Conflicts of peasants in March-October 1917 (based on materials from the Vladimir province)

This paper presents an analysis of the social behavior of peasants in the Vladimir province in March-October 1917 for their conflicts and highlights the main directions of confrontation. The characteristic of the elaboration of the problem by both Soviet and modern historical science is given. The limited use of statistics on the selected region is explained and the methodological basis of the study is determined. The author considers the conflicts of peasants not only from the side of statistics, but also from the standpoint of individual plots that better reveal everyday behavioral practices. The work describes in detail and group the clash of interests of peasants with the surrounding social reality. The conclusion is drawn about the baselessness of the thesis of the Soviet historiography that the main enemies for peasants were landlords, kulaks and the bourgeois’ Provisional Government. The analysis of sources revealed that the peasant commune in March-October 1917, solving its pressing issues of food and land-use, was against all. Its conflicts took place on several directions at once: «city - village», «commune - private owners», «commune - commune» and intra-commune disputes. There were also conflicts with the state, but they were not political.