This hopefully is the first of many bibliographies forthcoming from RevLeft users on revolutionary events in history. Future bibliographies will include the Kronstadt Rebellion, the Spanish Revolution and Civil War, and the Chinese Revolution/Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Thanks to ComradeOm for kickstarting this moribund project. - Random Precision

The Russian Revolution Bibliography

The Russian Revolution is undeniably one of the most significant world events of the past century and some of the most common questions I see on RevLeft are requests for reading lists on this hugely important topic. Like all major events, the Russian Revolution tends to be fairly divisive with some major faultline running though the historiography of the Revolution. So below are some of the works (currently only secondary sources) that I would recommend to those new to the subject or looking to increase their understanding of a certain aspect. All these should be available for amazon.co.uk at a last resort and may be available cheaper from other sources

I had originally intended to put this together for RP months ago (apologies!) but I suppose its better late than never. I've posted it as an independent thread largely because I intend to update it over time but I'll leave it to RP to link/merge/sticky it as he feels fit

If you do have any recommendation yourself (and this list is certainly not intended to be exhaustive) then it'd be great if you could send me on a quick review and I'll update the first post

Last updated: 22 Oct 2009
To do: Primary sources
Rise of Stalinism
WWII?
Late Imperial history
Works to avoid
Overview of historiography/disputes
Reading list for beginners


The Russian Anarchists
Avrich, Paul

First of all a disclaimer: Avrich may not himself be an anarchist but he writes very much from the anarchist perspective and it is clear where his sympathies lie in this account of the history of Russian anarchism. Yet this is by no means an overly biased work – Avrich is certainly not blind to the failings of Russian anarchism (even if he over-stresses their influence and does not advertise their relatively miniscule numbers) and those lapses (for example, claiming that Lenin had effectively renounced Marxism in 1917) can be excused by noting that this was the opinion of many Russian anarchists themselves at the time

With that said and done, what this book contains is an in-depth history of Russian anarchism from the late 19th C to the Civil War. Given the lack of attention typically received by anarchism in mainstream histories, this a very welcome work which, despite any flaws, is to be commended for presenting a thorough and relatively even-handed picture of the origins of role of Russian anarchism. If you are interested in this topic then this work is highly recommended. Like most works however it should be read as part of a balanced diet

Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev
Davies, RW

Soviet economic history is not the easiest of fields to enter but with this work RW Davies presents a very concise (a mere 82 pages of content) introduction for those unfamiliar with the subject. Essentially it comprises a series of brief overviews of the major structural shifts that took place in the Russian/Soviet economy – Tsarism, War Communism, NEP, and the administrative economy. Too often these profound and far-reaching changes are overlooked in favour of the more obvious political and social shifts. Davies is probably the foremost expert in this field and his treatment is both very readable and even-handed; in cases of controversy he will typically present a range of opinions from the literature before casting his own judgement. A good introduction to a complex and often overlooked facet of the Revolution

Those looking for a more in-depth account of early Soviet economics (particularly the post-Revolution period) are advised to try The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union 1913-1945 by Davies et al

A People’s Tragedy
Figes, Orlando

Rarely is a history book such a mixture of good and bad but this is a very difficult book to review so briefly. Figes is, to put it mildly, a very anti-communist writer and his book is extremely poor when it comes to analysing the Bolsheviks. Frankly he strips the latter to nothing but "leather jack-wearing proto-Nazis", to quote David Renton, with no motivations beyond seizing power for the sake of power. Figes is not quite as bad as the Americans (epitomised by Richard Pipes) in that he at least acknowledges the Revolution as a mass affair but his sympathies with the moderate intellectuals (the book could easily be renamed Gorky's Tragedy) are very obvious and very detrimental to the book. While not entirely worthless, this makes the final half or third of this book extremely suspect

Conversely, there is much to admire about Figes' work. Its a well written and fairly detailed overview of the period. His liberal viewpoint is not so grating when applied to the Imperial years his analysis as to the fall of the Tsardom and the failures of the liberals post-1905 is sound. The Civil War period (and fall of Trotsky) is also covered well enough. So well worth reading but do so with caution

The Russian Revolution
Fitzpatrick, Shelia

Sheila Fitzpatrick is one of the foremost 'revisionist' scholars of the Russian Revolution and here she provides a concise (read: short) but informative introduction to the revolutionary period. This is not a particularly detailed work but rather an overview of the broad trends and issues. In this Fitzpatrick excels with her history covering the immense social upheaval from 1917 to the 1930s. Those already familiar with the period are unlikely to learn anything new (although it remains a good read) but it is highly recommended introductory text for those new to the subject

Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
Lincoln, Bruce

Of all the books listed here, this is probably the most "traditional" history in that its focus lies unabashedly on the military and political, as opposed to social and economic, aspects of the revolutionary years. This approach has its undoubted disadvantages (while it begins in 1917 I would not recommend this as a history of that year or the Revolution) but, perhaps perversely, it proves a good framework for studying the Civil War. Lincoln is at his best in detailing the movements of armies and the fall of governments and he proves adapt at leading the reader through what was undeniably an extremely complex conflict

Each theatre is dealt with in a single chapter, as opposed to chronologically, which may not be ideal for some readers. In addition both the author's florid style (the book would be a lot shorter if his prose was simpler) and the clumsiness with regards social factors does grate after a while. On the whole though it is a worthwhile read

Prelude to Revolution
Rabinowitch, Alexander

The first of Rabinowitch's three works on the Russian Revolution (one of the earliest historical studies of the period to be published in English) focuses on the structure of and divisions within the Bolshevik party during the first half of 1917 – from the February Revolution and its aftermath to the July Days. This entails a largely chronological examination of the Petrograd Bolshevik party organisations, their policies and membership, and the reactions to the challenges they faced. The author's analysis of the Bolsheviks is not as mature as in later works (freely admitted in the foreword) but the basic conclusions remain sound and have been largely confirmed by later research

The Bolsheviks Come to Power
Rabinowitch, Alexander

Building on his previous work (Prelude to Revolution) Rabinowitch's second major work covers the crucial period of 1917 from the July Days to the October Revolution. Once again focusing on the Bolshevik party, he confronts and systematically demolishes many of the myths erected in the decades following the Revolution. In doing so the movement that emerges is a much more nuanced, conflicted, and (yes) democratic than that of the popular imagination. Given the continuing popularity of debate/arguments/infighting regarding the "vanguard party", this is one of the most relevant works of history for the leftist movement today. Cannot be recommended highly enough

The Bolsheviks in Power
Rabinowitch, Alexander

After laying out the structures and nature of the pre-Revolution Bolshevik party in his previous works, Rabinowitch asks the question of how such a vibrantly democratic party/movement ultimately degenerated into a one-party dictatorial state. Ultimately his canvas (Petrograd from the October Revolution to its anniversary in 1918) proves too narrow for this question – and the author can only hint at possible root causes – but in the process a stunningly researched picture emerges of the post-revolution city. Major topics touched upon include aftermath of the October Revolution, composition of the new Soviet government, emergence of the district soviets and decline of the Bolshevik party. Even the movement of the capital to Moscow, while robbing Rabinowitch of some star characters, provides an illuminating insight into the relationship between the central and provincial governments. A fascinating study of a society in flux

Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories 1917-1918
Smith, SA

Despite beginning life as a dissertation, and it is still unmistakably academic in tone, this is a very readable work that tackles an important but often overlooked topic. The author's subject matter is nothing short of the Petrograd working class during this most turbulent of periods. Subjects that are covered include, but are not limited to, the composition of the proletariat, pre-Revolution labour relations, the state of Russian industry, the emergence and evolution of the factory committees and industrial unions, and the interaction of the latter with political parties. It is a broad canvas but one that Smith succeeds in covering in admirable data and in the process dispels a few myths commonly held on the left

This is not the cheapest of works (amazon.com has it at $50) but is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this aspect of the Revolution, particularly the factory committees

Russia's Civil War
Swain, Geoffrey

In many ways this is an odd and conflicted work. In the first place it is a concise work that requires a prior knowledge of the subject. While avoiding the pitfalls of being a simple military history (such as Lincoln's Red Victory) Swain's work is too brief and too focused on the peasantry for its own good. In the final analysis the Civil War was indeed a civil war yet the author pays little attention to this aspect of the conflict. Instead he deals primarily with the various 'Green' (read: miscellaneous) governments/movements that were active during these years. So, despite the title, this is not a general history

A more problematic concern is that that Swain's central thesis simply does not convince. In attempting to move away from the binary Red/White framework of the Civil War he has produced an equally simplistic Red/White/Green analysis. Drawing attention to the peasant conflict is very worthy but attempting to cast it as an overall 'Green movement' is clumsy as best. It stretches credibility to the limit to cast the wave of peasant jacquries of 1920-'21 (in which he incidentally includes Kronstadt) as a single "Green rebellion"

