Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991: A Pelican Introduction (Pelican Books)

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The Russian Revolution was long expected but came as a surprise in February 1917. None of its 'leaders' expected it to happen how and when it did. Most revolutions are like that. That's what makes them revolutionary. Forced off the land by poverty, over-population and the growing cost of renting land, millions of peasants came into the towns, or worked in rural factories and mines. In the last half-century of the old regime the empire's urban population grew from 7 million to 28 million people. The 1890s saw the sharpest growth as the effects of the famine crisis coincided with the accelerated programme of industrialization and railway construction pushed through by Count Witte, the Minister of Finance from 1892. Orlando Figes finished this Pelican introduction before the Ukraine crisis but the importance of 1917 in the politics of the region today bears out his thesis: the Russian Revolution should not be seen as an event confined to the revolutionary years alone; rather, 1917 dominated Russian politics until the fall of the USSR in 1991, and its after-effects are with us still.

Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 - Orlando Figes - Google Books Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 - Orlando Figes - Google Books

The Church retained a powerful hold over rural Russia, in particular. In many villages the priest was one of the few people who could read and write. Through parish schools the Orthodox clergy taught children to show loyalty, deference and obedience, not just to their elders and betters but also to the Tsar and his officials. Appleyard, Bryan (3 October 2010). "The Wild Charges He Made". The Sunday Times . Retrieved 5 March 2020. Fundamental to this, naturally, is its founding legend. And even this origin story, it turns out, has long been the subject of controversy: was it Slavic peoples who first settled what became known in Russia as Kievan Rus? Or was it Scandinavian, Baltic or even Germanic tribes who provided the first rulers? Was ancient Russia, in other words, created by Russians or foreigners? The historical facts are, inevitably, more complex still. Figes concludes: “It is absurd to claim that Kievan Rus was the birthplace of the modern Russian state or nation.” He likens it to the place Anglo-Saxon Wessex has in English history – one element, but not the whole story.

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longer extracts from my books carefully selected to help students deepen their ideas on key themes; Orlando Figes investido doctor honoris causa por la UIMP: 'Nos hemos equivocado con Rusia durante mucho tiempo' ". www.uimp.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 August 2023 . Retrieved 16 September 2023. Figes, Orlando (July–August 2011). "Don't Go There: Chasing the dying memories of Soviet trauma". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Another strand, exploited through the centuries by successive rulers to enhance their authority, is the idea of spiritual exceptionalism. It was Ivan the Terrible, no less, who adapted Byzantine rituals to create an imperial myth – that the tsar was anointed by church and god, and that Moscow was the Third Rome, the rightful successor and true capital of Christendom after the fall of Rome and Constantinople.

Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 - Macmillan

Here is a short extract of a 40-minute seminar I had with the students of the International School of Toulouse.

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Boyd, William (7 September 2019). "The Europeans by Orlando Figes review – the importance of a shared culture". The Guardian . Retrieved 1 October 2019.

War and the Russian Revolution : Orlando Figes The Great War and the Russian Revolution : Orlando Figes

Published in 2012, Just Send Me Word is a true story based on 1,246 letters smuggled in and out of the Pechora labour camp between 1946 and 1955 between Lev Mishchenko (a prisoner) and Svetlana Ivanova (his girlfriend in Moscow). There are 647 letters from Lev to Svetlana, and 599 from her to him. They form part of a family archive discovered by the Memorial Society and delivered in three trunks to their Moscow offices in 2007. [30] The letters are the largest known collection of private correspondence from the Gulag, according to Memorial. [31] a b c "Orlando Figes [Author and Professor of Russian History]". Orlandofiges.com . Retrieved 31 August 2011. The Sino-Soviet split took place during this phase of the revolution, with the catalyst being a speech Khruschev made on the 40th anniversary of the October revolution. He asserted that the USSR would overtake the US in industrial output within 15 years, a proclamation that goaded a suddenly competitive Mao Zedong into saying the same would apply to China overtaking Britain in the same way over the same period.The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9

Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes - Waterstones

Figes is known for his works on Russian history, such as A People's Tragedy (1996), Natasha's Dance (2002), The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007), Crimea (2010) and Just Send Me Word (2012). A People's Tragedy is a study of the Russian Revolution, and combines social and political history with biographical details in a historical narrative. Figes has also contributed significantly on European history more broadly, notably with his book The Europeans (2019). On Lenin’s death in 1924, the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live”, and his words featured on countless propaganda posters. In one sense, the fall of the Soviet Union proved him wrong. The world of 1917 no longer exists: neither the Donetsk separatists nor Vladimir Putin are Marxist-Leninists, and it is inconceivable that Angela Merkel will emulate the Kaiser and invade eastern Ukraine to rid it of Russian influence. But Lenin’s legacy survives nonetheless, and Figes’s introduction will make a major contribution to informed public debate on this crucial episode in world history. In an interview with Andrew Marr in 1997, Figes described himself as "a Labour Party supporter and 'a bit of a Tony Blair man', though he confessed, when it came to the Russian revolution, to being mildly pro- Menshevik." [8] This year's seminars will cover all the major questions you are likely to be asked in A-level and IB exams on Russian and Soviet history。

Russian workers were the most strike-prone in Europe. Three quarters of the factory workforce went on strike during 1905. Historians have spent a lot of time trying to explain the origins of this labour militancy. Factory size, levels of skill and literacy, the number of years spent living in the city, and the influence of the revolutionary intelligentsia—all these factors have been scrutinized in microscopic detail in countless monographs, each hoping to discover the crucial mix that explained the rise of the ‘workers' revolution' in Russia. The main disagreement concerns the effects of urbanization. A primer intended for readers unfamiliar with the territory, it sparkles with ideas, vivid storytelling, poignant anecdotes and pithy phrases... Fresh and dramatic." (Victor Sebestyen, Sunday Times) a b Fox, Killian (3 September 2022). "Orlando Figes: 'Gorbachev was a very sharp and likable person' ". The Guardian (interview) . Retrieved 6 September 2022. Figes published The Story of Russia in September 2022. [10] The book is a general history of Russia from the earliest times to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It focuses on the ideas and myths that have structured the Russians' understanding of their history, and explores what Figes calls the "structural continuities" of Russian history, such as the sacralisation of power and patrimonial autocracy. The Guardian described it as "An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history [which] shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself" [42] A reviewer in The Spectator called it "a saga of multi-millennial identity politics"; Figes argues that no other country has so often changed its origin story, [43] its "[h]istories continuously reconfigured and repurposed to suit its present needs and reimagine its future". [44] Views on Russian politics [ edit ]