The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd

by Alexander Rabinowitch

Overview

A classic work depicting the early months of the Russian Revolution, featuring a new introduction for the revolution’s centenary. During the months following the collapse of the tsarist regime in war-torn Russia, the Bolshevik Party emerged from obscurity to overthrow the Provisional Government and establish the world’s first communist government. In this absorbing narrative, Alexander Rabinowitch refutes the Soviet myth that the party’s triumph in the October Revolution was inevitable. Exploring the changing situation and aspirations of workers, soldiers, and Baltic fleet sailors in Petrograd, Rabinowitch’s classic account reveals the critical link between the party’s revolutionary tactics and the Petrograd masses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608467938
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	07/18/2017
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	456
Sales rank:	819,475
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Alexander Rabinowitch is is an affiliated research scholar at St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences, and professor of history at Indiana University. He is the author of Prelude to Revolution and The Bolsheviks in Power.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration, Dates, and Terminology
Introduction
1. The July Uprising
2. The Bolsheviks Under Fire
3. Petrograd During the Reaction
4. The Ineffectiveness of Repression
5. The Bolshevik Resurgence
6. The Rise of Kornilov
7. Kornilov Versus Kerensky
8. The Bolsheviks and Kornilov's Defeat
9. The Question of a New Government
10. "All Power to the Soviets"
11. Lenin's Campaign For an Insurrection
12. Obstacles to an Uprising
13. The Garrison Crisis and the Military Revolutionary Committee
14. On the Eve
15. The Bolsheviks Come to Power
16. Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

"Superb, meticulous, detailed, exciting, indispensable.”
—China Miéville, October

“Five crucial months in the history of the Russian Revolution are portrayed here with a wealth of new data. The Bolsheviks, lifting themselves up from a seemingly fatal slump in their fortunes in July 1917, moved to their successful bid for power in October.... Quite a number of preconceptions are dispelled in this work by Rabinowitch…. We see the Bolsheviks in action-debating, hesitating, deeply disagreeing on policies, fiercely contesting Lenin's ideas—a far cry from the monolithic avant-garde some writers still believe the Party to have been.”
—Moshé Lewin

"Notable... for its soundness of judgment, clarity of expression, and wealth of illuminating detail. Our understanding of what happened in 1917 has been significantly enhanced by Rabinowitch's careful research. The Bolsheviks Come to Power should be read by every person interested in the Russian Revolution.”
—Paul Avrich, author The Russian Anarchists

“Rabinowitch comes to several conclusions: First, the Bolshevik program of land, peace, and bread had widespread support among the masses; he states that 'as a result, in October the goals of the Bolsheviks, as the masses understood them, had strong popular support’.... Second, the Bolshevik program achieved this popularity precisely because of the inability-or lack of desire-of other political parties to respond to these demands. Third, moderate socialist parties' continued support of Kerensky and the Provisional Government undermined their credibility in the eyes of the masses. And fourth, 'In Petrograd in 1917 the Bolshevik Party bore little resemblance to the by-and-large united, authoritarian, conspiratorial organization effectively controlled by Lenin depicted in most existing accounts’...; rather, the party was successful precisely because it was flexible and responsive to the moods of the populace, and Rabinowitch 'would emphasize the party's internally relatively democratic, tolerant, and decentralized structure and method of operation, as well as its essentially open and mass character.’”
—Slavic Review

From the Publisher