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scottjeffe 's review for:
Spies and Commissars: The Early Years of the Russian Revolution
by Robert Service
An interesting addition to my "course" to celebrate the centenary of the Russian Revolution. The book looks at the early years of the revolution (defining, as other authors have, the revolution as an ongoing process lasting the entirety of the Soviet period) through the eyes of the interplay between the "reds" and the "white" as well as the western diplomats and politicians thar they interacted (or attempted to) interact with.
The book puts another nail in the coffin of RR "gloriousness" or any other positive affirmation of the October Revolution. It paints a picture of men with little understanding of government or the public good rambling through the establishment of a government that was supposedly focused on "the proletariat" but in fact was very much about the new elite - the set of intellectuals who propagated the revolution in the "name" of the people, but with little understanding of them. (It gives a chill down the spine when you apply the same concept to the trump administration.)
All in all it also supports my own hypothesis that there is not a country in world history that has so consummately and thoroughly made the wrong decisions throughout their history (in terms of liberty, freedom, and human rights). The Russian people and the Russian culture has proven itself to NOT have the "Wuest" for truth and liberty and democracy time and time again. When confronted with the instability inherent in a free country or a police state with much more (supposed) stability, Russians invariably select the police state.
The book puts another nail in the coffin of RR "gloriousness" or any other positive affirmation of the October Revolution. It paints a picture of men with little understanding of government or the public good rambling through the establishment of a government that was supposedly focused on "the proletariat" but in fact was very much about the new elite - the set of intellectuals who propagated the revolution in the "name" of the people, but with little understanding of them. (It gives a chill down the spine when you apply the same concept to the trump administration.)
All in all it also supports my own hypothesis that there is not a country in world history that has so consummately and thoroughly made the wrong decisions throughout their history (in terms of liberty, freedom, and human rights). The Russian people and the Russian culture has proven itself to NOT have the "Wuest" for truth and liberty and democracy time and time again. When confronted with the instability inherent in a free country or a police state with much more (supposed) stability, Russians invariably select the police state.