Chernysh M. (2017) Pitirim Sorokin and His Theory of Revolution. Mir Rossii, vol. 26, no 4, pp. 71–96 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17323

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Abstract

Russo-American sociologist Pitirim Sorokin summarized his impressions of the February and October revolutions in several of his works. In his autobiography “A Long Journey” he remembered how he joined the revolutionary movement, became a member of the socialist- revolutionary party, and agitated workers and peasants to overthrow the Tsarist regime. After the February revolution triumphed over the old regime Sorokin turned into an active supporter of the Interim government and served as secretary to its head, Alexander Kerensky. He reflected on his impressions of the revolution not only in his autobiography, but also in his notes about the developments of 1917 – the gradual groundswell of chaos and the collapse of the social order. In his “Sociology of Revolution” Sorokin made an attempt, possibly one of the first, to use the Russian revolution as the basis for his own theory of revolution. In constructing this theory he relies on the theory of conditional and unconditional reflexes that he regards as a new way in understanding the nature of human action. He believes that in the revolutionary period society enters a phase when conditional reflexes, which are instrumental to maintaining social order, lose their controlling influence. The social order collapses ceding its place to the chaotic, destructive biological reflexes. The process leads to a deep crisis in social institutions which are reproduced through “learning” ways of behavior necessary to sustain social life. As a result, society faces the malfunctioning of reflexes which secure obedience to authority, and which allow a collapse of the motivation to work, a critical growth of crime rates and other attacks on law and order. The social reflexes which maintain the value of human life decline dramatically opening the way to a dramatic rise of crime against individuals. The morals which regulate sexual behavior are made void by revolutionary chaos and the ensuing sexual promiscuity provokes a crisis in family relations. Revolutionary chaos undermines the reflex which guides the division of property into “mine” and “not mine”, thereby weakening the institution of private property and enabling criminal elements to confiscate citizens’ property under the threat of death. However, the chaos brought about by the revolution has its limits. The final phase of a revolution brings to power forces that seek to restore social order by any means possible. This results in a dictatorship that uses coercion and indiscriminate violence to bring society to order. Sorokin’s theory received positive appraisal from his US colleagues. However, in Europe and in the milieu of Russia émigrés it was mainly regarded as an anti-Bolshevik manifesto that had no serious scientific value. Sorokin’s theory portrayed revolution as an event taken out of its historical context without any significant link with the policies of the previous regime and with no full regard of the consequences which were not only destructive, but also in a way positive. Nevertheless, whatever its deficiencies Sorokin’s theory is still relevant for Russian sociology. It is an important testimony describing crucial events of the past and a critique of the Russian inclination for “historicism” – a desire to find answers to complex questions in the violent change of power.