Description
Book SynopsisRevolutionary Passage is a cultural, social, and political history of Russia during its critical period of transformation at the end of the twentieth century. Marc Garcelon traces the history of perestroika and the rise of Vladimir Putin, arguing that the pressure Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms put on the Soviet system gave birth to movements for democratic change. He also shows that the very political arrangements that prompted the fall of Communism also killed hopes for subsequent reform. At the turning point of this political revolution stood Democratic Russia, or DemRossiia, the principal organization of the Russian democratic movement that helped to dismantle the Soviet system and force the Soviet leadership to change course. However, as post-Soviet Russia committed itself to globalization and U.S.-style economic reforms, the country directed itself away from the Democratic reforms called for by organizations like DemRossiia, and such groups collapsed. Revolutionary Passage provides a close examination of the DemRossiia. Garcelon deftly illuminates the rise and decline of this organization, and how the processes of revolutionary change impacted both Russia and the world.
Trade Review"Garcelon's extensive examination of DemRossiia during the critical 'interregnum' period is novel. His writing is clear and crisp, and his rigorous conceptualization and judicious interpretations, along with his rich fieldwork experience and interview data, are admirable."-Michael Urban, Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz "Revolutionary Passage is an outstanding account of the whole epoch starting with Gorbachev's reforms through the years of Boris Yeltsin until Putin's accession to power by late 1999. The book is excellent, a tour-de-force, and lucidly presented. Garcelon makes an important contribution to the understanding of the role the educated middle class, intellectuals, and experts played during Gorbachev's reforms, and how they were abandoned by Yeltsin. Revolutionary Passage offers a fine-tuned presentation of social structure of the late Soviet Union and the early years of post-Soviet Russia."-Ivan Szelenyi, William Graham Sumner Professor of Sociology and Professor of Political Science, Yale University
Table of ContentsList of Acronyms and Russian TermsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Passages1. The Specialist Rebellion in Moscow and the Genesis of a Revolutionary Situation2. The Rise of Democratic Russia3. Democrats on the Offensive4. August 1991 and the Decline of Russia's Democratic Movement5. InterregnumAppendix: English Translation of Russian Questionnaire Used in the Survey in Chapter OneNotesBibliographyIndex
