Russia's Three Revolutions, 1917–1932

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152 Part II The Era of Revolution and Wargovernment interfered more actively in the lives of the people than had the old tsaristgovernment. Collectivization, in particular, transformed patterns of work. The increaseduse of education and the media as instruments of propaganda and the use of terroralso made it increasingly difficult to ignore or oppose the desires of the authorities.In the immediate postwar years, the revolutionary nature of the government andits aggressive Marxist-Leninist ideas threatened international stability. By 1932, however,the government was more concerned with continuing the internal transformationof the Soviet Union than with causing Communist revolutions in other nations.Nevertheless, the transformations wrought by the three revolutions remainedsignificant for other countries. Lenin insisted that imperialism was an outgrowth ofcapitalism and that colonial peoples should rebel and throw off both colonial andcapitalist shackles. Soviet leaders also claimed that less advanced countries could copySoviet methods of rapid industrialization and modernization. Ironically, althoughMarxism and Marxist socialism began in western Europe, Marxist governments cameto power only in less developed regions, first in Russia and then, after World War II,in other countries such as China.To the colonial powers themselves, the U.S.S.R. was a menace partly becauseits leaders encouraged colonial peoples, as well as those living in capitalist countries,to rebel. Although Communist parties came into being in western Europe after 1917,they were generally weaker than Socialist parties, also indebted to Marx. The Socialistparties had gradually been moving away from Marxist radicalism, and the loss ofsome of their more radical members to the new Communist parties just furthered thistendency. Yet, by 1932, with the Great Depression discrediting capitalism in the eyesof many, the appeal of Communist parties and the anticapitalist Soviet Union was onthe rise. Thus, even before the beginning of the cold war in the late 1940s, the SovietUnion presented a major challenge to its future cold war enemies.SUGGESTED SOURCESConquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. 1986. Theappalling story of Stalin’s policies, which cost millions of Soviet lives.* (A 55-minutedocumentary on the same subject, called Harvest of Despair, is available on video.)Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891–1924. 1996. A long but wellwrittenaccount.*Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution, 1917–32. 2nd ed. 1994. A clear, brief, and objectiveaccount.*Foglesong, David S. America’s Secret War against Bolshevism: U.S. Intervention in the Russian CivilWar, 1917–1920. 1995. The author argues that anti-Bolshevik sentiments played a greaterrole in prompting U.S. intervention than most previous historians have stated.Goldman, Emma. My Disillusionment in Russia. 1970. Recounts the author’s experiences in Russiain 1920–1921 after she was deported from the United States.*Holquist, Peter. Making War, Forging Revolution: Russia’s Continuum of Crisis, 1914–1921. 2002.This work emphasizes the importance of World War I for understanding the 1917 revolutionsand subsequent civil war.Lincoln, W. Bruce. Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War. 1989. A comprehensiveoverview by a scholar who also writes excellent popular history.*
Chapter 10 Russia’s Three Revolutions, 1917–1932 153McDermid, Jane, and Anna Hillyar. Midwives of the Revolution: Female Bolsheviks and WomenWorkers in 1917. 1999. A brief work that presents solid information on women Bolsheviksand workers.*Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. 2003. Chaps. 1–7. These chaptersoffer a fascinating examination of Stalin’s early years, based partly on recently openedarchival materials.*Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago. 1958. A great novel conveying the chaotic conditions of Russiaduring World War I, the revolution, and the civil war and the reactions of a sensitiveman to it all.* (Also a film.)Patenaude, Bertrand. The Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia inthe Famine of 1921. 2002. A comprehensive account of U.S. aid to famine victims of theearly 1920s.*Potemkin. 1926. One of Sergei Eisenstein’s most famous films, it deals with a mutiny on a battleshipduring the revolt of 1905.Raleigh, Donald J. Experiencing Russia’s Civil War: Politics, Society, and Revolutionary Culture in Saratov,1917–1922. 2002. An excellent study of the civil war’s impact in a Volga River area.*Reed, John. Ten Days That Shook the World. 1919. A firsthand account of the Bolshevik revoltby the famous American Marxist.* (Several films have also appeared with this title. Thefirst, an Eisenstein film, was originally called October and is now available on videotapeunder that title; also available is the 1981 U.S. film Reds, which deals with Reed and hisRussian experiences.)Scott, John. Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia’s City of Steel. 1989. A fascinatingaccount of life in the new city of Magnitogorsk during the early days of Stalin’s industrialization.*Service, Robert. Lenin: A Biography. 2002. The most comprehensive biography of Lenin available.*Siegelbaum, Lewis H. Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918–1929. 1992. A good briefanalysis of the interrelationship between Russia’s new Communist government and societyand culture.*Viola, Lynne. Peasant Rebels under Stalin: Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance.1996. A fascinating and scholarly account of peasant resistance to Stalin’s collectivizationpolicies of the late 1920s and early 1930s.*Volkogonov, Dmitri. Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary. 1996. A biography by a former Russiangeneral and historian with access to the latest archival material; he also wrote interestingbiographies of Lenin and Stalin.Wade, Rex. The Russian Revolution, 1917. 2nd ed. 2005. A well-written, up-to-date treatment ofthe various forces that transformed Russia in 1917.*WEB SOURCESwww.soviethistory.org/index.php. A first-rate site, the best for Soviet history. See links to years1917, 1921, 1924, 1929; the site for each year contains numerous links to other valuablematerials in various media forms. For 1917, for example, see “The New Woman,”“Bolsheviks Seize Power,” and “Constituent Assembly.”www.geocities.com/sheerin104. Provides links for Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and other Soviet materials,especially regarding the Russian revolutions of 1917.*Paperback available.
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Russia's Three Revolutions, 1917–1932

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