Ian D. Thatcher – författare

This new biography provides a full account of Leon Trotsky's political life, based upon a wealth of primary sources, including previously unpublished material.Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history. Key myths about Trotsky's heroic work as a revolutionary, especially in Russia's first revolution of 1905 and the Russian Civil War, are thrown into question. Although Trotsky had a limited understanding of crucial contemporary events such as Hitler's rise to power, he was an important thinker and politician, not least as a trenchant critic of Stalin's version of communism.

This new biography provides a full account of Leon Trotsky's political life, based upon a wealth of primary sources, including previously unpublished material.Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history. Key myths about Trotsky's heroic work as a revolutionary, especially in Russia's first revolution of 1905 and the Russian Civil War, are thrown into question. Although Trotsky had a limited understanding of crucial contemporary events such as Hitler's rise to power, he was an important thinker and politician, not least as a trenchant critic of Stalin's version of communism.

This book contains fresh approaches to the interaction between regime and society in twentieth-century Russia. It offers new answers to familiar questions: * How useful is ''totalitarianism'' as a model to categorise authoritarian regimes? * What chances existed for tsarism to establish itself as a constitutional monarchy? * Were Trotsky and Lenin dictators in waiting? * How did the Bolsheviks make the Lenin cult? * What opposition did intellectuals offer in the Soviet regime? * What is the nature of contemporary Russian constitutionalism? It is required reading for historians, political scientists, sociologists and everyone interested in modern Russia.

This book contains fresh approaches to the interaction between regime and society in twentieth-century Russia. It offers new answers to familiar questions: * How useful is 'totalitarianism' as a model to categorise authoritarian regimes? * What chances existed for tsarism to establish itself as a constitutional monarchy? * Were Trotsky and Lenin dictators in waiting? * How did the Bolsheviks make the Lenin cult? * What opposition did intellectuals offer in the Soviet regime? * What is the nature of contemporary Russian constitutionalism? It is required reading for historians, political scientists, sociologists and everyone interested in modern Russia.

Tracing the evolution of gender relations from the late Imperial period, through the Soviet Union, and up to the present day, Gender in Modern Russia broadly examines the everyday lives of both women and men, as well as cultural and political constructions of gender and sexuality.Through a focus on the impact of four major themes - the state, work, the body and spirituality - Aaron B. Retish argues that the Communist experiment emancipated women and men from traditional social and political roles, but that crucially it did not break cultural roles and power relations. Retish goes on to show that this destabilization of gender roles largely explains why gender roles are so contested in present day Russia and why political, religious and cultural leaders use traditional gender images to assert control and to mobilize their base.This book is a vital text for anyone seeking to know more about the social history of Russia in the modern period.

Tracing the evolution of gender relations from the late Imperial period, through the Soviet Union, and up to the present day, Gender in Modern Russia broadly examines the everyday lives of both women and men, as well as cultural and political constructions of gender and sexuality.Through a focus on the impact of four major themes - the state, work, the body and spirituality - Aaron B. Retish argues that the Communist experiment emancipated women and men from traditional social and political roles, but that crucially it did not break cultural roles and power relations. Retish goes on to show that this destabilization of gender roles largely explains why gender roles are so contested in present day Russia and why political, religious and cultural leaders use traditional gender images to assert control and to mobilize their base.This book is a vital text for anyone seeking to know more about the social history of Russia in the modern period.

Charlotte Alston’s important new study explores the relationship between Russian anti-state activists and western publics, intellectuals and governments, from 1848 to the present.Russian activists and writers were important agents in shaping western engagement with Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries and this book analyses and traces their involvement. From the 1890s Russian revolutionaries and western sympathisers and the 1920s opponents of the early Soviet regime, through to the 1960s and 1970s dissident literature, smuggled out of the Soviet Union and published abroad to shape western understandings of the Soviet system, Alston investigates the ways in which anti-state polemics shaped and sometimes challenged western understandings of Russia. It also goes on to explore the opportunities and limitations afforded by the western space in which such activists operated.Beginning in the tsarist era, and moving from the early revolutionary and Stalinist regimes through to the thaw, glasnost and the ‘new Russia’, Dissidents, Émigrés and Revolutionaries in Russia deals with Russian dissenters and Russian authorities of many political stripes in what is a vital text for all students and scholars of modern Russian history.

