Customer Reviews

Russia in the Shadows

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I consider this one of Wells' best books. Seriously. Wells was a Fabian socialist and thus had some sympathy with the cause of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, although he did not share the Marxist pretence to science, nor the Leninist dogmatism.

Wells is specific and perceptive in this book. It is almost shocking just how level-headed this scifi and utopian writer could be when he wanted to. It is a typical British analysis: empirical, rational, and sedate. There is no Germanic high abstractions and needless philosophizing, no French or any other utopianism, no Russian maximalism and rigidity. On his trip Wells met many people and visitied quite a few places. He came away from this experience pessimistic about the future of Russia, noting that it was slipping into anarchy and even greater backwardness. He did not, however, that the Russian communism and Lenin in particular left some hope for creativity and imaginative government. The book depicts the grim situation of Russia during the civil war. I urge people to read this book to understand the desperate historical conditions under which communism has come to power for the first time in human history.