InApril1917,LeninarrivedatPetrograd’sFinlandStationandsetfootonRussiansoilforthefirsttimeinoveradecade.Formostofthepastseventeenyears,theBolshevikleaderhadlivedinexile,movingbetweenEurope’smany“Russiancolonies“--largeandpoliticallyactivecommunitiesof矇migr矇sinLondon,Paris,andGeneva,amongothercities.ThousandsoffellowexileswhofollowedLeninonhiseastwardtrekin1917wereinasimilarpredicament.Thereturneesplungedthemselvesintopolitics,competingtoshapethefutureofavastcountryrecentlyliberatedfromtsaristrule.YettheseactivistshadbeenabsentfromtheirhomelandforsolongthattheirideasreflectedtheRussiaimaginedbyresidentsofthefarawaycoloniesasmuchastheydideventsontheground.The1917revolutionmarkedthedawnofanewdayinRussianpolitics,butitalsorepresentedthecontinuationofdecades-longconversationsthathadbeguninemigrationandwereexportedbacktoRussia.FaithHillisexamineshow矇migr矇communitiesevolvedintorevolutionarysocialexperimentsintheheartofbourgeoiscities.Feminists,nationalistactivists,andJewishintellectualsseekingtoliberateandupliftpopulationsoppressedbythetsaristregimetreatedthecoloniesasutopiancommunities,creatingnewnetworks,institutions,andculturalpracticesthatreflectedtheirvaluesandrealizedtheidealworldofthefutureinthepresent.ThecoloniesalsoinfluencedtheirEuropeanhostsocieties,informinginternationaldebatesaboutthemeaningoffreedomonboththeleftandtheright.?migr矇s’effortstotransformtheworldplayedcrucialrolesinthearticulationofsocialism,liberalism,anarchism,andZionismacrossborders.Buttheyalsoproducedunexpected--andexplosive--discontentsthatdefinedthecourseoftwentieth-centuryhistory.ThisgroundbreakingtransnationalworkdemonstratestheindeliblemarkstheRussiancoloniesleftonEuropeanpolitics,legalcultures,andsocialpractices,whileunderscoringtheirroleduringapivotalperiodofRussianhistory.
