A History of the Soviet Union

Peter Kenez0521864372, 9780521864374

An examination of political, social and cultural developments in the Soviet Union. The book identifies the social tensions and political inconsistencies that spurred radical change in the government of Russia, from the turn of the century to the revolution of 1917. Kenez envisions that revolution as a crisis of authority that posed the question, ‘Who shall govern Russia?’ This question was resolved with the creation of the Soviet Union. Kenez traces the development of the Soviet Union from the Revolution, through the 1920s, the years of the New Economic Policies and into the Stalinist order. He shows how post-Stalin Soviet leaders struggled to find ways to rule the country without using Stalin’s methods but also without openly repudiating the past, and to negotiate a peaceful but antipathetic coexistence with the capitalist West. In this new edition, he also examines the post-Soviet period, tracing Russia’s development up to the present day.

---

Table of contents :
Cover Page……Page 1
About the book and the author……Page 2
Title Page……Page 4
ISBN 0521864372, 0521682967, 0511169302 (eBook)……Page 5
Contents……Page 8
Acknowledgments……Page 10
1 Introduction……Page 12
2 The revolution, 1917-1921……Page 25
The february revolution……Page 26
Dual power……Page 28
Problems facing the provisional government……Page 30
The bolsheviks and the workers……Page 35
The october revolution……Page 38
The course of the civil war……Page 44
The causes of bolshevik victory……Page 48
3 New Economic Policies, 1921–1929……Page 52
The consequences of the revolution……Page 53
The introduction of the new economic policies……Page 56
The political system……Page 59
The birth of the soviet union……Page 64
Economics and society……Page 69
Bolshevik cultural policies……Page 75
Social institutions: the family, the church, and the schools……Page 81
The struggle for power……Page 86
The disintegration of the nep system and the search for new solutions……Page 91
Collectivization……Page 95
Industrialization……Page 100
The creation of an urban labor force……Page 104
Collectivized agriculture……Page 107
“A cultural revolution”……Page 112
Terror……Page 114
Terror and progress……Page 122
Terror and society……Page 125
Terror and ideology……Page 130
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact……Page 137
1939–1941……Page 143
War……Page 148
The soviet people and the war……Page 155
Wartime diplomacy……Page 165
The origins of the cold war……Page 171
Devastation and reconstruction……Page 177
Political culture……Page 182
The politics of culture……Page 187
Khrushchev’s victory……Page 195
De-stalinization……Page 201
Agriculture……Page 205
Industry……Page 211
Foreign relations……Page 214
Khrushchev’s defeat……Page 221
Politics……Page 225
The economy……Page 229
Dissent……Page 234
Nationalities……Page 240
The soviet paradox……Page 244
Interregnum……Page 254
“Acceleration”……Page 257
The collapse of the outer defenses of the empire……Page 272
August 1991……Page 274
The last days of the union……Page 286
11 Leap into the unknown……Page 289
Shock therapy……Page 290
A new constitution……Page 294
Misery……Page 299
The end of the yeltsin era……Page 302
Chechnya……Page 306
Putin……Page 309
12 Afterthoughts, 2005……Page 314
Chronology……Page 316
Soviet History: A Bibliography……Page 326
Notes……Page 341
B……Page 346
D……Page 347
G……Page 348
L……Page 349
N……Page 350
S……Page 351
V……Page 352
W,Y,Z……Page 353