Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918–1929 (Cambridge Russian Paperbacks, Series Number 8)
Cambridge University Press, 8/20/1992
EAN 9780521362153, ISBN10: 0521362156
Hardcover, 300 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
This is the first book to analyse the relationship between the Soviet state and society from the October Revolution of 1917 to the revolution under Stalin of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Professor Lewis Siegelbaum examines the ways in which the promise of a new society made by the 1917 Revolution informed the thinking of those who had experienced the order which preceded it. But how did that old order limit possibilities? How did the new Party leaders, worker activists, artists, and scientists know what to abolish, what to retain, and what to transform? The author explores these questions by tracing the evolution of the ruling Communist Party and its New Economic Policy and the changing fortunes of industrial workers, peasants, and the scientific and cultural intelligentsia. He demonstrates how these different actors sought to appropriate the promise of the 1917 Revolution for their own purposes, highlights the compromises they made, and explains why in the late 1920s these compromises had started to break down.
Preface and acknowledgements
Russian terms and abbreviations
Introduction
1. Bequeathals of the Revolution, 1918–20
2. The crisis of 1920–21
3. The perils of retreat and recovery
4. Living with NEP
5. Dangers and opportunities
Epilogue and conclusions
Bibliography.