This history, originally published in 1962, by the then lone remaining figure in the leadership of the Russian Social Democratic Party, is an important contribution to the understanding of the Soviet October Revolution of 1917. It covers in detail the period from the February revolution of 1917 until the outbreak of the Second World War, passing through the phases of the October Revolution, the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, the Civil War, the struggle for the leadership of the party and the triumph of Stalin.
1. The War and the February Revolution 2. The Debate Over Peace Aims, March-April 1917 3. The Disintegration of the February Revolution 4. The October Revolution 5. Point of No Return 6. From Brest-Litovsk to Civil War 7. The Civil War 8. The Revolt Against War Communism 9. Lenin and Marxism 10. Lenin and the Weimar Republic 11. The Comintern 12. Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin 13. Soviet ‘Normalcy’: Russia in the Mid-Twenties 14. The Birth of the General Line 15. The Great Leap 16. The Changing International Situation 17. The Totalitarian Spiral 18. The Road to the Second World War
Biography
Raphael R. Abramovitch
‘There are very few people who have anything like the combination of Abramovitch’s memories and authority with relation to the Russian Revolution and his competence as a writer and observer of the Russian scene. ‘ George Kennan
‘For the general reader, The Soviet Revolution serves as an admirable introduction to the understanding of the Communist movement. It is no less valuable to the specially interested student, in its exposition of the often neglected Social Democratic view of Soviet history, and its presentation of sidelights of important detail hitherto unknown or unavailable in English—details on the Soviet censorship of libraries, for instance, or the Menshevik Trial of 1931. The Soviet Revolution is a profound and exciting analysis of the Soviet phenomenon, illuminated by a point of view which serves better than most to lay bare the true nature of the Soviet system and its claims.’ Robert V. Daniels, Commentary Magazine
