Ian Thatcher, Brunel University.
When the Bolsheviks declared a new government in October 1917 many a commentator, including many Bolsheviks, thought that it could not survive as a one-party regime. It would have either to give way to the Constituent Assembly or to transform itself into a broad coalition of socialists of all types. This talk examines why of all the attempted communist revolutions in Europe of this time (Germany, Hungary, Slovakia etc.) only the Bolshevik regime in Russia survived. It also asks whether the price paid for survival – the consolidation of a one-party dictatorship meant that the ideal of socialism was lost.
For further reading see:
Christopher Read's detailed and readable From Tsar to Soviets (1996).
Ronald Kowalski's The Russian Revolution (1997) contains many primary documents.
James D. White's The Russian Revolution: A Short History (1994) is clear, concise and informative.
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