Der Spiegel: 'I'm Not Fomenting Revolution, I'm Studying It'

[marmar]

The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia remains rich soil for today's left-wing revolutionaries. Hundreds flocked to hear acclaimed US historian Alexander Rabinowitch discuss his latest work in Berlin recently. But the scholar is anxious not to be mistaken for a political figure.

The lecture hall was packed. Latecomers stood in the aisles. An audience of over 300 spectators craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the historian waiting patiently at the podium for the excited buzz to die down.

Alexander Rabinowitch looked the picture of the son of a Russian émigré; intelligentsia right down to the black polo-neck and neatly trimmed goatee. He was speaking at Humboldt University in Berlin, the recent guest of far-left Trotskyist students eager to uncover the secrets of revolution.

For all his outward calm, Rabinowitch -- considered a leading expert on the Russian Revolution since the late 1960s -- was in an awkward position: Where there is enthusiasm for Rabinowitch's work it isn't difficult to find a political agenda. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 is still rich soil for Europe's would-be revolutionaries. And with aftershocks of the global financial crisis giving a shot-in-the-arm to advocates of workers' revolution, the academic is finding himself having to fend off ideological interpretations of his work.

"I'm not fomenting revolution, I'm studying it," he stressed in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. "I'm in no way a politician or a political figure." ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,725699,00.html