Presenter(s): John Dechert − Mathematics, Reees
Faculty Mentor(s): Julie Hessler
Oral Session 3SW
Research Area: History
In 1909, Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhoff, a colonel in the Russian army who was inspired by Robert Baden-Powell’s scouting program in Great Britain, founded the Russian wing of the worldwide scouting movement, known as the “Razvyedchiki” in Russian, and would lead the program to great successes within pre-revolutionary Russian society. Pantyukhoff and many of his scouts left memoirs of their involvement with the scouting movement, which provide a unique and personal perspective into the dealings of the movement. Additionally, Soviet leaders spoke of the scouting movement, and its counter-revolutionary flavor, frequently, and provide another interesting perspective into the movement’s history. Scouting, however, was not
an activity born in isolation. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Russia underwent a fundamental shift in policies and priorities as a result of modernization, liberalism, and nationalism, and the Russian people bought wholesale into the trappings of “civil society.” They formed men’s and women’s groups, charity organizations, book clubs, literary societies, and the like. The study of Russian civil society before the World War I has been of growing interest to Russian historians since the fall of the Soviet Union, and studies of pre-war organizations are ever rising in number. Unfortunately, the Russian scouting movement has been left out of this general trend. The purpose of this study is to bridge that gap and contribute to the body of knowledge by examining the course of Russian scouting during the turbulent years of World War I, the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and how the scouting movement fit in to Russian civil society.