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A review by huerca_armada
The History of the Civil War in the USSR: The Prelude of the Great Proletarian Revolution by Maxim Gorky
3.0
Written by Gorky years after the end of the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, this text is nothing if not an exhaustive portraiture of Russia in 1917. Covering the brief history that led up to the February Revolution, great care is given to make sure that every political stone is overturned and examined carefully. First time readers of any accounts of the Russian Revolution may find their head spinning from the avalanche of names, dates, figures, and concurrent threads that run throughout the account -- but for such a tumultuous year, anything less would be intellectual thievery.
Given that this text was written in the 1930s within the Soviet Union, it should come as no surprise that great focus is given to the Bolshevik Party and its efforts at consolidating power. Gorky's efforts to compare both the Bolshevik successes against the failures of the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries is precise, if colored a bit by the thick brush of a political programme involved in the writing. If that's not your thing, this may be a hard read for you as it never really lets up, though it is successful in stoking animosity towards Kerensky and all of his political allies. Still, I would consider this a valuable read for anyone interested in the perspective of the revolutionaries who lived through the radical events as they unfolded. I can confidently say that I am eager to start the second volume of the history, covering the span of the Russian Civil War and its aftermath.
Given that this text was written in the 1930s within the Soviet Union, it should come as no surprise that great focus is given to the Bolshevik Party and its efforts at consolidating power. Gorky's efforts to compare both the Bolshevik successes against the failures of the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries is precise, if colored a bit by the thick brush of a political programme involved in the writing. If that's not your thing, this may be a hard read for you as it never really lets up, though it is successful in stoking animosity towards Kerensky and all of his political allies. Still, I would consider this a valuable read for anyone interested in the perspective of the revolutionaries who lived through the radical events as they unfolded. I can confidently say that I am eager to start the second volume of the history, covering the span of the Russian Civil War and its aftermath.