Bankers, Bureaucrats, and the Bond Market: A Financial History of the Russian Revolution, 1900–1917

Open to the Public

This seminar will examine the links between international financial markets and the Russian Revolution and show how the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 can in fact be understood to be at root the story of two crises of Russian finance. In doing so, the seminar will also explore the interactions of private financiers and the state and the relationship between private capital flows and national security.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Thu, Apr 12, 2012 Time: 12:15pm - 02:00pm Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369

Portrait by Ilya Repin of Russian Finance Minister Sergei Witte, 1903

The Russian Revolution is rightly seen as a world-historical event whose consequences shaped much of the twentieth century. Histories of the Revolution stress ideological factors, social dislocations, and even culture, amongst other things, but rarely explore the financial dimensions of the Revolution in a critical manner. This seminar will examine the links between international financial markets and the Russian Revolution and show how the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 can in fact be understood to be at root the story of two crises of Russian finance. In doing so, the seminar will also explore the interactions of private financiers and the state and the relationship between private capital flows and national security.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.