Best books on the USSR/Russian Revolution?

[Soldier of life]

Just wondering what people think are the best(or indeed your favourite) book on the Russian Revolution and the USSR. They may cover specific periods(and if this is so please point that out) or the entire period until the Soviet Union collapsed. If there is another thread like this just link me as there would be no need for another, but I think it would an interesting resource to see what proponents of different trends put forward as the one book they would give to people on the subject.

[Die Rote Fahne]

"The Russian Revolution" - by Rosa Luxemburg

[A Revolutionary Tool]

"History of the Russian Revolution" by Leon Trotsky. Pretty damn good read. Goes from before the Feb. Revolution to the October Revolution. Not putting it forth as a Trotskyist though...

[thesadmafioso]

These are just a few that come quickly to mind that are my favorites, this is a subject that has been written on to a tremendous extent and there are certainly many works beyond these deserving of attention as well.

John Reed's "Ten Days That Shook the World" and Louise Bryant's "6 Red Months in Russia" provide good first hand accounts of the everyday political proceedings of the revolution.

So far as more in depth theoretical analysis goes, Trotsky's "The History of the Russian Revolution" is certainly worth a read.

If you can stand reading off of a computer screen for extended periods, here are the links to online copies of the texts.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1919/10days/10days/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/bryant/works/russia/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm

[DaringMehring]

"History of the Russian Revolution" by Leon Trotsky
"Ten Days that Shook the World" by John Reed

[SHORAS]

You may find this useful!

http://libcom.org/library/russian-revolution-1917-further-reading-guide

I've just bought Russian Rev', Rev' Betrayed by Trotsky and 10 Days.

I will probably read some Anarchist histories afterwords.

EDIT: The preface to the latest Haymarket version of Russian Rev' I found quite terrible and sycophantic.

Also got a pamphlet (more of a short book at 64 pages) on 1917 from Left Communist organisation ICT which I've just started reading which was only £2.
http://www.leftcom.org/

[Sir Comradical]

Deutscher's first book on Trotsky 'Prophet Armed'. Trotsky's own 'History of the Russian Revolution'.

That's what I've read anyway.

[Ismail]

I have heard that The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick is a good introductory read.

In addition there's the Great Soviet Encyclopedia article on it: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Great+October+Socialist+Revolution

[Rooster]

Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed is a great little book. It might be kinda hard to follow though if you're not familiar with the subject. They also made a film about it called Reds.

Another book that I found useful was The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick. It goes into the historical details more of before the revolution, during and after up to the first five year plan.

You then have Trotsky's writings on the subject such as The History of the Russian Revolution and The Lessons of October which are fine.

You also have ComradeOm here:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/russian-revolution-bolshevik-t105275/index.html

and his Russian revolution bibliography

http://www.revleft.com/vb/introducing-revleft-historical-t120423/index.html

[Soldier of life]

I have heard that The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick is a good introductory read.

In addition there's the Great Soviet Encyclopedia article on it: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Great+October+Socialist+Revolution

I've read Fitpatrick's text. Very nice read, found it pretty objective.

Interesting that Trotsky's history keeps coming up. Particularly interesting because it seems to be suggested by people who would not necessarily self-indentify as Trotskyites. I've heard non-trots speak of it in glowing terms.

[tir1944]

Short Course on the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/index.htm

[chimx]

John Reed's "Ten Days That Shook the World" and Louise Bryant's "6 Red Months in Russia" provide good first hand accounts of the everyday political proceedings of the revolution.

while it may be a fun introductory read, it is a first-hand account and contains factual errors made by the author.

Personally I like the revisionist historian alexander rabinowitch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rabinowitch). The Bolsheviks Come to Power is a good accessible but scholarly book.

[RedTrackWorker]

Another American who was there with John Reed wrote an account:
http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/memoir/RusRev/RRTC.htm#TC.
Not sure why it doesn't get nearly as much play as Reed as I quite enjoyed it.

Here's a list, most of which I haven't red, part of it compiled by emailing Rabinowitch and asking him for recommendations:
The Russian Revolution (Shelia Fitzpatrick)
The Russian Revolution (Rex Wade)
Rabonwitch Prelude to Revolution; The Bolsheviks Come to Power; The Bolsheviks in Power
Revolution and Counterrevolution: Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory by Kevin Murphy
Red petrograd by steve smith
Edward Acton Rethinking The Russian Revolution 1990
Rossman, Jeffrey, 2005, Worker Resistance under Stalin: Class and Revolution on the Shop Floor
Moscow Workers and the 1917 Revolution
Simon Pirani's The Russian Revolution in Retreat.

Alexander Fyodorovich Ilyin (Zhenevsky)--From February to the Conquest of Power and The Bolsheviks in Power - Reminiscences of the Year 1918. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Ilyin-Genevsky)

[S.Artesian]

Moscow Workers and the 1917 Revolution is a great book.

[Spetsnaz]

The "best book" is to travel there, not as tourists, but as --- dare I say-- as travelers and talk to the old timers. :wub:

[Ismail]

The "best book" is to travel there, not as tourists, but as --- dare I say-- as travelers and talk to the old timers. :wub:Good lucking finding people aged 107 and older who are able to remember anything significant. Better hurry, too.

[thesadmafioso]

while it may be a fun introductory read, it is a first-hand account and contains factual errors made by the author.

Personally I like the revisionist historian alexander rabinowitch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rabinowitch). The Bolsheviks Come to Power is a good accessible but scholarly book.

