Hitherto histories of the Russian Revolutions of 1917 have been influenced, wittingly or not, by highly effective propaganda produced within the Soviet Union. Thus the image of a massive popular uprising against a corrupt monarchy and then of a similarly corrupt bourgeois government has become ingrained in our historic memory. Now that a quarter century has passed since the Soviet Union's collapse it is possible for the first time for historians to make full use of records kept under lock and key by the Communists for seventy years.
Sean McMeekin's scholarly and engrossing history begins with a short prologue on the murder of Gregory Rasputin and its consequences in December, 1916, takes a step back to review the troubled reign of Tsar Nicholas II, the 1905 Revolution, and the calamitous decision to go to war in 1916, then launches into a history of 1917 and its aftermath. Along the way McMeekin punctures some well worn stereotypes: Tsarist Russia in the first decade of the twentieth century was industrializing and growing more prosperous even while it underwent political earthquakes; Russia in 1914 was indeed capable of fighting and perhaps winning a major war; Russian soldiers in that war were better fed and lived under better conditions than their adversaries; and there was no widespread sentiment for pacifism by 1917. Indeed, McMeekin points out that the Russian Imperial Army had had a good year of victories in 1916 and had every reason to expect even better results in 1917.
What swept away the Tsar in February 1917 was a desire to see the war fought more effectively by a more efficient government and military command. Liberal politicians who had sought greater power for the elected Duma first took over from the Tsar, but were then themselves replaced by tougher, more ruthless leadership. Waiting in the wings were Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks, transported to Russia and heavily financed by Germany, using German funds to print propaganda and agitate, and reliant on German support to keep their vision of a Marxist revolt alive. McMeekin's revelations of German influence on Lenin (even as he points out that much more evidence of that influence had been destroyed by the Soviets before 1991) are much more detailed than anything I've read before on that subject.
Then came the fabled October Revolution. A coup d'etat rather than the popular revolt of Soviet myth, led by iron-willed men determined to achieve their vision, even if that meant some temporary compromises and steps backward. The Bolsheviks withdrew Russia from World War I, fought a ruthless Civil War against their opponents (both real and perceived) and succeeded in forcing their vision onto the Soviet peoples at the cost of millions of lives and the devastation of the Russian economy.
McMeekin ends his history in 1922 with the acceptance by Germany and much of the rest of Europe of the reality of Soviet control through trade agreements and diplomatic recognition. There is some especially interesting discussion of the war fought by the Bolsheviks against the Orthodox Church. He leaves us with Lenin still in power, though in decline, with hints of what was to come after his death. His Epilogue points out that for most Russians little had changed by 1922: a despotic government controlled by a small minority held all power. and most Russians led lives constrained by shortages and fear.
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Top reviews from other countries
Lutatius
Unmasks the true face of Communism, especially Lenin
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2022gabriel tortella
Excelente exposición del siempre candente tema de la Revolución rusa,
Reviewed in Spain on February 19, 2018