The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States [Paperback]

Now thoroughly revised in its second edition,The Soviet Experimentexamines the complex themes of Soviet history, ranging from the last tsar of the Russian empire to the first president of the Russian republic. Author Ronald Grigor Suny, one of the most eminent Soviet historians of our time, examines the legacies left by former Soviet leaders and explores successor states and the challenges they now face. He captures familiar as well as little-known events--the crowds on the streets during the February Revolution, Stalin's collapse into a near-catatonic state after Hitler's invasion, and Yeltsin's political maneuvering and public grandstanding--combining gripping detail with insightful analysis.

Introduction: Utopia and its Discontents

Part I: Crisis and Revolution

1. The Imperial Legacy

Land and People
Autocracy, Nobility, and Bureaucracy
The Coming of Capitalism
The Russian Intelligentsia
Marx, Lenin, and the Case of Russia
Empire and Nation in Tsarist Russia
The Final Crisis of Tsarism
The Tsar's Last War
Suggestions for Further Reading

2. The Double Revolution

The February Revolution and the End of Romanov Rule
Overlapping Revolutions, Dual Power
The Revolution Deepens
On the Road to October
The October Insurrection
Suggestions for Further Reading

3. Socialism and Civil War

On the Road from Democracy to Dictatorship
After October
Socialism, What's in a Name?
Building State Capitalism
Building the State: War, Peace, and Terror
Intervention and the Civil War in the South
Civil War in Siberia and the Volga
Russia on its Own
Waiting for the International Revolution
Where Have All the Workers Gone?
The Peasant Revolution
Why the Bolsheviks Won the Civil War
Suggestions for Further Reading

4. Nationalism and Revolution

South Caucasia
Ukrainians and Belorussians
Poland and the Russo-Polish War
The Baltic Pels&