Bolsheviks: The Intellectual & Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia

by Adam B. Ulam

The rise of the Bolsheviks is an epic Russian story that now has a definitive end. The major historian of the subject, Adam Ulam, has enlarged his classic work with a new Preface that puts the revolutionary moment, and especially Lenin, in perspective for our modern age.

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

598 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Adam Bruno Ulam was a Polish-American historian and political scientist at Harvard University. Ulam was one of the world's foremost authorities on Russia and the Soviet Union, and the author of twenty books and many articles.

Reviews

[Marissa]

I remembered from this book the assassins of Alexander II - Zhelyabov and Peroskaya. Sophia Perovskaya became the first female publicly executed in Russia.

Quotes:
Chernyshevsky - "Every decent man in my opinion is bound to put his wife above himself: this temporary domination is necessary for future equality."
Chernyshevsky - "Why is the 'people's ideal' of feminine beauty connected with the image of a hefty peasant wench with rosy cheeks? Because the common people have to work hard ane hence htey value evidence of health and strength. But take a society beauty! Generations of idleness have weakneeed the muslces...the much prized pallor in a lady of upper classes is an eloquent testimony to the sluggish circulation of the blood.
"Except for Pronography," What is to be done has all the major characteristics of a bad novel...
"Socialism is too important to leave in the hands of the workers..."

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book - and it's the same as Ulam's 'Lenin and the Bolsheviks', only with a different title.

As an expert on the Bolsheviks and Soviet Russia, Ulam's writing is disciplined, detailed, and provides an all-too-rare explanation on Lenin's younger years in organising the party - an act of discipline, cunning, organisational talent, and strength of personality and will. What's even more impressive is that the author Ulam had never set foot in the Soviet Union at the time of writing.

Unlike many other biographers and historians, Ulam also resists the temptation to fill the book with names - and mostly doesn't dwell too long on one topic (with the exception of the founding and early running of the Comintern and Lenin's post-war squabbles with other socialists, which I found quite boring).

Although perhaps necessary, there are also very lengthy sections of the book dedicated to discussions of earlier revolutionary thinkers who influenced Lenin, such as Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Chernyshevsky.

The reader is rewarded with plenty of nuggets and insights into Lenin's rather complex personality (although more would always be welcome). For example, Lenin marvelled at British libraries and when he took power in the Soviet Union, insisted that publishers would include indexes in books.

Here's an extract which explains the Bolsheviks' early use (or misuse) of power:

"'Shoot', "threaten to shoot", became his (Lenin's) recipes for solving even minor administrative problems. In a telegram to Stalin, Lenin advised the way to deal with such problems: "Threaten to shoot the idiot who is in charge of telecommunications." (page 552 in my copy)

In writing about such an important topic, Ulam writes with a balance of occasional humour, and even admiration on the subject - even though Ulam is very clearly an anti-communist.

By taking the time to help the reader unpack Lenin - and what made his party exceptional, Ulam's own judgments and opinions are convincing. Here's another extract:

"Lenin's contribution to the conduct of the Civil War is one of the most persuasive illustrations of his greatness. No dictator and few even among democratic wartime leaders have resisted the temptation to play the role or the supreme military strategist. Lenin's good sense made him eschew that pose. He scorned the gesture of visiting the front lines or army headquarters. Only rarely did Lenin interfere in purely military matters."

See what the author did there? In just a few short sentences, the reader is given a summary of Lenin's activities in the Civil War, and importantly, why Lenin's relative lack of interference was so important. Other writers would likely spend far longer to demonstrate just the same point.

Here's another sentences that some speedily sums up Lenin's popularity within the socialist movements:

"In 1904 while his competitors had merely adherents, Lenin had followers."

Sadly, the book ends far too abruptly when Lenin dies - not giving the reader a sense of how his funeral or embalming went - surely an important topic considering Lenin's body is still on public display almost a century later.

I vastly recommend this book over Robert Conquest's own biography of Lenin.

[Spencer Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first exposure to the Russian Revolution in depth. I liked the intellectual history in the book, which I find is often insufficiently emphasized in modern history. It makes clear just what a unique character Lenin is.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking this would be a kind of Collective biography of the great Russian Bolsheviks, i came to see it wasn't that at all- and not really an intellectual history either- this is a Lenin biography! with a focus on the 1917-20 revolution. What difference does it make? none at all. it's great. Holistic account of Lenin from childhood, young man dreams and infatuations and on through the revolution. Author is fair- calling out Lenin for setting the groundwork for the dictatorship and fascism of Stalin, et al, but generally admiring of the principled Lenin. hard to quarrel with him most of the time. Presented as a monastic, singular, self denying hero- Lenin drags his group to his preferred paths even when having to jettison friends and allies with a singular, charismatic vision.