Six Weeks In Russia In 1919

by Arthur Ransome

""Six Weeks in Russia in 1919"" is a travelogue written by Arthur Ransome, a British journalist and author, detailing his journey through Soviet Russia during the tumultuous year of 1919. The book is a first-hand account of Ransome's experiences as he travels through Moscow, Petrograd, and other cities, meeting with Bolshevik leaders and witnessing the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Ransome provides a vivid and detailed description of the social and political conditions in Russia during this period, including the impact of the civil war, famine, and political repression. He also offers insights into the inner workings of the Bolshevik government and its leaders, including Lenin and Trotsky. Throughout the book, Ransome's observations are informed by his own political views, which were sympathetic to the socialist cause. He portrays the Bolsheviks as a revolutionary force with a genuine commitment to improving the lives of ordinary people, while also acknowledging the challenges and contradictions of their policies. Overall, ""Six Weeks in Russia in 1919"" is a valuable historical document that offers a unique perspective on one of the most significant events of the 20th century. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Russia, socialism, or the Russian Revolution.There was, of course, a dreadful scrimmage about getting away. Several people were not ready at the last minute. Only one motor was obtainable for nine persons with their light luggage, and a motor lorry for the heavy things.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian Revolution, Politics, Russian History, Travel

Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Arthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.

In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.

An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.

Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.

Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.

Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.

Reviews

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 3 out of 5]

We walked a few hundred yards along the line and then turned into a road deep in snow through a little bare wood, and so down to the little wooden bridge over the narrow frozen stream that separates Finland from Russia. The bridge, not twenty yards across, has a toll bar at each end, two sentry boxes and two sentries. On the Russian side the bar was the familiar black and white of the old Russian Empire, with a sentry box to match. The Finns seemingly had not yet had time to paint their bar and box.

A dry read, mostly filled with celebrity name-droppings, but what to expect from a close buddy of Lenin and Trotsky?

1919 Bolshevik Russia is an alien place for Arthur Ransome. He remembers the Tsar's Government, in his words "to the day of the declaration of war, when I saw this same square filled with people, while the Tsar came out for a moment on the Palace balcony". When everything was grand, especially the Astoria in Petrograd. In March 1919, everyone just is cold and starving.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ransome was a British journalist and folklorist who originally had an interest in Russia from a visit to research their folklore just before World War I. He learned to speak the language and met influential communists (he also had socialist leanings) that were handy to know when he returned to visit Russia after the war and after the revolution. This time he was researching the newly operating communist system and to see life under the new regime.

It is fairly free of over propaganda although I’m sure his new friends allowed access because he was sympathetic. The book that results from this trip was published in Britain in 1924. In the book you get inside views of many meetings with commissars, committees, third nationals etc. He speaks individually with Trotsky, Lenin, Bucharin, Radek and Litvinov and many others. I imagine by the 1930s Ransome would be saddened to see so many of his Russian acquaintances executed or disappeared into the gulag. The original leaders seemed pretty happy with early progress but were academics and philosophers basically.

Ransome also interviews people from other sectors such as a former factory owner who had been heavily taxed, stripped of his property and now finds himself trying to convince his former employees to accept him as just one of them and to take on the joint role of “owners.” Of course in good communist fashion they all live in his former home. Amusing petty things creep in here and there such as the annoyance felt by Mrs. Trotsky that the Radek’s quarters in a former palace might be superior to the Trotsky’s in the same former palace.

Ordinary life is reported as having many difficulties. There was virtually no heat, little electricity and food shortage in the cities. Ransome liked to attend meetings partly because of the regular meals—the food was the same as what was in the food kitchens, the same quality and portions, but there was food, usually soup with a little horse meat and coarse bread.

These details of Russian city life kept me interested in the book. Endless meetings and communist philosophizing not so much.

[Rishiraj Biswas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first read on the Russian revolution and I must say I am now hooked to read more on this topic. I began by reading Arthur's letter titled 'The Truth about Russia' and proceeded to read this short book which gives a live account of the period post the October revolution.
The author has done a fantastic job of writing it in very simple and layman terms. From whatever I was able to glimpse from the author's background he was a non-biased fellow with very little political inclinations before the revolution (although he's all in praise after he witnesses the events first hand).
I thoroughly enjoyed expanding my knowledge on the Russian revolution and am glad that I began my journey by reading this gem of a book. My next stop is 'Crisis in Russia' by the same author (apparently this book is difficult to find. If anyone does, please let me know :) ) and the much popular '10 days that shook the world'.
Also, to enhance the reading experience (if you are a novice on the topic like me) I suggest googling the various Russian political organizations, terms and personalities as and when you encounter them.

Thanks and happy journey to understanding the Revolution!

