The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

by S. A. Smith

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192853950
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2002
Series:	Very Short Introductions , #63
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	314,812
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 5.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	1400L (what's this?)

About the Author

Stephen Smith is Professor of History at the University of Essex. He works on the social history of the Russian and Chinese revoltuions and is author of Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 1983), and A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-27 (Curzon Press, 2000).

Table of Contents

1. The February Revolution and Provisional Government2. Social Polarization and the Crisis of Power3. Politics in the Civil War4. Society and Economy in the Civil War5. NEP Economy and Politics6. NEP Culture and SocietyConclusion