Lenin's Last Struggle (Ann Arbor Paperbacks For The Study Of Russian And Soviet History And Politics)

One of the great political strategists of his era, V. I. Lenin continues to attract historical interest, yet his complex personality eludes full understanding. This new edition of Moshe Lewin's classic political biography, including an afterword by the author, suggests new approaches for studying the Marxist visionary and founder of the Soviet state. Lenin's Last Struggle offers invaluable insights into the rise of the Bolshevik party and the Soviet Union, a saga complicated by complex strategic battles among the leaders of Lenin's generation: leaders whose names are universally known, but whose personalities and motivations are even now not sufficiently understood. Moshe Lewin was a collective farm worker in the USSR and a soldier in the Soviet army. He later became director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, a fellow of the Kennan Institute, a senior fellow of Columbia University's Russian Institute, and is now emeritus professor of history at The University of Pennsylvania. Contents 8 Preface 10 Glossary of Russian Terms 18 Chronology of Events 20 The Lenin-Stalin Imbroglio: Introduction to the New Edition 26 1. A Dictatorship in the Void 34 2. The NEP: An Enigma 52 3. The Eclipse of Lenin 62 4. Stalin, Trotsky and the Georgians 74 5. The Sick Man and the Watcher 96 6. Lenin's "Testament" 108 7. "The Clandestine Affair" 122 8. Russia Between West and East 136 9. The Reform of the Governmental Structures 148 10. If Lenin Had Lived... 160 Appendixes 174 Biographical Notes 208 Index 212 0472030523,9780472030521 University of Michigan Press