'White Russians'

[George Kearton]

Can anyone help: how did the term "white" arise as a label for Russian Conservatives? My researches thus far indicate it has nothing to do with racial matters....

 

[TheIO]

I believe it dates back to the French Revolution, when White was the colour of the Bourbon monarchy, and from there became the default colour used to signify monarchists which, at the time the Russian Civil War started, were still around and a decent chunk of the non-Bolshevik forces.

 

[Skinny87]

I believe it dates back to the French Revolution, when White was the colour of the Bourbon monarchy, and from there became the default colour used to signify monarchists which, at the time the Russian Civil War started, were still around and a decent chunk of the non-Bolshevik forces.

Yeah, I'd say that's the most likely explanation

 

[George Kearton]

I believe it dates back to the French Revolution, when White was the colour of the Bourbon monarchy, and from there became the default colour used to signify monarchists which, at the time the Russian Civil War started, were still around and a decent chunk of the non-Bolshevik forces.

Many thanks for this: the Bourbons certainly used white but I think I may have now found an earlier usage. Pre-Romanov rulers of Muscovy (circa 1550) were referred to as "The White Kings"

 

[Japhy]

I believe it dates back to the French Revolution, when White was the colour of the Bourbon monarchy, and from there became the default colour used to signify monarchists which, at the time the Russian Civil War started, were still around and a decent chunk of the non-Bolshevik forces.

Pretty much this but you're just a tiny bit off. Very few of the Anti-Soviet forces were monarchists. Calling them Whites was a propaganda tool to tar a collection of SRs, Proto Fascists, Republicans, Militarists and Nationalists as a series of Pro-Czarist rebels.