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What Was Bolshevism?
Series: - Historical Materialism Book Series, Volume: 298
Author:
How did the Bolsheviks see themselves? What grand narrative gave meaning to their revolutionary aspirations? The leading Western expert on Bolshevism, Lars T. Lih, answers these questions in the first-ever study of the Bolshevik outlook from Lenin to perestroika. Sharply focused case studies allow individual leaders – Lenin, Stalin, Bukharin, Trotsky, Zinoviev – to come alive and speak in their own voices, with surprising results that challenge conventional narratives left and right. What Was Bolshevism? uses novels, plays, literary criticism, photographs, statues, poetry, history textbooks, songs, and film to paint an indispensable self-portrait of Soviet civilization.
Lars T. Lih (Ph.D. 1984, Princeton University) has published extensively on Russian and Soviet history and politics. What Was Bolshevism? sums up a scholarly lifetime, combining hard-to-access articles spanning three decades along with new essays written for this volume.
Acknowledgements
Original Publication
Introduction: What Was Bolshevism?
1 Ordinary Miracles: Lenin’s Call for Revolutionary Ambition
2 The Soviet Union and the Path to Communism
3 Tsiurupa’s White Beard
4 The Mystery of the ABC
5 Vlast from the Past: Stories Told by Bolsheviks
6 Grain Monopoly and Agricultural Transformation: Ideals and Necessities
7 Bolshevik Razverstka and War Communism
8 Bolsheviks at Work: The Sowing Committees of 1920
9 Bolshevism’s ‘Services to the State’: Three Voices
10 ‘Our Position Is in the Highest Degree Tragic’: Trotsky and Bolshevik ‘Euphoria’ in 1920
11 Zinoviev: Populist Leninist
12 Political Testament: Lenin, Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP
13 Bukharin on Bolshevik ‘Illusions’: ‘War Communism’ vs. NEP
14 Stalin at Work: Introduction to Stalin’s Letters to Molotov
15 Bukharin’s Bolshevik Epic: The Prison Writings
16 Show Trials in the Stalin Era: On Stage and In Court
17 Vertigo: Masks and Lies in Stalin’s Russia
18 Who Is Stalin? What Is He?
19 Perestroika Looks Back
Bibliography
Index
Original Publication
Introduction: What Was Bolshevism?
Part 1 Overview
1 Ordinary Miracles: Lenin’s Call for Revolutionary Ambition
2 The Soviet Union and the Path to Communism
Part 2 Deferred Dreams: Against the Myth of ‘War Communism’ (1918–1921)
3 Tsiurupa’s White Beard
4 The Mystery of the ABC
5 Vlast from the Past: Stories Told by Bolsheviks
Part 3 Time of Troubles: Policies (1914–1921)
6 Grain Monopoly and Agricultural Transformation: Ideals and Necessities
7 Bolshevik Razverstka and War Communism
8 Bolsheviks at Work: The Sowing Committees of 1920
Part 4 Time of Troubles: Outlook (1914–1921)
9 Bolshevism’s ‘Services to the State’: Three Voices
10 ‘Our Position Is in the Highest Degree Tragic’: Trotsky and Bolshevik ‘Euphoria’ in 1920
11 Zinoviev: Populist Leninist
Part 5 NEP (1921–1930)
12 Political Testament: Lenin, Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP
13 Bukharin on Bolshevik ‘Illusions’: ‘War Communism’ vs. NEP
Part 6 Stalin Era (1925–1953)
14 Stalin at Work: Introduction to Stalin’s Letters to Molotov
15 Bukharin’s Bolshevik Epic: The Prison Writings
16 Show Trials in the Stalin Era: On Stage and In Court
17 Vertigo: Masks and Lies in Stalin’s Russia
18 Who Is Stalin? What Is He?
Part 7 Perestroika (1984–1991)
19 Perestroika Looks Back
Bibliography
Index
Reading public: accessible to anyone interested in revolution, the Soviet experience, or individual leaders such as Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Academic: all levels, from undergraduate to tenured professors.