One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward: Soviet Society and Politics in the New Economic Policy - Hardcover

Pethybridge, Roger

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019821927X ISBN 13: 9780198219279

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1990

Synopsis

This study of Soviet politics and society under the New Economic Policy is the first to relate local problems directly to changing central ideological views during the crucial early years of the Soviet state. Pethybridge makes an extensive examination of five Russian and minority localities in 1922 near the outset of the NEP, and again at its height in 1926. His analysis indicates that under the early NEP there were two capitals--Moscow for politics and Petrograd for culture. Examining their roles in the workings of the Bolshevik control mechanisms, Pethybridge throws new light on the roles of socio-political agents and potential enemies in Russia's vast hinterland. His carefully researched account of the formative years of the USSR will be invaluable to scholars of Soviet history and government.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Pethybridge is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at University College, Swansea.

Review

`his treatment is indeed more comprehensive than that found in most accounts of the period.'
Adam B. Ulam, Times Literary Supplement

`this is an interesting and well researched study which throws light on aspects of NEP society previously little investigated, and thus will be of use to those interested in the period ... this work is a valuable addition to existing studies of NEP with a fresh approach worthy of serious
attention.'
Soviet Studies

`This is a vividly written work, rich in detail and suggestion, an impressive continuation of the author's earlier and major studies of Russian social history in the revolutionary era. It is also a sobering reminder that there is nothing very new in the spectacle of a reforming Soviet
leadership finding itself in command of a less than wholly responsive or effective administrative system nationwide.'
Political Studies

'The potential value of Pethybridge's project is undeniable. And in fact his detailed chapters, which roam the provinces of Smolensk, Tver', Samara and Kazakhstan, contain many vivid insights into local life. The chapters based on Smolensk in particular are enjoyable as well as instructive.'
Catherine Merridale, King's College, Cambridge, The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol.69, Part 4

`This lengthy book is packed with interesting detail and contains some fascinating bibliographical finds, for which the reader of Russian will be grateful.'
Peter Gatrell, European History Review May 92

'this is an unusual approach and a welcome attempt to break fresh ground ... Those familiar with Soviet history of the 1920s will learn something here ... it should ... provide signposts for the profitable ventures of future researchers.'
John Channon, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London, EHR Jan '93

'this is an important book ... It is important because it sums up better than any other general work on the period, the social constraints and diversity under which the Soviet government and "society" labored during the NEP.'
Anthony Hyman, Central Asian Survey, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1992

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 019821927X
• ISBN 13: 9780198219279
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 466