Anyway, here is another book review. I'm still reading, even if I don't have convenient internet access, so I'll keep posting at a dispersed rate, as time permits. As always, thanks for your patronage.
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| Source: Amazon.com |
From the book’s cover:
This concise, accessible introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events and developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole--on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men and women, youth. Its central concern is to understand how one structure of domination was replaced by another. The book registers the primacy of politics, but situates political developments firmly in the context of massive economic, social, and cultural change. Since the fall of Communism there has been much reflection on the significance of the Russian Revolution. The book rejects the currently influential, liberal interpretation of the revolution in favor of one that sees it as rooted in the contradictions of a backward society which sought modernization and enlightenment and ended in political tyranny.
Synopsis:
The book covers the events surrounding the October Revolution of 1917 in then-Tsarist Russia. The time period encompasses the events that led to the overthrow of the provisional government by the Bolshevik party, including a brief retelling of the problems that Nicholas II faced during the last years of his reign, as well as the landmark struggle over the control of Russia that occurred in 1914 when the Romanov Dynasty was forever broken by both internal dissent and external pressure (namely the severe losses the Tsarist military forces received from Imperial Germany).
The book discusses the various elements that led the Bolsheviks to ultimately gain power. It covers the rise of the Soviets, the problems faced by the peasants and the working class alike, the strategies employed by Lenin as he sought to render the competing Menshevik and Social Democratic groups (among others) impotent, and the hardships of the Russian Civil War of the early 1920s and the struggle to create the world’s first truly Socialist government under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Of course, this you could have deduced from reading the publisher’s version of things, but never let it be said I didn’t take time to be redundant.
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| I couldn't find a photo of the author, S.A. Smith, so I decided to include a picture of another book he wrote. A breif Google search shows that our Mr. Smith is quite the writer on the subject of Communism and related subjects. / Source: HistoryAndTheSockMerchant.blogspot.com |
There were two things that I took away from this book above all the rest of the information it supplied. First I was impressed by the scope of information it gave. The book proposes, by its title, to be a “Short Introduction.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that, seeing as this was my first brush with this particular type of book (I am to understand that here are a series of “Short Introduction” books out there which cover a hefty sum of subjects), and worried that the book would “talk down” to me on the subject of the Russian Revolution. I have taken all the available courses at my university on the subject of Russian history, both pre-Revolution and post-Revolution, as well as classes covering Eastern Europe in the modern era, and so I consider myself not uneducated on the subject matter. I am certainly no expert, but I strive to become more so. Thankfully the book does not assume the reader is completely ignorant of the presented material, and so I found it to contain things that were only briefly touched upon in my college courses (due to the time constraints imposed upon my professor) and so was grateful for that.
I read a review or two on Amazon.com that complained about this approach, actually, and can see how perhaps the material might be over the heads of some people who are not as familiar with the material as I aim to be. With that in mind, I’d have to say that the reader should certainly not go into this book thinking it is “Bolshevism for Dummies.” To get up to speed on the issues, the user might wish to try Wikipedia first, and then get into this text afterward. I’m not trying to condescend, but genuinely encourage that the potential reader of The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction do some basic research beforehand, and understand that the stuff in this book is not for the faint of heart.
The second thing I liked about this book was the way it approached the issue of the Revolution itself. I was impressed by the statement the author made that (I’m paraphrasing here) the Russian Revolution has long been criticized for being a pipe-dream that was doomed to failure, due to the fact that Tsarist Russia was probably the farthest candidate for Socialist Revolution that Marx could have envisioned due to its perceived backwardness and other traits of the time, as well as the fact that Socialism itself was a flawed theory and would have struggled to work in real world conditions under the best of circumstances. Smith argues that this very problem of social upheaval and revolution was and is something to be admired, since the idea of complete social revolution that the advocates of Marxism in Russia undertook would seem unthinkable in most modern people’s minds.
I like that idea myself. Yes, the Soviets were misguided, but they also tried things that nobody had ever done and they built a system that lasted nearly 70 years. Granted they did it on a mountain of dead bodies and a system akin to slave labor with a harsh police state, but they still did accomplish their nominal goal of a Socialist state. It could be argued that nothing short of the approach taken by Lenin and then Stalin could have sustained Soviet-style Communism in Russia for that long. How much different would our world have been if they had just given up on the endeavor and stuck to potato farming (yes, I realize neither Lenin nor Stalin were strictly from farming stock, though Stalin was much “earthier” than Lenin)?
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| The caption from the website upon which I found this photo tells the story better than I could in fewer words: "Petrograd, 4 July 1917. Street demonstration on Nevsky Prospekt just after troops of the Provisional Government have opened fire with machine guns." / Source: Nevsky88.com |
What I didn’t like about it:
Well for myself, nothing in particular comes to mind. I can see the arguement made by at least two reviewers on Amazon.com that the book is not particularly a “Short Introduction” as advertised, but requires a bit of fore-knowledge about the subject. On the other hand, I think that is not necessarily the case, as I have mentioned already.
One of the reviews from Amazon.com also mentioned that the book jumps around a bit, and I have complained about that myself before, but I think in this case the author was focusing on different aspects of the Revolution’s impact on Russian society, so the non-linear approach has its reasons. But yes, it could be confusing at times, or at least a bit jarring to be brought right to the rise of Stalin and then go back in time to the beginning of NEP, or any number of other points in the period being described. But I didn’t find it too bad in this case. Again, this may be due to my familiarity with the subject, so your mileage may vary.
What I learned, if anything:
I learned that I need to do some more studying if I want to really understand some of those concepts that my Russian History courses dealt with as regarding the period of the Revolution. The aforementioned NEP is one thing I need to brush up on, as well as the concept of “War Communism,” which is also a major topic in the book. Both are dense and complex subjects. For the potential reader of this book, I suggest not worrying too much about grasping all the finer details that Smith points out. I’d risk hazarding a guess that nobody fully understands the “New Economic Policy,” or the minutiae of War Communism that the Bolsheviks implemented during the Red/White struggle of the 20s without having to read through it at least twice. But then again, I’m not nearly as smart as I wish I was, and you may make more of it than I did after a once-over.
Recommendation:
Yes, I do recommend this one for those who want to understand the Russian Revolution better. I like the approach that the author took in examining the way the Revolution affected various strata of Russian society, and I like the way the author points out the “good” parts of the Revolution and how it was a real gamble in social dynamics. But be warned, the material is not for the casual reader, and so in that sense, it probably isn’t a “Short Introduction” like the cover says. But I liked it just the same.
Learn more about The Russian Revolution: A Short Introduction on Amazon.com
The parting comment:
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| Source: MrJam.Typepad.com |
Without access to my own internet on my own desktop PC, selecting from the better "funny" pics I've used and stored up in the past is much more difficult. But this one is worth a slight chuckle, just the same.
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