Robinson applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Russian Liberalism, and reported the following:
Page 99 of Russian Liberalism falls near the end of the sixth chapter, which chronicles the fate of Russian liberalism during the 1917 revolutions and subsequent civil war. The page describes the economic policies of the liberal-led Provisional Government that governed Russia for a few months before being overthrown by Lenin’s Bolsheviks. It begins:Learn more about Russian Liberalism at the publisher's website.He [Trade and Industry Minister Vasily Stepanov] added that “the strong development of our productive forces is inconceivable without attracting foreign capital,” although state intervention was necessary “to regulate the main branches of the economy,” such as military industry and natural resource extraction. The new government faced a growing economic crisis. Workers’ committees sprang up in many factories and demanded a shorter working day and better pay and conditions. Eventually, these committees also sought to take control of management. Russian businessmen resisted these demands. The Moscow Committee for Commerce and Industry, for instance, rejected the eight-hour working day, saying that “at present time, when it is essential to conduct the war to a victorious end, everything should lead, not to a diminution of work production, but to an increase.” The Provisional Government agreed with the Moscow committee.Russian Liberalism is primarily a book about ideas. It examines the development of liberal cultural, political, and economic ideology in Russia from the late eighteenth century to the present. Chapter 6, however, covers one of only two short periods in Russian history when liberals have held political power, the other period being the early 1990s. Consequently, the chapter describes what liberals actually did once in government and how their ideology fared when put into practice. This section thus fails the Page 99 Test, as it is not typical of the book as a whole.
That said, reading between the lines, hints at two key themes of the book can in fact be found on page 99. Among other things, the book concludes that Russian liberalism has historically suffered from two fundamental weaknesses. Evidence of both can be found on this page.
First, Minister Stepanov’s reference to foreign capital was coded language to say that Russian should retain its wartime alliance with its Western European co-belligerents, France and England. This in turn reflects one of Russian liberalism’s main characteristics – its strong association with the idea of the West. Russian liberals have consistently maintained that the West (however defined) represents the most advanced form of civilization, and that Russia must therefore align itself with the West and copy its ways.
Second, the Provisional Government’s dispute with Russian workers exemplifies the way in which Russian liberals have generally been at odds with the bulk of the Russian people. Russian liberalism is a movement of intellectuals. The mass of the population have often viewed liberals as members of a distinct social class whose values and interests are different from their own. They have also viewed them as people who prefer foreign culture over Russian culture and thus as unpatriotic. This helps to explain why Russian liberalism has failed ever to gain significant support among the Russian population and liberals remain to this day very much in the minority.
--Marshal Zeringue
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