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

jube keeruline on midagi öelda selle raamatu kohta.

siin on kolm osa: pikk sissejuhatus, mis avab tausta, et mis asjaoludel ja millal ja kui kaua Arthur Ransome Venemaal oli; siis Ransome'i 1918. aastal ameeriklaste jaoks kirjutatud pamflett "Tõde Venemaast" ja siis tema reportaaž kuuest nädalast Venemaal aastal 1919.

sissejuhatus on huvitav ja väidab muuhulgas, et Ransome oli ise poliitiliselt täiesti neutraalne ja et teda üldse isegi ei huvitanud mingi poliitika. millegipärast tema toimetajad sellega nõus ei tahtnud olla.

pamflett... mulle isiklikult ei tundu ülemäära neutraalne, see on pigem ikka vaimustunud kiidulaul uuele imelisele nõukogude süsteemile, mis lihstalt peab kogu maailma varsti üle võtma, sest on nii selgelt nii hea.

reportaažid on igavamad kui ma lootsin. lugu algab sellest, kuidas Ransome Rootsist rongiga läbi Soome sinna Venemaale üldse kohale sai ja kuidas end alguses Petrogradis ja siis Moskvas sisse seadis (eks ikka hotellides ja tutvuste kaudu) - see oli vähemalt mingi nurga alt aus olustikukirjeldus. aga siis edasi tuleb peatükkide kaupa seda, kuidas ta käis ühel või teisel koosolekul või intervjueeris üht või teist rahvakomissari ja raporteerib meile, mis talle siis räägiti selle kohta, kuidas edeneb see nõukogude värk. väidetavalt edenes imeliselt hästi; oli küll see üks pisiasi, et kõik olid külmas ja näljas, aga vähemalt hästi võrdselt.

(päris huvitav ajugümnastika on lugeda inglise keeles kõigi nõukogude ja komissariaatide ja komiteede kohta ja üritada nende nimesid läbi vene keele eesti keelde väänata ja siis jõuda mingite täiesti üllatavalt tuttavate tulemusteni. rahvakomissariaat! täitevkomitee! külanõukogu! aga ka ajutine valitsus, asutav kogu, vasak- ja paremesseerid! millal ma üldse nende sõnade peale viimati mõtlesin?)

täitsa tahaks teada, mismoodi Ransome elu lõpupoole (ta suri 1967) kogu selle revolutsiooniasja ja nõukogude korra peale vaatas. tegelikult ju arusaadav, et 1919 ei saanud keegi veel teada, KUI käest ära see asi läheb. aga samas, kuna lugesin Ransome'iga paralleelselt üle ka Teffi "Šampanja teetassidest", siis ega ma tema sotsialistliku paradiisi klantspilti ka ei usu, ja päris ebameeldiv on lugeda neid kohti, kus NKVD või tšekaa saavad mainimist nagu täiesti tavalised riigiasutused, mis teevad täiesti tavalist tööd.

hinnest väga kõrget ei pane, sest üsna kuiv lugemine oli suurem osa ajast. vedas vähemalt, et hästi lühikesed peatükid, aga see va pamflett oli küll paras piin.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably not of general interest. The author, a British socialist gets down in the weeds with the Russian revolution in St. Petersburg in 1919. There is little or nothing about military activity other than his second or third hand reporting of Russia's struggles with several enemies who in fact became allied with Germany late in the war since they feared potential Bolshevism infecting their own citizens more than they feared Nazi Germany, and so along with Germany, attacked Russia. That includes the United States and England.

The reporting is largely about meetings among the revolutionary committees trying to juggle many balls besides fighting its military enemies: balancing competing interests within Russia, hashing out production plans, and keeping the wartime economy from collapsing. And a few good interviews with a few leading Russians about their outlook and expectations. Add a star or two if these particulars interest you.

[Banbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will have no meaning for you if you do not have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the Russian Revolution and the eventual takeover by the Bolsheviks. On the other hand, it is chilling to read Ransome's recounting of conversations he had with several devoted Bolsheviks, when you realize that so many of these interlocutors were later executed in Stalin's purges.

[Graeme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sympathetic to the early Old Bolsheviks and Lenin, who he obviously adored. Interesting as an inside look within Russia from an English-speaking journalist (and British spy!) during the Civil War on a propaganda tour.

[Luís Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

(read in Jomtien, Thailand)

[Tony Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ransome visited Russia in early 1919 when living conditions were frightful but hopes remained high for the future. Militarily the Bolsheviks were under heavy threat but the workers of Petrograd and Moscow who had won the October Revolution still held grimly onto power. Ransome’s brief but elegantly written account captures living conditions and gives insights into the thinking of Bolshevik administrators trying to provide food and clothing in a country paralysed after World War One and now besieged by western powers. For those unfamiliar with the revolution this book could be a good first taste.

Goodreads' biographical summary of Ransome refers to "persistent but unproven accusations that he 'spied' for both the Bolsheviks and Britain." Here Ransome shows a sincere sympathy for the revolution and its leaders. In 1924 he married Trotsky's secretary, Evgenia Shelepina.

Available free on The Internet Archive.

[Paul Cowdell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus far only read the first volume (Six Weeks in Russia 1919), which is simply outstanding. Ransome was no Bolshevik, which makes his spirited, generous and beautifully written account of what he saw all the more remarkable. He saw the revolution as it was, accepted it on its own terms, plainly and honestly, and relayed that clearly and powerfully. The book is deeply moving in its sincerity and generosity of spirit, a man looking to the future that the revolution was fighting to build. His instinctive grasp of the revolution and its intentions, along with what had been thrown aside, is nowhere more sensitively summed up than in the chapter about seeing a production of 'Uncle Vanya', where it is coupled with a quite brilliant literary criticism. That chapter continues to astonish me.

[Andy Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur Ransome reported his visit to Russia in his role as a reporter and describes the situation in Revolutionary Russia with candour in his wonderfully clear writing style. He meets and has conversations with a spectrum of the Russians in this historic era, including 2 meetings with Lenin.
A fantastic short work re-published by Faber and Faber in 2010 after decades of being out of print. Ransome was not a Bolshevik and wrote an honest and unbiased account of his experience.

[Pam Fairchild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read if interested in Russian history.