Russian populism, the belief that the peasantry embodied authentic Russian identity and once liberated from their poverty would lead the country to a brighter future, has animated Russian thought across the political spectrum and inspired much of Russia's world-historical literature, music and art in the 19th century. This book offers the fullest and most authoritative account of the rise, proliferation and influence of populist values and ideology in modern Russia to date.Christopher Ely explores the complete story of Russian populism. Starting from the cursed question of how to reconnect the popular masses with the Europeanized elite, he examines the populist obsession with the peasant commune as a model for a future socialist Russia. He shows how the desire for revolution led Russian radicals to flood into the countryside and later to pioneer terrorism as a form of political action. He delves into those artists influenced by populist ideals, and he tells the story of the collapse of populist optimism and its rebirth among the Socialist Revolutionary neo-populists. The book demonstrates that populism existed in forms ranging from radical socialist to religious conservative. Blending lively theoretical analysis with a wealth of primary sources and illustrations, Russian Populism provides a highly engaging overview of this complex phenomenon; it is invaluable reading for anyone interested in the momentous final decades of the Russian Empire.

A History of Education in Modern Russia is the first book to trace the significance of education in Russia from Peter the Great’s reign all the way through to Vladimir Putin and the present day.Individual chapters open with an overview of the political, social, diplomatic and cultural environment of the period in order to orient the reader. Dowler then goes on to analyse the aims of education initiatives in each era before considering the ways in which Russians experienced education, both as students and as teachers. Each chapter concludes with an assessment of the outcomes and consequences of education policies in the period, both the successes and failures as well as the impact of education on the cultural, social, economic and ultimately political environments. The chronologically arranged book also traces and then summarises underlying key themes like the tension between an open system of education and an estate-based system; the push and pull between utility and the broader goal of human development; and the effects of centralized, authoritarian control that for much of the period limited local initiative and starved the regions of adequate resources.

Marx and Russia is a chronological account of the evolution of Marxist thought from the publication of Das Kapital in Russian translation to the suppression of independent ideological currents by Stalin at the end of the 1920s. The book demonstrates the progressive emergence of different schools of Marxist thinking in the revolutionary era in Russia.Starting from Marx’s own connections with Russian revolutionaries and scholars, James D. White examines the contributions of such figures as Sieber, Plekhanov, Lenin, Bogdanov, Trotsky, Bukharin and Stalin to Marxist ideology in Russia. Using primary documents, biographical sketches and a helpful timeline, the book provides a useful guide for students to orientate themselves among the various Marxist ideologies which they encounter in modern Russian history. White also incorporates valuable new research for Russian history specialists in a vital volume for anyone interested in the history of Marxism, Soviet history and the history of Russia across the modern period.

Examining the history of workers in Russia from the time of Peter the Great to the present, this book analyzes Russia’s labour history in the global context of a modernizing world; it ensures that the history of workers in Russia can be understood in relation to that of the rest of Europe and beyond. Alice Pate explains the social and political forces that shaped workers lives and impacted upon the development of modern Russia and the Soviet Union, addressing major historical themes, such as urbanization, modernization, state and society, globalization as well as state formation, along the way.The History of the Russian Worker, which includes a useful glossary and end-of-chapter reading lists to aid further study, charts the rise of the working class in the early 18th century, its huge influence in the revolutionary movement of the late 19th century and its significant role in the shaping of events from the 20th century onwards. It also incorporates a range of primary sources and secondary literature as part of a rich investigation into the topic.This vital synthesis of Russian labour history is an important volume for anyone wanting to know more about Russia’s evolution during the modern period and its place within the modern world.

Examining the history of workers in Russia from the time of Peter the Great to the present, this book analyzes Russia’s labour history in the global context of a modernizing world; it ensures that the history of workers in Russia can be understood in relation to that of the rest of Europe and beyond. Alice Pate explains the social and political forces that shaped workers lives and impacted upon the development of modern Russia and the Soviet Union, addressing major historical themes, such as urbanization, modernization, state and society, globalization as well as state formation, along the way.The History of the Russian Worker, which includes a useful glossary and end-of-chapter reading lists to aid further study, charts the rise of the working class in the early 18th century, its huge influence in the revolutionary movement of the late 19th century and its significant role in the shaping of events from the 20th century onwards. It also incorporates a range of primary sources and secondary literature as part of a rich investigation into the topic.This vital synthesis of Russian labour history is an important volume for anyone wanting to know more about Russia’s evolution during the modern period and its place within the modern world.