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Wall Street and the Russian Revolution: 1905-1925
Wall Street and the Russian Revolution will give readers critical insight into what might be called the “Secret History of the 20th century.” The Russian Revolution, like the war in which it was born, represents the real beginning of the modern world. The book will look not just at the sweep of events, but probe the economic, ideological and personal motivations of the key figures involved, revealing heretofore unknown or misunderstood connections. Was Trotsky, for instance, a political genius, an unprincipled egomaniac, or something of each? Readers should come away with not only a far deeper understanding of what happened in Russia a century ago, but also what happened in America and how that still shapes the relations of the two
countries today.
countries today.
288 pages, Paperback
Published June 21, 2017
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June 4, 2025“The sources of early financial backing for the Bolsheviks were discussed by Richard B. Spence in his 2017 volume Wall Street and the Russian Revolution, 1905-1925. I was especially impressed that he treated the fragmentary evidence regarding these highly controversial matters in the extremely cautious and careful manner that they warranted.
For these reasons, I found Spence’s analysis far superior to what was provided in the somewhat similarly named 1974 book by Anthony Sutton, although the latter work is much more frequently cited in discussions of this topic.”
-Ron Unz, “McCarthyism Part III”
For these reasons, I found Spence’s analysis far superior to what was provided in the somewhat similarly named 1974 book by Anthony Sutton, although the latter work is much more frequently cited in discussions of this topic.”
-Ron Unz, “McCarthyism Part III”
November 13, 2018
The author has to juggle many characters and explain the several relationships. He does this well and makes it readable. The political backdrop in Russia, in particular, is added to the mix so all in all his research is impressive.
February 23, 2022
This book contains an exceptional amount of information, and the author does use and analyze many obscure primary sources, for which he is duly commended. Unfortunately, the value of the work is undercut by a number of deficiencies.
The most egregious of these is the overall organization of the book. Mostly the book is organized with subheadings for each actor in the drama, but this drama is exceedingly crowded, with many hundreds of names of capitalists, agents, politicians, and revolutionaries spread throughout into a heterogeneous swirl, so that it is very difficult for this reader to keep track of the significance of all the people involved and their histories. The narrative jumps backwards and forwards in time constantly; the lack of grouping of the events and people into more conceptual categories, and the attempt to tell too many threads at once, really destroys the impact of the work.
One gets the impression that this book is rather like Prof. Spence's research notes published without an editor, which, given the small independent press which has published it, is not surprising. There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout. There is sparingly little speculation beyond the factual events, but some speculation would have greatly aided a narrative such as this with so many competing interests at play. The occasional colloquialisms and quips like "What a small world." wear thin and don't contribute any meaningful connective sinews to the deluge of disorienting facts. The large pictures at the beginning of each chapter are usually very interesting, but are not captioned; the photographs of the hundreds of individuals discussed in line with the text are useful, but their helpfulness is undercut by the poor organization. Often three or four important individuals will be discussed, and only one photo of one of them is included, and sometimes well after (or before) that party is discussed in the text.
To be fair, Spence admits at the outset that he views his work rather like a supplement to Anthony Sutton's more famous and foundational book on the topic. I read this before Sutton, so perhaps if I revisit after I read the Sutton I will revise this review.
The most egregious of these is the overall organization of the book. Mostly the book is organized with subheadings for each actor in the drama, but this drama is exceedingly crowded, with many hundreds of names of capitalists, agents, politicians, and revolutionaries spread throughout into a heterogeneous swirl, so that it is very difficult for this reader to keep track of the significance of all the people involved and their histories. The narrative jumps backwards and forwards in time constantly; the lack of grouping of the events and people into more conceptual categories, and the attempt to tell too many threads at once, really destroys the impact of the work.
One gets the impression that this book is rather like Prof. Spence's research notes published without an editor, which, given the small independent press which has published it, is not surprising. There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout. There is sparingly little speculation beyond the factual events, but some speculation would have greatly aided a narrative such as this with so many competing interests at play. The occasional colloquialisms and quips like "What a small world." wear thin and don't contribute any meaningful connective sinews to the deluge of disorienting facts. The large pictures at the beginning of each chapter are usually very interesting, but are not captioned; the photographs of the hundreds of individuals discussed in line with the text are useful, but their helpfulness is undercut by the poor organization. Often three or four important individuals will be discussed, and only one photo of one of them is included, and sometimes well after (or before) that party is discussed in the text.
To be fair, Spence admits at the outset that he views his work rather like a supplement to Anthony Sutton's more famous and foundational book on the topic. I read this before Sutton, so perhaps if I revisit after I read the Sutton I will revise this review.
October 4, 2024
I found this book a little hard to follow because of the numerous players on the chessboard.
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