Russian Revolutions Of 1917 : The Origins of Modern Communism

ew events in history have exerted a more profound effect on our lives than the two revolutions of February and October 1917, which first established communism and the Soviet state in Russia and which ever since have served as an ambiguous symbol to so-cialists and would-be revolutionaries, to be imitated or despised, but never ignored. More than sixty-five years after ter the revolution, we still want to know: exactly how did the Bolsheviks capture power in 1917; and, even more important, how did they manage to hold on to that power in the face of the Party's growing unpopularity? Leonard Schapiro is the author of the standard history of the Soviet Communist party and, in this beautifully written and meticulously researched book, he has provided us with what is bound to become the definitive account of the Bolshevik seizure of power for years to come. Drawing on the latest research findings as well as on a lifetime of reading and reflection, he guides us through that fateful year, examines the causes for the Bolshevik triumph and follows the course of communist rule up to the death of Lenin in 1924. He explores the complex relation of Lenin to Stalin, the crucial role of the army and the Party's activities in the provinces. Above all, he focuses on the emergence of communism as a state force, a force with which the rest of the world is still trying to live. LEONARD SCHAPIRO, who died in November 1983, was one of the world's leading authorities on Soviet politics. A Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the London School of Economics, he was the author of, among many other works, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2nd edition, 1970), The Government and Politics of the Soviet Union (6th edition, 1977), and Turge- nev: His Life and Tim es (1980). This was his last book.