A Contested Name: The Political Uses of the Term "Civil War" (1917–1918). Collective Monograph

In the twenty-first century, civil wars have become an increasingly important subject of both political debate and scholarly inquiry. But how do particular conflicts come to be understood—and experienced—as civil wars? What cultural and political mechanisms transform isolated episodes of violence into large-scale internal conflict?
Seeking to answer these questions, this collaborative volume examines how the term civil war was used in Russia during the pivotal years of 1917–1918. Bringing together perspectives from intellectual, cultural, and political history, the contributors explore the meanings attached to the concept, the ways competing political forces employed and manipulated it, the contexts in which it was invoked, and how these narratives were received by contemporary audiences.
One of the book's central arguments is that the rhetorical construction of "internal enemies" and the normalization of violence against them can itself contribute to the escalation of real-world conflict. By tracing the political language of revolution and civil strife, the volume offers new insights into the relationship between discourse, polarization, and violence.

Boris Kolonitskii et al. A Contested Name: The Political Uses of the Term "Civil War" (1917–1918). Collective Monograph. — Moscow: New Literary Observer, 2025.
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