The dramatic story of the Bolsheviks' struggle to consolidate power and create a new government in Russia after the Revolution of 1917
A major contribution to the historiography of the world in the 20th century, The Bolsheviks in Power focuses on the fateful first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd. It examines events that profoundly shaped the Soviet political system that endured through most of the 20th century. Drawing largely from previously inaccessible Soviet archives, it demolishes standard interpretations of the origins of Soviet authoritarianism by demonstrating that the Soviet system evolved ad hoc as the Bolsheviks struggled to retain political power amid spiraling political, social, economic, and military crises. The book covers issues such as the rapid fall of influential moderate Bolsheviks, the formation of the dreaded Cheka, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Red Terror, the national government's flight to Moscow, and the subsequent rivalry between Russia's new and old capitals.
Table of contents:
Prologue: The Bolsheviks and the October Revolution in Petrograd
Part I: The Defeat of the Moderates
1 Forming a Government; 2 Rebels into Rulers; 3 Gathering Forces; 4 The Fate of the Constituent Assembly
Part II: War or Peace
5 Fighting Lenin; 6 "The Socialist Fatherland Is in Danger"7 An Obscene Peace
Part III: Soviet Power on the Brink
8 A Turbulent Spring; 9 Continuing Crises; 10 The Northern Commune and the Bolshevik-Left SR Alliance; 11 The Suicide of the Left SRs;
Part IV: Celebration amid Terror
12 The Road to "Red Terror"; 13 The Red Terror in Petrograd; 14 Celebrating "the Greatest Event in the History of the World"; 15 Price of Survival
Chronology of Key Events; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Review:
"An even more impressive and important work than the author's classic study of revolutionary 1917, The Bolsheviks Come to Power. In this book, Rabinowitch has culled an astonishing amount of new information from long closed archives and crafted it into a compelling narrative accessible to specialists and general readers alike. From it emerges a nearly unknown history of people, events, and processes, including the birth of the Soviet political order, that were fateful for Russia and indeed for the world." Stephen F. Cohen, author of Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia
A major contribution to the historiography of the world in the 20th century, The Bolsheviks in Power focuses on the fateful first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd. It examines events that profoundly shaped the Soviet political system that endured through most of the 20th century. Drawing largely from previously inaccessible Soviet archives, it demolishes standard interpretations of the origins of Soviet authoritarianism by demonstrating that the Soviet system evolved ad hoc as the Bolsheviks struggled to retain political power amid spiraling political, social, economic, and military crises. The book covers issues such as the rapid fall of influential moderate Bolsheviks, the formation of the dreaded Cheka, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Red Terror, the national government's flight to Moscow, and the subsequent rivalry between Russia's new and old capitals.
Table of contents:
Prologue: The Bolsheviks and the October Revolution in Petrograd
Part I: The Defeat of the Moderates
1 Forming a Government; 2 Rebels into Rulers; 3 Gathering Forces; 4 The Fate of the Constituent Assembly
Part II: War or Peace
5 Fighting Lenin; 6 "The Socialist Fatherland Is in Danger"7 An Obscene Peace
Part III: Soviet Power on the Brink
8 A Turbulent Spring; 9 Continuing Crises; 10 The Northern Commune and the Bolshevik-Left SR Alliance; 11 The Suicide of the Left SRs;
Part IV: Celebration amid Terror
12 The Road to "Red Terror"; 13 The Red Terror in Petrograd; 14 Celebrating "the Greatest Event in the History of the World"; 15 Price of Survival
Chronology of Key Events; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Review:
"An even more impressive and important work than the author's classic study of revolutionary 1917, The Bolsheviks Come to Power. In this book, Rabinowitch has culled an astonishing amount of new information from long closed archives and crafted it into a compelling narrative accessible to specialists and general readers alike. From it emerges a nearly unknown history of people, events, and processes, including the birth of the Soviet political order, that were fateful for Russia and indeed for the world." Stephen F. Cohen, author of Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia