xii | Preface
translations of primary documents. These
documents, such as Lenin’s call for an upris-
ing in 1917, give the reader the ability to
read and comprehend the words and writings
of the primary leaders and participants of the
revolution. Each primary source document
has a brief introduction to describe the con-
text of the document and establish its con-
nections to the events and people of the
Russian Revolution. We believe that using
documents provides not only a useful refer-
ence for gaining a broad understanding of
the revolution and the civil war but also a
chance to begin to research and go beyond
the interpretations provided by the contribu-
tors to this work.
Dates are problematic when discussing the
Russian Revolution. Prior to January 31,
1931, Russia used the Julian calendar. Most
European countries and the United States
use the Gregorian calendar, which is 10 to
14 days ahead of the Julian calendar. For ex-
ample, the Bolshevik Revolution occurred in
1917 on the night of November 6–7 accord-
ing to the Gregorian calendar but on
October, 24–25 according to the Julian cal-
endar. This is why it is the “The Great Octo-
ber Revolution” in Russia. For dates prior to
January 31, 1918, the Julian dates are pro-
vided unless otherwise noted in the text.
One of the main obstacles to the study of
Russian history is the language barrier. Al-
though this volume is in English, the issue
of transliteration is not straightforward. In
most cases, the editors used the Library of
Congress system. This renders names such as
“Aleksandr” as “Alexander.” There are excep-
tions in the case of more recognizable place-
names or people.
Gates M. Brown and Sean N. Kalic
Leavenworth, KS 2017
