The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, First Enlarged Edition - Softcover

Hosking, Geoffrey

3.56

119 ratings by Goodreads

9780674304420: The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, First Enlarged Edition

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067430442X ISBN 13: 9780674304420

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1990

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The First Socialist Society is the compelling and often tragic history of what Soviet citizens have lived through from 1917 to the present, told with great sympathy and perception. It ranges over the changing lives of peasants, urban workers, and professionals; the interaction of Soviet autocrats with the people; the character and role of religion, law, education, and literature within Soviet society; and the significance and fate of various national groups. As the story unfolds, we come to understand how the ideas of Marxism have been changed, taking on almost unrecognizable forms by unique political and economic circumstances.

Hosking's analysis of this vast and complex country begins by asking how it was that the first socialist revolution took place in backward, autocratic Russia. Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power and hold on to it? The core of the book lies in the years of Stalin's rule: how did he exercise such unlimited power, and how did the various strata of society survive and come to terms with his tyranny?

The later chapters recount Khrushchev's efforts to reform the worst features of Stalinism, and the unpredictable effects of his attempts within the East European satellite countries, bringing out elements of socialism that had been obscured or overlaid in the Soviet Union itself. And in the aftermath of the long Brezhnev years of stagnation and corruption, the question is posed: can Soviet society find a way to modify the rigidities inherited from the Stalinist past?

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About the Author:

Geoffrey Hosking is retired Professor of Russian History at the University College London.

Review:

The First Socialist Society...allows its readers to go far beyond Moscow and the Kremlin to take a closer look at Soviet life in historical perspective...Hosking offers a fresh--and refreshing--look at the Soviet Union in the 1980s that is both well-informed and provocative. (W. Bruce Lincoln Los Angeles Times)

This is a first-rate introduction to Russian history since 1917...No one reading it can fail to be impressed by its sound sense, its mature weighing up of the issues and its considered judgments. It should certainly be in the hands of everyone wishing to be informed about present-day Russia. (Pierre Watter Times Educational Supplement)

Professor Hosking's lively and well-informed history of the whole period from 1917 to 1984 covers not only politics and society but also religion and the nationalities, difficult subjects which are often neglected...The outstanding merit of Professor Hosking's book...is that the author knows and understands Russians, and brings this understanding to bear on his study of history. This stimulating study...will help students to think about the significance of the Soviet experience, and to begin to appreciate what it has been like to be a Russian in this terrible and glorious century. (R. W. Davies Times Higher Education Supplement)

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