Desind, Philip

Jewish and Russian Revolutionaries Exiled to Siberia (1901-1917)

1991 0-7734-9762-5
This scholarly yet highly readable work offers two unique autobiographical perspectives on the early days of the Russian revolution, heretofore unavailable to the English-speaking world. The first perspective, an individual Jewish revolutionary from Byelorussia politically exiled to Siberia, is Desind's contemporary translation from the Yiddish of a prize-winning autobiography by Israel Pressman written in the 1940's, recalling the first decade of this century. The second perspective is that of the Izmailovich sisters, daughters of a high ranking military family. Their story represents not only a divergent approach to the revolution, but also the significant role played by women in fighting Russian autocracy. The material is based on Russian documents and supplemented by several English sources. The two individual accounts are explicated and impressively enriched by pertinent notes and essays which provide the historical and sociological framework for the lives portrayed in the two dramas. Includes rare photographs.