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

[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...days/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/brya...ssia/index.htm
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trot.../hrr/index.htm

[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...

[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-re...-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.thefreedictiona...ist+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-re...275/index.html

and his Russian revolution bibliography

http://www.revleft.com/vb/introducin...423/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.thefreedictiona...ist+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/ar.../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. 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/memo...ev/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.

[Ismail]

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

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. 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
The State and the Socialist Revolution by J. Martov

[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.