The Bolsheviks in Power: The First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd - Softcover

Rabinowitch, Alexander

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253220424 ISBN 13: 9780253220424

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2008

Synopsis

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 spiralling 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.

About this title

Review:

Thirty-one years have passed since the author's The Bolsheviks Come to Power (CH, Mar'77), the second volume in a projected trilogy on the Russian Revolution. The first two volumes documented Bolshevik success in the destruction of the Provisional Government in 1917. This third volume tells about the first year of Bolshevik power after the insurrection in October and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Although Rabinowitch (emer., Indiana Univ.) in the three volumes manages to display broad control of sources, it would be an exaggeration to think that he has made obsolete the 1935 two―volume work by W. H. Chamberlin, The Russian Revolution. The one irritant of Rabinowitch's first two volumes was that he managed to leave the impression that he sympathized more with the victorious Bolsheviks than with the democratic and socialist forces that they defeated. In the last 30 years, much has happened in Russia, new sources have opened, and much revisionist history has been written. The winds of change since Gorbachev's upheaval seem to have left the author untouched. The Cold War paradigm stands confirmed. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.A. Ezergailis, Ithaca College, Choice, July 2008

"What did Lenin's Bolsheviks do with the power they so boldly seized in October 1917? Alexander Rabinowitch is the first scholar to trace in detail, using newly available archives, the gripping story of the first year of Soviet rule in Russia. Concentrating on events in and around Petrograd, he explains why the Bolshevik government became more dictatorial, and even terroristic, as it struggled to control an increasingly impoverished and disaffected populace.... Written in an engaging style, The Bolsheviks in Power is a 'must read' for anyone interested in revolutionary change." ―John L. H. Keep, author of The Russian Revolution: A Study in Mass Mobilization

"This work is a model for the historian's craft, which modestly but implicity redefines how we conceptualize the fields of history." ―Against the Current, May/June 2009

"The period covered by The Bolsheviks in Power is a crucial one, because 1918 was the make or break year for the Bolshevik regime... by far the best book on the revolutionary period in Russian history, and one which should be obligatory reading for every serious student of the subject." ―J.D. White, Slavonic and East European Review, July 2010

"Without slighting ideology or Lenin's importance, and with one eye always on international events, Rabinowitch uses painstaking research in archival and other contemporary sources to root Bolshevik authoritarianism in the often mundane realities of the struggle for the survival of Soviet power... Like [his] previous volumes, The Bolsheviks in Power will certainly be mandatory reading for any student or scholar of modern Russian history." ―Michael Hickey, Slavonica, November 2009

"Rabinowitch demonstrates total mastery of the rich source material; a stunning command of politics during a time of crisis, turmoil, and shifting allegiances; confident, crystal-clear prose; originality; and profound appreciation of the circumstances in which his protagonists found themselves.... His new study addresses a central question of twentieth-century Russian history: what happened to the promises of 1917? Maintaining that his earlier efforts raised as many questions as they answered, he seeks to understand how the relatively democratic and decentralized Bolshevik party became transformed into 'one of the most highly centralized, authoritarian political organizations in modern history.'" ―Donald J. Raleigh, University of North Carolina

"This masterful volume... fills a gaping hole in the historiography of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union... [How] the party's relatively open, decentralized, and democratic structure... [was] transformed into 'the highly centralized, ultra-authoritarian Bolshevik political system' of Soviet Russia... The details behind [Rabinowitch's] conclusive answer make up this rich, detailed, fascinating book." ―Rex A. Wade, American Historical Review

"This is a thorough study of the high politics of the first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd. The level of detail is one of its many admirable features." ―History, July 2009

"Rabinowitch has culled an astonishing amount of new information from long closed archives... a compelling narrative accessible to specialists and general readers alike." ―Stephen F. Cohen, author of Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia

"This is an important book. It describes in great detail the evolution of the Bolshevik regime over the first year of its existence." ―Iain McKay, Black Flag Magazine, 2008

From the Author:

Alexander Rabinowitch is Emeritus Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is author of Prelude to Revolution: The Petrograd Bolsheviks and the July 1917 Uprising (IUP, 1968) and The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0253220424
• ISBN 13: 9780253220424
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520