Before and after the Revolution

When the European University at St. Petersburg resumes its classes and I get a chance to teach my course, I will make all my graduate students read this book by Steve Smith, a professor at Oxford University. Every young scholar who wants to specialize in Russian history should study this book thoroughly: that would be the best way to learn about the events of the early 20th century, as well as the contributions of historians who have worked on this period.

The book was released on the eve of the centennial anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and revolution is the central theme of Smith’s research. However, the author goes beyond the history of this one year, and even the history of the Civil War: like other contemporary scholars, he expands the chronological framework of his description. Smith considers the period between 1898 and 1928, therefore making his book even more valuable for young scholars who want to learn about the reasons and the outcomes of the revolution, although such a periodization—like any periodization—can be questioned. Smith ends his story with the beginning of the so-called Great Turn, which has been previously called “the revolution from above.” He points out that if one considers the effect of collectivization and industrialization on the economy, social relations, and culture, the term “revolution” appears fully applicable to the period of the Great Turn: as the author suggests, this moment transformed Russia to a greater extent than the October Revolution itself. At the same, the Great Turn completed or/and interrupted many processes that had begun in 1917, therefore preserving the spirit of radicalism and utopianism inherent to the revolution (373). One may suggest that the choice of chronological framework reflects the influence of recent research: more historians have been interested in the 1920s while paying less attention to the events of 1917. This historiographical situation differs drastically from the situation of the second half of the 20th century.

Steve Smith is a well-known historian who has written several important books on the history of Russia (above all, the revolution), China, and the comparative history of Russia and China. This study is based on a wide array of published and archival sources; it offers a useful survey of the historiography, which is not limited to English-language and Russian books and includes European studies, such as Lutz Häfner’s work on the Left SRs and Marco Buttino’s discussion of Turkestan.¹ Smith uses many works that appeared at the time of the “archival revolution,” when historians obtained access to important sources that had not been available previously. At the same time, he pays credit to old and well-known books, including some by Soviet authors that are nowadays unjustly forgotten. His narrative spotlights the most interesting facts and reveals the most important observations, which makes the book interesting for readers who specialize in this area (for instance, I discovered a lot of new things myself).

At the same time, the book echoes recent literature on the revolution in another important respect: the choice of questions and subjects reflects historiographical trends of the last decades. For instance, it delves into such areas as the history of women, the political language of the revolutionary era, and the history of empires. At the same time, traditional themes get enough attention: Smith writes a lot and in the most interesting way about political organizations and state structures, economic development and international relations, social structures and popular movements. He uses sharp and colorful images to characterize complex social processes. This is how he describes, for instance, the situation after the Kornilov Affair: “Politics had become a theatre of shadows in which the real battles for power were going on in society” (147). Indeed, the debates among members of the political elite of that time rarely reflected the real struggle for power.

Given the complexity of problems raised in the book, it is almost certain that...