The October Revolution in Prospect and Retrospect: Interventions in Russian and Soviet History (Historical Materialism Series)

Description

“This is a very important book, one of the very few books published since 1991 on the “Russian question” that will compel people (this reviewer included) long wedded to different characterizations of the post-1917 or post-1929 Soviet regime to think through their commitments.” -Loren Goldner,Insurgent Notes

In this series of probing analytical essays, John Marot applies Robert Brenner’s analysis of precapitalist modes of production to early Soviet attempts at revolutionary transformation and concludes that none of the oppositional economic programs could have provided the revitalization that would have been necessary to staunch Stalinism’s development. Where others have used similar analyses as justification for the view that Stalin’s rise to power was inevitable, Marot instead argues that a fusion of Leon Trotsky’s and Nikolai Bukharin’s proposals-the continuation of the NEP without collectivization or Five-Year Plans-could have laid the basis for an alternative to Stalinism.

John Eric Marot, Ph.D., teaches history at Keimyung University in Korea. He has published many articles on Russian and Soviet history.