Review

Reviewed Work(s): Rakka ryusui. Colonel Akashi's Report on His Secret Cooperation with
the Russian Revolutionary Parties during the Russo-Japanese War by Akashi Motojiro,
Inaba Chiharu, Olavi K. Faelt and Antti Kujala
Review by: Erich E. Haberer
Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 33, No. 3/4
(September-December 1991), pp. 361-362
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40869321
Accessed: 09-07-2018 02:07 UTC

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 Akashi Motoj
Cooperation w
Japanese War.
Olavi K. Faelt
208 pp.

The close connection between war and revolution is a common theme in modern
Russian history. While scholars disagree on the precise nature of this
relationship and the degree to which the former influenced the latter, most would
agree that the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 can not be adequately explained
without recourse to the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.
The volume reviewed here addresses one particular but highly controversial
aspect of the "war and revolution" theme: the Japanese attempt in 1904-5 to
destabilize Russia from within by giving financial support to its revolutionary
parties for the purpose of sabotage and insurrection. This policy of subversion -
like the even more controversial German policy of funding Bolshevik activity
during World War I and arranging for Lenin's return to Russia in a sealed
train - has been a contentious issue, both in questions of factual detail and
historical significance. Although well-known episodes like the unsuccessful
voyage of the John Grafion have been discussed in the literature, the overall
story of the collaboration between Japan and the revolutionary opposition has
not been detailed in an objective and comprehensive fashion. Indeed, much of it
remains shrouded in mystery partly because of the lack of reliable sources and
partly because of political partisanship that seeks to deny or prove Bolshevik
complicity. None of these shortcomings is evident in Rakka ryusui. This book is
a valuable historiographical contribution, which de-mystifies the story of
revolutionary collaboration through the publication of previously inaccessible
Japanese primary sources and accompanying scholarly chapters of critical
analysis and interpretation.
The book contains pertinently selected parts of Colonel Akashi's official
reports to his superiors in Tokyo, as well as relevant telegrams and letters
dealing with his activity as the principal Japanese agent among the Russian and
national minority revolutionary parties. Complete with an explanatory note
regarding the authenticity of Rakka ryusui and an introduction to Akashi
Motojiro' s career as Japan's Military Attaché to France in 1901 and later to
Russia between 1902 and 1904, the excellently annotated translation of Akashi's
reports provides a unique insight into Japanese perceptions of the Russian

Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XXXIII, Nos. 3-4, September-December 1991

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 362 BOOK REVIEWS

revolutionary undergro
maintaining and finall
show that Japan was
various revolutionary
Antti Kujala, based on
a good description and
Japanese subversive po
them.

Somewhat unexpected as a concluding chapter is Olavi Faelt's contribution

on "The Influence of Finnish- Japanese Cooperation during the Russo-Japanese
War on Relations between Finland and Japan in 1917-1944." The discussion is
informative, and a case can be made for tracing the beginnings of Finnish-
Japanese relations to the central role of Finnish activists in promoting Colonel
Akashi's mission. This notwithstanding, the chapter is certainly not a fitting
conclusion to a volume dealing with illicit Japanese-Russian connections in
1904-5. Perhaps this rather odd inclusion of Faelt's paper is indicative of the
editors' ambivalence regarding the format of the book, an ambivalence well
reflected in their misleading choice of title. Considering that only one-third of its
content pertains to Akashi's Rakka ryusui, the volume should have been
appropriately re- or subtitled to account for the remaining two-thirds of scholarly
text. It would also have been well-served by the inclusion of a bibliography
listing the numerous primary and secondary sources cited by its authors. But
aside from this criticism, the book deserves high marks as a good source and
solid treatment of Japanese imperial and Russian revolutionary relations during
the Russo-Japanese War.

Erich E. Haberer, Carleton University

Helene Carrère d'Encausse. Islam and the Russian Empire. Reform and
Revolution in Central Asia. Translated by Quintin Hoare. Preface by Maxime
Rodinson. Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, 8. Barbara D. Metcalf, ed.
Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1988. xix,
267 pp.

This is an English translation of Carrère d'Encausse's Réforme et révolution

chez les musulmans de V Empire russe, first published in 1966. Carrère
d'Encausse is already well-known to the English reading public through her
Decline of an Empire, a book that caused a sensation in the pre-glasnost days
when the Soviet empire had the appearance of an unassailable monolith.

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