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Alan Wood provides a concise introduction to the Russian Revolution and its origins dating back to the emancipation of the Russian peasant serfs in 1861. The third edition of this successful pamphlet brings the historiography up to date to include the multitude of research in the last ten years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening up of the archives.
"During the first two months of 1917 Russia was still a Romanov monarchy. Eight months later the Bolsheviks stood at the helm. They were little known to anybody when the year began, and their leaders were still under indictment for state treason when they came to power. You will not find another such sharp turn in history especially if you remember that it involves a nation of 150 million people. It is clear that the events of 1917, whatever you think of them, deserve study." --Leon Trotsky, from History of the Russian Revolution Regarded by many as among the most powerful works of history ever written, this book offers an unparalleled account of one of the most pivotal and hotly debated events in world history. This book reveals, from the perspective of one of its central actors, the Russian Revolution's profoundly democratic, emancipatory character. Originally published in three parts, Trotsky's masterpiece is collected here in a single volume. It serves as the most vital and inspiring record of the Russian Revolution to date. "[T]he greatest history of an event that I know." --C. L. R. James "Justly celebrated as a towering, vivid, historically vital work." --China Miéville,October "In Trotsky all passions were aroused, but his thought remained calm and his vision clear.... His involvement in the struggle, far from blurring his sight, sharpens it.... The History is his crowning work, both in scale and power and as the fullest expression of his ideas on revolution. As an account of a revolution, given by one of its chief actors, it stands unique in world literature." --Isaac Deutscher
Award-winning author China Miéville plunges us into the year the world was turned upside down On the centenary of the Russian Revolution, China Miéville tells the extraordinary story of this pivotal moment in history. In February of 1917 Russia was a backwards, autocratic monarchy, mired in an unpopular war; by October, after not one but two revolutions, it had become the world’s first workers’ state, straining to be at the vanguard of global revolution. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? In a panoramic sweep, stretching from St Petersburg and Moscow to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire, Miéville uncovers the catastrophes, intrigues and inspirations of 1917, in all their passion, drama and strangeness. Intervening in long-standing historical debates, but told with the reader new to the topic especially in mind, here is a breathtaking story of humanity at its greatest and most desperate; of a turning point for civilisation that still resonates loudly today.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has provided fresh perspectives from which to view the Russian Revolution. This book reviews the everchanging debate on the nature of the Russian Revolution.
This collection presents the major recent writings on the Russian Revolution and its context. It brings together key texts to illustrate new interpretive approaches and covers the central topics and themes. Together, the chapters in this volume form a coherent representation of both the events and the theories and debates that relate to them.
This introduction to the Russian Revolution provides a narrative of the main developments between 1917 and 1936. It sees the process as the result of a backward society which sought modernisation and ended in political tyranny.
Rex Wade presents an account of one of the pivotal events of modern history, combining his own long study of the revolution with the best of contemporary scholarship. Within an overall narrative that provides a clear description of the 1917 revolution, he introduces several new approaches on its political history and the complexity of the October Revolution. Wade clears away many of the myths and misconceptions that have clouded studies of the period. He also gives due space to the social history of the revolution and incorporates people and places too often left out of the story, including women, national minority peoples, and peasantry front soldiers, enabling a more complete history to emerge. The 2005 second edition of this highly readable book has been thoroughly revised and expanded. It will prove invaluable reading to anyone interested in Russian history.
Now in a new edition, this provocative, highly readable work presents a fascinating look at events that culminated in the Russian Revolution. Focusing on the Revolution in its widest sense, Sheila Fitzpatrick covers not only the events of 1917 and what preceded them, but the social transformations brought about by the Bolsheviks.
