Historical Perspectives on the New Regime
There are 3 major schools of thought on the Russian Revolution. Each school
looks at the role played by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in different ways for very
different reasons.
Marxist/Soviet
These historians are Marxists themselves. They believe that communism is the
best form of government and a logical step in the evolution of society. They look
at the Revolution as a positive for the Russian people, state that Lenin had the
best intentions for his people and the negatives of War Communism and Terror
were necessary.
Eg Trotsky, Christopher Hill and Isaac Deutscher
Liberal/Western
These historians are anti-Marxists. They believe that Communism is a flawed
ideology and doomed to fail. They look at the revolution as a negative for the
Russian people, state that Lenin was acting only in his own interest and that the
negatives of War Communism and the Terror were completely unjustified and
done purely to give the Bolsheviks more power.
Eg Richard Pipes, Michael Lynch, Christian.
Revisionist
These historians attempt to examine the revolution in an unbiased fashion. They
attempt to ignore the role of ideology and focus instead on how economic factors
and social factors impacted on the development of the new regime. The
negatives of War Communism and the Terror are looked at as been outcomes of
the problems faced by the New Regime but they go too far.
Eg Sheila Fitzpatrick, Robert Service and Orlando Figes.
Historiography Essay Writing.
“A Soviet view of the Revolution would argue that it successfully transferred
power from the privileged classes to the oppressed proletariat.”
Do you agree with this view? Use evidence to support your answer.
Contention: The October Revolution did not successfully give power to the
proletariat, but instead the Bolshevik Party retained all power for itself.
Write a paragraph in relation to this question on either; the Civil War, War
Communism, The NEP, Bolshevik use of terror or the role of Lenin.
In your response compare and contrast different views of the revolution
(Marxist/Soviet, Western/Liberal and Revisionist historians).
See pages 223-228 for summaries of historian’s perspectives.
See pages 232-235 for quotes from historians relating to these 5 topics.
See Chapter 16 and your class notes for summaries on the significance of these 5
topics.