From the history of civil war language development: “kornilovshchina” and legitimation of political violence

Introduction. The article examines some of key words used by Russia’s opposing political forces in 1917. Method. Using methodological tools of the Cambridge Cambridge school of intellectual history the authors study the meaning of words “Kornilovites”, “Kornilovism” and “Kerenshchina”. The authors study the different contexts of political statements and of political usage of these words. Analysis. The rhetorical design of the conflicts that preceded the Kornilov affair influenced the course of this political crisis: people of different views assumed that the crisis is inevitable, and it would take the form of a violent confrontation. Some people even believed that this crisis would develop into a civil war. Results. The Kornilov affair was perceived as an outbreak of a the civil war, it changed the discursive situation: for some actors the words “Kornilovites”, “Kornilovism” became a tool for describing political enemies, and all compromises with them were excluded, while for others these words were a sign of forming of their own political identity. In such situation, the positions of supporters of political compromises were weakened, while different scenarios for the political solutions by force acquired many new supporters both “from the left” and “from the right”. Such descriptions and self-descriptions of political opponents justified the use of violence, and it contributed to the country’s slide into the full-scale civil war.