The Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution: Illiberal Liberation, 1917-41

(Paperback)

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How did a regime that promised utopian-style freedom end up delivering terror and tyranny For some, the Bolsheviks were totalitarian and the descent was inevitable; for others, Stalin was responsible; for others still, this period in Russian history was a microcosm of the Cold War. The Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution reasons that these arguments are too simplistic. Rather, the journey from Bolshevik liberation to totalitarianism was riddled with unsuccessful experiments, compromises, confusion, panic, self-interest and over-optimism. As this book reveals, the emergence (and persistence) of the Bolshevik dictatorship was, in fact, the complicated product of a failed democratic transition. Drawing on long-ignored archival sources and original research, this fascinating volume brings together an international team of leading scholars to reconsider one of the most important and controversial questions of 20th-century history: how to explain the rise of the repressive Stalinist dictatorship.

Reviews

[An] excellent volume that cohesively balances a wide range of topics and persuasively reassesses the Soviet states evolution The authors make a persuasive case against inevitable authoritarianism alongside an unflinching assessment of the violent and pseudo-participatory improvisations that filled the Soviet democratic void. Recommended for students of Europe and comparative politics. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty. * CHOICE *
[The Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution] makes a valuable addition to the literature produced in connection with the centenary of the Russian Revolution. * Ab Imperio Quarterly *
This superb volume provides unprecedented insight into the relationship between democracy and dictatorship in Bolshevik thought and political practice. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the Revolution and the origins and nature of Stalinism. * James Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Cardiff University, UK *
A close examination of the Bolshevik regime in theory and practice, this nuanced and enlightening volume identifies how the emancipatory promise of 1917 was first compromised and then transformed into one of the most brutal dictatorships of the 20th century. * David Brandenberger, Professor of History, University of Richmond, USA *

Author Bio

Lara Douds is Vice-Chancellor's Fellow in History at Northumbria University, UK. She is the author of Inside Lenin's Government: Power, Ideology and Practice in the Early Soviet State (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018). James Harris is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the Author of The Great Fear: Stalin's Terror of the 1930s (2016) and The Great Urals: Regionalism and the Evolution of the Soviet System (1999). He has edited multiple volumes on Soviet History, including The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin (2013) and Stalin's World: Dictating the Soviet Order (2014, co-edited with Sarah Davies). Peter Whitewood is Senior Lecturer of History at York St. John University, UK. He is the author of The Red Army and the Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Soviet Military (2015).