On the Cult of Alexander Kerenskii and Historiographical Tradition

Abstract

This essay discusses the recent monograph by the St. Petersburg historian B. I. Kolonitskii. Best known for his pioneering works on the revolutionary political culture, in this new book the distinguished historian focuses on the process by which a political cult was constructed around the figure of A. F. Kerenskii and on the development of the image and credentials through which Kerenskii represented himself (and was represented by his admirers) during the first months following the overthrow of the old regime. His pre-revolutionary image as a people’s tribune was supplanted by that of a revolutionary minister and later by the leader of the revolutionary army and savior of the Russian Revolution. The author pays special attention to Kerenskii’s deliberate efforts to cultivate the press and to bolster his revolutionary image through carefully crafted speeches and public appearances. According to the author, Kerenskii was his own most prolific and effective image-maker. Kolonitskii concludes the book by bringing up instructive comparisons with the later cults of Bolshevik leaders, though he sensibly avoids direct parallels or equations. However, the monograph is not free from omissions and contradictions. There is a glaring inconsistency between the part of the title referring to Kerenskii’s “antimonarchical revolution” and the absence of any substantive discussion of the ways in which this enormously important yet little studied question influenced the construction of his cult of the national leader. Kerenskii’s leadership during the first days of the February Revolution is overstated, while the timing of aspects of his cult creation by sympathetic writers during March-June should be attributed to subsequent weeks or months.