Reddit reviews October: The Story of the Russian Revolution

> if we'd meddled, why would we have left an asshead like Putin in charge?

Ironically, because of US meddling, Putin IS in charge.

1996 elections, huge amounts of meddling by the United States and Russian Oligarchs on the side of United Russia to keep Yeltsin in charge. It's pretty much an open secret that the KPRF and Zyuganov won, but it was rigged and forwhatever reason Zyuganov didn't dispute and ran from a position of power. (though other opposition figures did in fact call out the results, there was also pretty much blatant rigging seen live on TV). (also off topic but releated, very much like the Communist party before Lenin, despite everyone trying to give them power, just constantly refused for whatever reason to step up, a book just got released on the topic called October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Mieville)

The Oligarchs and the US kept a braindead husk of a man in power and when he stepped down (god look at the state he was in), Putin rose to power.

If the US and the Oligarchs had not rigged that election, 100% Putin would not be in power today.

these are the only 2 books i've read


these fit the bill i think

https://www.amazon.com/October-Russian-Revolution-China-Mi%C3%A9ville/dp/1784782777

https://www.amazon.com/China-Shakes-World-Jack-Belden/dp/0853451591

Bullshit. The USSR was not expansionist, whatever you want to say about it. The countries which became communist after WWII did so because of it. They would not have fallen under Soviet influence without the war. Furthermore, if you read narratives of the diplomatic engagements, Roosevelt, himself, was willing to give Stalin even more, while Churchill was reticent but ultimately willing.

The USSR had more than ten national languages. Stalin was Georgian. Kruschev was Ukranian. Many of the early leaders were Yiddish speaking Jews, Muslim Central Asians & so on. So the idea that they were Russophilic imperialists is also just plainly false.

The USSR was invaded as soon as it was founded by Germany who barreled on to within miles of its capital despite repeated attempts to sue for peace. In addition, the US invaded the USSR on its founding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Force_Siberia) as did Greece, France, England & Japan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War). That is an all out assault, before it was ever even a unified state, before one could level any critique of it, before any policy. It was never given a chance. Had it been, they would have been less paranoid & militaristic. Many accounts of it describe this (https://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Paradoxes-1878-1928-Stephen-Kotkin/dp/0143127861

https://www.amazon.com/Ruling-Russia-Authoritarianism-Revolution-Putin/dp/0691169322

https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Fates-Lost-Alternatives-Stalinism/dp/0231148976

https://www.amazon.com/October-Russian-Revolution-China-Mi%C3%A9ville/dp/1784782777/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1502913444&sr=8-5&keywords=russian+revolution)

The USSR repeatedly called on Western powers to ally to defeat the Nazis as well as support the Spanish Republic. The Nazis wanted to rule the world & eliminate the entire Russian subcontinent.

The obvious choices would be Rosa Luxemburg's The Russian Revolution or Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution. Victor Serge's Year One of the Russian Revolution is also a classic.


Some other good, and more contemporary, suggestions are China Mieville's October: The Story of the Russian Revolution. Mieville is a member of the e International Socialist Organization and is an active participant in many leftist political political movements. Whether or not he is a Leninist, I am not sure. Neil Faulkner wrote a book called A People's History of the Russian Revolution. Neil Faulkner is a Marxist historian, and as the title indicates, it is presented from a leftist perspective. A bit off topic, but Faulkner has also written the great A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals — which covers not only the Bolsheviks, but human history in its entirety. Once again, from a Marxist point-of-view.

To conclude — and since you mentioned "relatively light" — I'll also recommend The Russian Revolution, published in Sutton's "Pocket History" series. The author — Harold Shuckman — has written much about the history of 20th century communism, however, I am not aware if he does or does not,himself, support any sort of socialist ideas.

Out of all these, Rosa's work is probably the most difficult. So if you were looking for light material, Faulkner or Mieville would be, in my view, your 'go-to's'.

China Miéville, one of my favorite authors, is writing a book on the Russian Revolution. :-)

October: The Story of the Russian Revolution https://www.amazon.com/dp/1784782777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ml1JybFB7DP8D