We still have a lot to learn from the Russian revolution. This book provides a great introduction by an author who is supportive, but critical of what happened in Russia. He covers in detail the early years of socialism from 1917, the civil war and the New Economic Policy (NEP) before socialism was over turned with the rise of Stalin.

Before Stalinism is a historical study of democratic life and institutions and their decline in the early years of the Russian Revolution. The author assesses the extent to which the disappearance of Soviet democracy was due to objective circumstances , for example the impact of the Civil War, and the extent to which it was the result of Bolshevik politics and ideology.

The author shows how there were , contrary to later Stalinist and Cold War mythologies, significant disputes within the pre-Stalinist Bolshevik camp about the preservation of the substantial democratic elements of the October upheaval. This included the relative roles and powers of the soviets (workers councils), the trade unions and the Communist Party.

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