The Soviet tragedy : a history of socialism in Russia, 1917-1991

__The Soviet Tragedy__ is an essential coda to the literature of Soviet studies...Insofar as [he] returns the power of ideology to its central place in Soviet history, Malia has made an enormous contribution. He has written the history of a utopian illusion and the tragic consequences it had for the people of the Soviet Union and the world. -- David Remnick, __The New York Review of Books__ "In Martin Malia, the Soviet Union had one of its most acute observers. With this book, it may well have found the cornerstone of its history." -- Francois Furet, author of __Interpreting the French Revolution__ "__The Soviet Tragedy__ offers the most thorough scholarly analysis of the Communist phenomenon that we are likely to get for a long while to come...Malia states that his narrative is intended 'to substantiate the basic argument,' and this is certainly an argumentative book, which drives its thesis home with hammer blows. On this breathtaking journey, Malia is a witty and often brilliantly penetrating guide. He has much wisdom to impart." -- __The Times Literary Supplement__ "This is history at the high level, well deployed factually, but particularly worthwhile in the philosophical and political context -- at once a view and an overview." -- __The Washington Post__ "The Soviet Tragedy is an essential coda to the literature of Soviet studies...Insofar as [he] returns the power of ideology to its central place in Soviet history, Malia has made an enormous contribution. He has written the history of a utopian illusion and the tragic consequences it had for the people of the Soviet Union and the world."
-- David Remnick, The New York Review of Books

"In Martin Malia, the Soviet Union had one of its most acute observers. With this book, it may well have found the cornerstone of its history."
-- Francois Furet, author of Interpreting the French Revolution

"The Soviet Tragedy offers the most thorough scholarly analysis of the Communist phenomenon that we are likely to get for a long while to come...Malia states that his narrative is intended 'to substantiate the basic argument,' and this is certainly an argumentative book, which drives its thesis home with hammer blows. On this breathtaking journey, Malia is a witty and often brilliantly penetrating guide. He has much wisdom to impart."
-- The Times Literary Supplement

"This is history at the high level, well deployed factually, but particularly worthwhile in the philosophical and political context -- at once a view and an overview."
-- The Washington Post

" The Soviet Tragedy is an essential coda to the literature of Soviet studies...Insofar as [he] returns the power of ideology to its central place in Soviet history, Malia has made an enormous contribution. He has written the history of a utopian illusion and the tragic consequences it had for the people of the Soviet Union and the world." — David Remnick, The New York Review of Books "In Martin Malia, the Soviet Union had one of its most acute observers. With this book, it may well have found the cornerstone of its history." — Francois Furet, author of Interpreting the French Revolution " The Soviet Tragedy offers the most thorough scholarly analysis of the Communist phenomenon that we are likely to get for a long while to come...Malia states that his narrative is intended 'to substantiate the basic argument,' and this is certainly an argumentative book, which drives its thesis home with hammer blows. On this breathtaking journey, Malia is a witty and often brilliantly penetrating guide. He has much wisdom to impart." — The Times Literary Supplement "This is history at the high level, well deployed factually, but particularly worthwhile in the philosophical and political context — at once a view and an overview." — The Washington Post "The Soviet Tragedy is an essential coda to the literature of Soviet studies ... Insofar as [he] returns the power of ideology to its central place in Soviet history, Malia has made an enormous contribution. He has written the history of a utopian illusion and the tragic consequences it had for the people of the Soviet Union and the world."--David Remnick, The New York Review of Books "In Martin Malia, the Soviet Union had one of its most acute observers. With this book, it may well have found the cornerstone of its history."--Francois Furet, author of Interpreting the French Revolution "The Soviet Tragedy offers the most thorough scholarly analysis of the Communist phenomenon that we are likely to get for a long while to come ... Malia states that his narrative is intended 'to substantiate the basic argument, ' and this is certainly an argumentative book, which drives its thesis home with hammer blows. On this breathtaking journey, Malia is a witty and often brilliantly penetrating guide. He has much wisdom to impart."--The Times Literary Supplement "This is history at the high level, well deployed factually, but particularly worthwhile in the philosophical and political context -- at once a view and an overview."--The Washington Post A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991 Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Dedication 5 Contents 6 Preface 9 Introduction. The Historical Issues: A Time for Judgment 10 Part I. The Origins 22 Chapter 1. Why Socialism? 23 Chapter 2. And Why in Russia First? 44 Part II. The Experiment 64 Chapter 3. The Road to October: 1917 65 Chapter 4. A Regime Is Born: War Communism, 1918-1921 85 Chapter 5. The Road Not Taken: NEP, 1921-1928 106 Chapter 6. And They Built Socialism: 1929-1935 131 Chapter 7. Purge and Consolidation: 1935-1939 166 Part III. The Empire 196 Chapter 8. The Fortunes of War: 1939-1953 197 Chapter 9. Reform Communism I: Khrushchev’s Moscow Spring, 1953-1964 226 Chapter 10. And the Bill Came Due: Brezhnev and Nomenklatura Communism, 1964-1982 251 Part IV. The End 287 Chapter 11. Reform Communism II: Gorbachev and Perestroika, 1982-1988 288 Chapter 12. From Perestroika to Collapse: 1989-1991 315 Chapter 13. The Perverse Logic of Utopia 346 Epilogue. The Legacy 356 Russia after Socialism 356 Socialism after Sovietism 362 Notes and Sources 368 Acknowledgments 399 Index 400 The Russian Revolution is noteworthy not so much because it was Russian-though an ordinary "bourgeois" revolution in Russia would have been quite an event-but because it brought the world's first socialist government to power. Details the evolution of Sovietism over seventy-four years from its origins to its end in 1991