This article explores how Russians in the Duma period (1905–17) understood issues of democratic politics and representation through a microhistory of the 1912 Duma election in Odessa. It focuses on conflict between two Odessa newspapers, Odesskaia pochta and Iuzhnaia mysl’, over whether to support the ‘progressive’ candidate or the ‘workers’’ candidate, and on a workers’ boycott organized against Odesskaia pochta after right-wing candidates swept the election. This conflict sheds light on the divide among Russian progressives between politics as ongoing pragmatic compromise and politics as a clash of group interests. As Russians explored how to interact with new institutions like the Duma, ideas of democracy and representation intersected with class and other forms of identity in uncertain and unstable ways. Although the language of class identity often dominated, it was also used to express support for representative democracy and pragmatic coalition-building politics. Russians found more than one way to interpret democracy, and many chose to interpret it through the lens of parliamentary politics, even if they expressed those politics in class terms.

中文翻译：

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民主与民主：1912 年国家杜马选举期间敖德萨的代表权和政治

本文通过 1912 年敖德萨杜马选举的微观历史，探讨了杜马时期（1905-17 年）的俄罗斯人如何理解民主政治和代表权问题。它关注敖德萨的两家报纸 Odesskaia pochta 和 Iuzhnaia mysl' 之间的冲突，关于是支持“进步”候选人还是“工人”候选人，以及在右翼候选人席卷全国后组织的工人抵制 Odesskaia pochta选举。这场冲突揭示了俄罗斯进步人士之间的分歧，即正在进行的务实妥协的政治与作为群体利益冲突的政治之间的分歧。当俄罗斯人探索如何与杜马这样的新机构互动时，民主和代表的思想以不确定和不稳定的方式与阶级和其他形式的身份相交。虽然阶级认同的语言经常占主导地位，但它也被用来表达对代议制民主和务实的联盟建设政治的支持。俄罗斯人找到了不止一种解释民主的方式，许多人选择通过议会政治的视角来解释它，即使他们以阶级的方式表达了这些政治。