of sentiments as groups who previously differed greatly on the political spectrum — began to identify themselves as Russian and to dream about a common future. These suddenly united groups openly expressed their excitement, at times verging on euphoria, upon hearing news of revolution. This moment of ephemeral union between Russian emigrants allowed for a newly identified Russian community to emerge. These dialogues surrounding the Russian revolution provides an important opportunity to examine, in totality, the emigrant identity as Russians, whereas this would have been incomprehensible previous to this historic event. This article provides a framework through which to consider the phenomenon of the Russian community in Argentina in all its breadth and in the historical perspective from the moment it emerged. This specific moment, 1917, demonstrated the possibility of disparate groups of people to mesh, even if just for a few weeks, to become part of a single Russian community.