The Russian Revolution of 1917 - Memory and Legacy

Carol S. Leonard, Daniel Orlovsky, Jurej Petrov, Carol S. Leonard, Daniel Orlovsky, Jurej Petrov

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9780367146917
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429626791
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The way in which the Russian Revolution of October 1917 is regarded and commemorated has changed considerably over time, and is a contentious subject, well demonstrated by the absence of any official commemoration in Russia in 2017, a huge contrast to the very large celebrations which took place in Soviet times. This book, which brings together a range of leading historians of the Russian Revolution—from both Russia and the West, and both younger and older historians—explores the changes in the way in which the October 1917 Revolution is commemorated, and also examines fundamental questions about what the Russian Revolution—indeed what any revolution—was anyway. Among the issues covered are how Soviet and Western historians diverged in their early assessments of what the Revolution achieved, how the period studied by historians has recently extended both much earlier before 1917 and much later afterwards, and how views of the Revolution within the Soviet Union changed over time from acceptance of the official Communist Party interpretation to more independent viewpoints. Overall, the book provides a major reassessment of one of the twentieth century's most important events.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• I Introduction: Interpreting the Russian Revolution of 1917
• II Selected Western Revisionist Interpretations and Their Critics
• III The Major Soviet-era and Post-Soviet Russian Perspectives
• IV New Approaches: “Leap Not the Landing”
• Strategic Space During the Revolution
• Continuum of Crisis
• Impact Assessment
• Conclusion
• Index