The book is not helped by a constant stream of fleeting references (characters, towns, fronts) that would probably bewilder the newcomer. Nonetheless, the emphasis on the peasantry, while overworked, is interesting and this is worth reading as a companion to other works. Just do not expect an introductory or general history

The Russian Revolution 1917-1921: A Short History
White, James D

White is a good historian (see his article on the February Revolution here) and here he produces a solid overview of the revolutionary years in Russia. The emphasis is squarely on the social changes that led to and followed the Revolution, including a particularly welcome analysis of the peasantry. As a good and accessible work, with less detail than Figes but more so than Fitzpatrick, this serves as a good solid introduction to the topic

For now I'm just going to list a set of works and articles that approach the Chinese Revolution in the tradition of social history (or are interesting for some other reason) and over time I'll add descriptions like the OP. I've ordered the texts so that at the top of the list are books that cover a significant period of time, such as the whole of the PRC's history, or both the PRC's history and the Republican period, and after that the books/articles are chronologically arranged, so beginning with the civil war, going up to the GPCR.

Mitter, R., A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World (OUP, 2004)

This is a study that focuses primarily on the May 4th Movement and the impact that the cultural and political discourses of the 1920s and 30s have had on the history of China during the 20th century, including the student demonstrations of 1989. It has a lot of interesting material on how different writers and groups engaged with Confucianism as part of their attempts to develop a new way of looking at politics and morality, ranging from those who rejected traditional modes of thought in their entirety, to those who sought to reformulate traditional notions so that they would be applicable in the modern world, and Mitter also draws our attention to the ways in which gender roles and concepts of sexuality were shaped during this period, as well as the pivotal role of mass publications like New Youth, which, because they were written in a vernacular style, succeeded in bringing new ideas to large numbers of students. Mitter does identify that the anxieties and hopes of this period had a specific social base, namely the lower sections of the middle class in urban areas, and that May 4th, both as a specific event and a broader context, was located primarily in the universities, whilst also impacting the whole of Chinese society. Good reading for fans of cultural and intellectual history - although personally I think he goes too far with the culturally-based explanations in some places.

The relevant sections of The Cambidge History of China - eds. Fairbank, Feuerwerker, The Cambridge History of China, Vol. XIII, Republican China (1986), eds. MacFarquhar and Fairbank, The Cambridge History of China, Vol. XIV, The People's Republic, Part One (1987), eds. MacFarquhar and Fairbank, The Cambridge History of China, Vol. XV, The People's Republic, Part Two (1992)

Mobo, G., The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (Pluto Press, 2008)

This is a highly polemical account written by an author whose sympathies for Mao and the Cultural Revolution are not hidden. He presents a good account of how the government's narrative of the Cultural Revolution has shifted since the end of the event, including the sponsored publication of "scar literature", which has heavily the influenced the way that people understand and think about the period outside of China, despite being written mainly by individuals who are drawn from a narrow social stratum - namely, the political elite - and who were therefore liable to experience the Cultural Revolution in a negative way.

Harris, N., The Mandate of Heaven: Marx and Mao in Modern China (Quartet Books, 1978)

Howard, J., Workers at War: Labor in China’s Arsenals (SUP, 2004)

Hinton, W., Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village (MR, 2008)

Written by an agricultural expert who spent some time in a Chinese village immediately after WW2, this is a classic study on the history of land reform, which, despite being limited in its geographical scope, draws attention to the role of family links and religion in shaping village politics, and also conveys the complex relationship between the CPC and peasants, as well as the party centre and its local cadres.

Perry, E., Shanghai’s Strike Wave of 1957, The China Quarterly, 137 (1994)

Perry, E., Rural Violence in Socialist China, The China Quarterly, 103 (1985)

MacFarquhar, R., Schoenhals, M., Mao's Last Revolution (HUP, 2006)

Clark, P., The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History (CUP, 2008)

Perry, E., Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution (Westview Press, 1997)

I think people are misunderstanding this project. Historical bibliographies such as these are meant to be academic in nature, that is to say they approach their topic with a critical eye. Therefore the key here is secondary sources. Primary sources are good to read, but as students of history if we want to learn we need to take a critical approach to those sources and stretch ourselves beyond whatever ideological baggage we bring to the study of history.

With that in mind I've closed this thread and removed everything that wasn't strictly contributing as a bibliography. Anyone wanting to submit something to this project can PM me with what you have and we'll talk about it.