Sailors of the Baltic fleet in the revolution of 1917: essay on the current historiography

The article examines the current historiography of the Baltic fleet sailor role in the 1917 Russian revolution. The authors reveal the main tendencies of the last decade. Focusing on the position that the basis of the most research papers is the problem of left radicalism, they highlight the main direction as studying social psychology of the sailor mass. The authors suggest the vision of the Russian revolution not only as "archaic consciousness" and lumpenization, primarily of soldiers and sailors. They also note that in scientific literature there is some divergence in the approach to the political aspirations of the sailor masses. There is an attempt to present sailors as an independent political force. It causes the disagreement of those who see them as a specific socio-professional group. The authors note that historians have begun to study the relations between democratic and destructive root causes in the Navy. However, in the domestic science the problem of the October slogans is not completely resolved. Without comprehending this problem, it is difficult to understand why the sailors had supported the Bolsheviks. The authors believe that the problem of the revolution driving forces, including the naval themes in the revolution reality context is still an important historiography theme.