Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918–1929

This book analyses 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.

Lewis H. Siegelbaum (Author)

9780521362153, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 August 1992

300 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.5 cm, 0.505 kg

"...a well-written and scrupulous synthesis of the abundant new scholarship on the 1920s....Siegelbaum recaptures the sense of directionless and uncertainty prevalent during the 1920s....an exacting interpretive guide." Stephen Kotkin, Journal of Modern History

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.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]