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Tim's Reviews > A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891 - 1924

A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891 - 1924
by

1369203

This is a long and detailed book covering the Russian Revolution through 1924. It is an impressive piece of work that methodically walks you through all the main characters and events in an engaging way.

I’m not sure what to say about it though. I just feel overloaded with facts I’m trying to absorb.

It’s so complicated and confusing. The downfall of the Tsars is one piece that is easier to understand. There is a history of repression, failed promises, an inability to connect with ordinary peasants and workers, and ineffectual leaders. It’s not surprising that it didn’t last. It’s also not surprising that communism became popular, since it was a hot new idea emerging just next door in Germany that seemed to give some hope for people suffering under the repression of the Tsars.

Where it gets complicated is things like: the various left-wing factions that emerged, the infighting that happened within the same factions, how exactly the Bolsheviks ended up winning this battle, the relative perspectives and interactions of the peasants in the countryside and the workers in the city, the impact of the Russia-Japan War and WWI on the revolution, the aftermaths of each of the Revolutions in 1917 (the February and November revolutions), including the weird period in between when there was a power vacuum that no one really tried to take full advantage of, the messy Civil War that lasted until 1923, and the messy period at the end of Lenin’s life and the succeeding power struggle for leadership of the Party.

I don’t really understand much of this. One of the main characters that kept popping in and out of the story was Russian writer Maxim Gorky. His life seems like a symbol of how complicated, confusing, and tragic this period was. How the idealism of intellectuals was never realized, and instead barbarism followed. And how some individuals made choices that are very hard to understand through a modern-day lens.

Born in 1868, he grew up as an orphan living in the most destitute poverty you could imagine. As a young man he became a dreamy Marxist. He grew up in the squalor and meanness of the city and imagined the peasants as living in harmonious communes, and would be natural allies of the Communists. But after traveling to the countryside he learned that peasant life was really, really horrifying. Perhaps the most memorable part of the book is when Figes vividly describes the brutality of peasant life in Russia.

Gorky’s attitude towards the peasants soured, but he still felt sympathy for urban laborers, and kept believing that a Marxist revolution was the way forward to improve their lot. He wrote stories and became, as Figes describes, “A national celebrity. The first real writer of inequality to emerge from the urban underworld of migratory laborers, vagabonds, and thieves, which his stories represented with vividness and compassion.”

He became friends with Lenin and then became aligned to the Bolshevik movement. But, after the February Revolution in 1917, he feared the revolution would result in “savagery” and switched his support to the more moderate Alexander Kerensky.

But then months later he switched back again to support the hardline Bolsheviks.

But not long after, his fears of savagery were realized, and he again turned on the Bolsheviks, going as far as to call Lenin and Trotsky “tyrants” who “have become poisoned with the filthy venom of power”. He worked with other countries like the U.S. to obtain international aid for the 1921 famine, and then left the country, continuing to speak out against the Bolshevik’s terror programs.

But in 1928, Stalin somehow lured him back to the Soviet Union, and he served as a mouthpiece for his regime, even supporting Stalin’s terror programs. But then once again he turned, again feeling disillusioned. But this time, he wasn’t able to have any impact. He was sick and weak, and the control of the State was more complete over what people could hear and read. When he died, Stalin turned his life and works into propaganda symbols for the state.

What a confusing and sad life. What a painful tragedy the revolution and its aftermath was for the Russian people.

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Reading Progress

August 27, 2021 –Started Reading

August 27, 2021 – Shelved

November 1, 2021 –Finished Reading

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