Revolution in Russia: Reassessments of 1917

Description

The Russian Revolution of 1917 continues to be a subject of most intense controversy; and the fundamental questions which have divided observers over the last seventy years still stir fierce debate. In this volume, eighteen leading specialists from different generations, countries and schools of thought, re-examine the key issues and events of that crucial year. Some of the articles examine the unfolding crisis 'from below', describing developments in specific localities or organisations: others put the emphasis on the view as seen 'from above', on Lenin as leader of the Bolshevik party and of the emergent Soviet states. Other contributors explore the roles played by the officer corps, the industrialists, the peasants, the factory workers and the Soviets as well as the part of the Press and the different nationalities. Never before has so comprehensive a selection of original essays on 1917, written in the West, been collected in one volume.

"This is a splendid collection of essays by first-rate scholars. Every one of the essays contribute something to our understanding of the Russian revolution and therefore would deserve a more detailed discussion than it is possible to give in a brief review." Peter Kenez, Slavic Review "Revolution in Russia: Reassessments of 1917 provides a wealth of information concerning hitherto obscure or neglected aspects of the revolutions' popular movements and institutions...The essays collected in Revolution in Russia vividly show Russian and non-Russian workers, peasants, soldiers, generals, industrialists, politicians, and others caught up in the vortex of social revolution. Their demonstration that the dissolution of a multiethnic empire ignites nationalist bonfires that all too often rage out of anyone's control is sobering." Historian "Revolution in Russia, edited by three Israeli historians, which grew out of a conference in honor of Israel Getzler in 1988, is an important contribution to this debate, and it is a tribute to Getzler that there are a number of high-quality articles that represent a timely state of the art on Western historiography on the October Revolution...Revolution in Russia is an important volume that should be widely read. It addresses itself to the issues, problems, limitations and the future agenda in the historiography of the Russian Revolution." Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Russian Review