Description
Book SynopsisHow did the Bolsheviks see themselves? What grand narrative gave meaning to their revolutionary aspirations? The leading Western expert on Bolshevism, Lars T. Lih, answers these questions in the first-ever study of the Bolshevik outlook from Lenin to perestroika. Sharply focused case studies allow individual leaders – Lenin, Stalin, Bukharin, Trotsky, Zinoviev – to come alive and speak in their own voices, with surprising results that challenge conventional narratives left and right. What Was Bolshevism? uses novels, plays, literary criticism, photographs, statues, poetry, history textbooks, songs, and film to paint an indispensable self-portrait of Soviet civilization.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Original Publication Introduction: What Was Bolshevism? Part 1 Overview 1 Ordinary Miracles: Lenin’s Call for Revolutionary Ambition 2 The Soviet Union and the Path to Communism Part 2 Deferred Dreams: Against the Myth of ‘War Communism’ (1918–1921) 3 Tsiurupa’s White Beard 4 The Mystery of the ABC 5 Vlast from the Past: Stories Told by Bolsheviks Part 3 Time of Troubles: Policies (1914–1921) 6 Grain Monopoly and Agricultural Transformation: Ideals and Necessities 7 Bolshevik Razverstka and War Communism 8 Bolsheviks at Work: The Sowing Committees of 1920 Part 4 Time of Troubles: Outlook (1914–1921) 9 Bolshevism’s ‘Services to the State’: Three Voices 10 ‘Our Position Is in the Highest Degree Tragic’: Trotsky and Bolshevik ‘Euphoria’ in 1920 11 Zinoviev: Populist Leninist Part 5 NEP (1921–1930) 12 Political Testament: Lenin, Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP 13 Bukharin on Bolshevik ‘Illusions’: ‘War Communism’ vs. NEP Part 6 Stalin Era (1925–1953) 14 Stalin at Work: Introduction to Stalin’s Letters to Molotov 15 Bukharin’s Bolshevik Epic: The Prison Writings 16 Show Trials in the Stalin Era: On Stage and In Court 17 Vertigo: Masks and Lies in Stalin’s Russia 18 Who Is Stalin? What Is He? Part 7 Perestroika (1984–1991) 19 Perestroika Looks Back Bibliography Index
