History 328
Fall 2002
History of the Soviet Union since 1917

Discussion Questions for Part I of Eduard Dune’s Notes of a Red Guard


We will focus in the reading and discussion on six moments of Dune’s (pronounced "DooNAY") October revolution

1. The world of the skilled/conscious worker

What is the meaning of being "skilled" or "unskilled"?
Should the tsarist era factory be defined as "autocratic"?
How does Dune become a socialist?
What are the causes of the workers’ discontents at his factory?
What can you say about Dune’s national identity? What are the key elements of his identity as developed in the first chapter?

2. The February revolution in Moscow

What is the "popular" reaction to the fall of the autocracy in Moscow? What specific evidence supports your conclusion?

3. From February to October
What is meant by a process of "Bolshevization" in this period?
How does Dune give evidence of this process?
Who are the main players in this period? How does Dune characterize the various political groups, particularly Mensheviks?
What happens to the key issues of power, war, and economic justice in this period?

4. The October revolution in Moscow

Is this revolution primarily about power (guns)? Or equally about social justice and morality (the proletarian honor courts)?
How does Dune’s account of the October correspond to the "textbook" version in Suny?
How does the October revolution solve the questions of power, the war, and economic justice?

5. The Post-October utopia

What are Dune’s ideas about proletarian morality and honor? Where do property and private property fit into the revolutionary utopia?
What is Dune’s attitude toward intellectuals?

6. Early defense of Soviet power

What happens to opponents of Soviet power after October 1917? Do they roll over? Resist?
How do attitudes about identities – class identity, worker identity – become hardened or changed in the early stages of the defense of the revolution?