Year 7 & 8 Teacher CD s1

Chapter 19 Historical interpretations

Reading more deeply

Essential reading

Acton, E 1990, Rethinking the Russian Revolution, Edward Arnold.

Acton provides perhaps the best discussion available on the concepts of representing the past. Chapter 2 focuses on the three major interpretations of the revolution and the impact of revisionism. The strength of the book is that Acton then applies these perspectives to different debates about the revolution. For example, Chapter 8 (14 pages) provides perspectives on the controversy of whether the Bolsheviks or the masses were responsible for the October 1917 Revolution.

Soviet interpretations

Trotsky, L 1945, The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? Pioneer (written in 1936). Chapter III, ‘Socialism and the state’, pp. 45–56.

In this reflection on the achievements of the Soviet regime, Trotsky explores the key question as to whether true socialism had been achieved in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1936. His answer includes a valuable discussion on the fundamental contradiction between Bolshevik theory and Soviet reality. In order for a proletarian dictatorship to be truly achieved, the state and bureaucracy must ‘die away’. Instead of this, Trotsky criticises Stalin’s regime as ‘turning into an uncontrolled force dominating the masses’ and ‘strangling the workers’ movement’. A familiarity with Marxist theory and terminology is an important basis for gaining the most from this chapter.

Western liberal interpretations

Pipes, R 1994, Russia under the Bolshevik Regime 1919–1924, Harvill. ‘Reflections on the Russian Revolution’, pp. 490–512.

This final chapter provides an analysis of the entire revolution from its causes, through the two 1917 revolutions, to discussing why communism failed. Pipes denounces Lenin’s revolution, and Lenin’s and Stalin’s communist regime. He argues that neither European nor Russian socialism worked and that the failure of communism as an ideology was inevitable.

Revisionist interpretations

Fitzpatrick, S 1994 revised edition, The Russian Revolution. Chapter 6, ‘Ending the revolution’, pp. 148–72.

Fitzpatrick was a ‘pioneering revisionist’ who argued that the Russian Revolution was a process that did not end with Lenin, but continued into the 1930s under Stalin. This is a very logical text that is organised exceptionally well into clear subheadings and has a good discussion of historical interpretations.