About the book: 2012 / Book by a leading researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History, professor at the European University in St. -Petersburg B.I. Kolonitsky is dedicated to the political struggle at a turning point in history. The author considers the conflicts of that era not only as a clash of the main political parties fighting for control over state institutions, but also as a complex of “spontaneous” movements, the self-organization of which took place around political symbols - “old” and “new”. The author focuses on conflicts around state symbols, military banners and naval flags, state awards and uniforms, names of streets and ships, songs and forms of address. The monograph pays attention to the politicization of religious life and mass culture of that era. The book uses materials from Russian and foreign archives.