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The Russian Revolution : a very short introduction / S.A. Smith.

By: Smith, S. A. (Stephen Anthony), 1952-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: Very short introductions ; 63.Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2002Description: 180 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 18 cm.ISBN: 0192853953; 9780192853950.Subject(s): History | European history | History | Politics & government | Russia | Inter-war period c 1919 to c 1939 | Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921 | Soviet Union -- History -- 1917-1936DDC classification: 947.084 SMI Summary: This introduction to the Russian Revolution provides a narrative of the main developments between 1917 and 1936. It sees the process as the result of a backward society which sought modernisation and ended in political tyranny.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
General lending MTU Kerry North Campus Library First Floor Main 947.084 SMI (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Checked out 05/11/2026 38888000410906
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This Very Short Introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events and developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole--on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men and women, youth. Its central concern is to understand how one structure of domination was replaced by another. The book registers the primacy of politics, but situates political developments firmly in the context of massive economic, social, and cultural change. Since the fall of Communism there has been much reflection on the significance of the Russian Revolution. The book rejects the currently influential, liberal interpretation of the revolution in favour of one that sees it as rooted in the contradictions of a backward society which sought modernization and enlightenment and ended in political tyranny.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This introduction to the Russian Revolution provides a narrative of the main developments between 1917 and 1936. It sees the process as the result of a backward society which sought modernisation and ended in political tyranny.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • List of illustrations (p. viii)
  • List of maps (p. x)
  • Introduction (p. 1)
  • 1 From February to October (p. 5)
  • 2 Civil war and the foundation of the Bolshevik regime (p. 40)
  • 3 War Communism (p. 72)
  • 4 NEP: politics and the economy (p. 100)
  • 5 NEP: society and culture (p. 129)
  • Conclusion (p. 157)
  • Further reading (p. 169)
  • Index (p. 173)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Stephen Smith is Professor of History at the University of Essex. He works on the social history of the Russian and Chinese revoltuions and is author of Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 1983), and A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-27 (Curzon Press, 2000).