Oh really? Primary sources may not always be entirely grounded in the entire breadth of an event as massive as the Bolshevik Revolution? It is possible that first hand accounts are not always factual in every detail which they include? John Reed was not omnipotent?

Sarcasm aside, I did include Trotsky's "The History of the Russian Revolution" in my list as well to provide those first hand accounts with a theoretical framework. Obviously most any primary source which is that specific is going to have to be taken through the lens of the larger events which created the individual experiences, but that is not to say we should simply gloss over them in the place of secondary sources. You need to utilize both to develop a full understanding of a historical event of this variety. Primary sources are much more than 'fun introductory reads' and I shutter to think that someone would consider there role so frivolous.

[The Idler]

Russia 1917-1967 A Socialist Analysis (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pamphlets/russia-1917-1967-socialist-analysis)
The State and the Socialist Revolution by J. Martov (http://www.archive.org/details/TheStateAndTheSocialistRevolution)

[Soldier of life]

Has anyone read Fitzpatrick's books on life in the USSR under Stalin?

[Teacher]

I have read sizable portions of Fitzpatrick's stuff. As a communist a lot of it is only marginally interesting. If I were some kind of Russophile or someone who was really interested in "social history" I'd find it more interesting. She is very anti-communist.

[GatesofLenin]

I found this book: 1917 Russia's year of Revolution by Roy Bainton. Any good?

[Makaru]

I haven't read it yet but I have ordered the first volume of E.H. Carr's The Bolshevik Revolution and should be getting it soon. He wrote three volumes on the Revolution alone and a few more on early Soviet Russian history. He had a very favorable view of Lenin but his books (from what I've heard) are fairly neutral.

[x359594]

The Russian Revolution: A Study in Mass Mobilization by John Keep (1976) is devoted to examining the Revolution in the countryside.

[Ismail]

I haven't read it yet but I have ordered the first volume of E.H. Carr's The Bolshevik Revolution and should be getting it soon. He wrote three volumes on the Revolution alone and a few more on early Soviet Russian history. He had a very favorable view of Lenin but his books (from what I've heard) are fairly neutral.Carr is great, just be aware though that at times his work, detailed as it is, can be quite boring since he doesn't write in lively prose.

[tachanka]

Unless you read and understand Russian, there is very limited material about the Russian Revolution, especially works that take a Marxist-Leninist approach. Most western works about this historical event cannot be taken seriously because of their anti-socialist prejudices and orientalist perception of Russia. By far the best works about the Russian Revolution are by Russian historians like L. Gaponenko, I. Mints, P. Sobolev, and others.

A great place to start is the Great Soviet Encyclopedia entry that Ismail posted.

[Ismail]

I don't agree with that at all. Obviously Russian works can offer unique perspectives and for a while provide details which take time to be incorporated into English texts, but there are tons of books on the October Revolution in English that are both comprehensive and quite objective. E.H. Carr's three-volume book mentioned above is one example. Sheila Fitzpatrick's is another.

[RedZezz]

I like Alexander Rabinowitch's books The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd and The Bolsheviks in Power:The First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd.

History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky is a must.

John Reed's book Ten Days that Shook the World is a classic.

Those are the ones that immediatly come to mind for me.

[thriller]

I have heard that The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick is a good introductory read.


That is great intro read! A little biased, but overall very accurate and insightful. 'Why Lenin? Why Stalin? A Reappraisal of the Russian Revolution, 1900-1930' by Theodore H. Von Laue was pretty good. Unbiased and explained different groups within the revolutionary movement.

[Manav]

John Reed - Ten Days That Shook the World ( for material around the days of revolution)
Dyson Carter - Sin and Science ( how the revolution was achieved, basically about policy of Soviet Union on how they removed prostitution, excessive drug use, very good book)

Mario Sousa ( search it, i am new user, cant post links! ) - For the truth on "lies" that West made against Stalin.

These might seem a bit off-topic but i included them here because i think they also form a part of the revolution and not just those days of 1917.....

[Myaskovsky]

I you mean "Everday Stalinism" then yes, this is an excellent book. Only short but probably the best social history in English.

[Myaskovsky]

Has anyone read Fitzpatrick's books on life in the USSR under Stalin?

An excellent book in my opinion. Given the subject matter she refrains from hysterics. By far the best and most readable social history of Stalinism in English.

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

Ten Days? Sure, it's a lot of fun. The movie Reds, btw, is much better than it has any right to be. Pretty accurate except for the romantic stuff between Reed and Bryant. They got to the US leftists that they interviewed about 10 years too late, though.
Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is indispensible, and The Lessons of October is also fantastic.
I too recommend Rabinowich's books. They are well researched and written. I actually met the guy in 1980. He was brought to a class on the Russian Revolution by the professor to discuss his then new book, The Bolsheviks come to Power. He noted that he was rather surprised to have written a book that showed the Bolsheviks in such a positive light, but that's what his research revealed, and that's what he wrote.

Some of E.H. Carr's stuff is interesting, but maybe not worth the time and effort.

[ComradeOm]

He noted that he was rather surprised to have written a book that showed the Bolsheviks in such a positive light, but that's what his research revealed, and that's what he wroteYeah, I heard an online interview with Rabinowitch once where he expressed similar sentiments. Apparently his family, as the name might suggest, were very much White emigres and his original intentions had been to write a book in the traditional totalitarian fashion. It was after actually doing some proper research (which marked him as almost unique at the time) that he realised that thesis was unsustainable