Patriotic Violence and the State The Moscow Riots of May 1915

Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, Volume 4, Number 3, Summer 2003 (New Series), pp. 607-626 (Article) If patriotism is defined as allegiance to and affinity for a state and the state is defined as that institution which controls a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence, then an inquiry into the nature of patriotic violence should take seriously the role of the state. This article closely examines the anti-German Moscow riots of 26–29 May 1915 and some other violent manifestations along patriotic lines during World War I, concentrating on the role of the state and its attitudes toward both patriotism and violence. The war itself, of course, was a massive exercise in the legitimate use of patriotic violence. I focus on the attitudes of the state toward patriotic mobilization and its monopoly on violence among civilians behind the front lines.