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

Hosking, Geoffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674304438 ISBN 13: 9780674304437

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1992

Synopsis

The First Socialist Society is the compelling and often tragic history of what Soviet citizens lived through from 1917 to 1993, told with great sympathy and perception. Tracing the evolution of the Soviet political system from its origins in 1917, Geoffrey Hosking shows how power has rarely been transmitted outside a tightly knit ruling elite and explains the forms of contact that have existed between rulers and ruled. He emphasizes the experience of the peasantry, urban workers, and professional people, showing how, more often than is commonly realized in the West, they have resisted repression and deprivation. He ranges over 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 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? 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.

In this second enlarged edition, Hosking charts the remarkable events following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 through the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States in December 1991, relating these momentous changes to earlier Soviet history. From changes in style in the early days of glasnost to changes in substance as the reforms under perestroika transformed the political system, Hosking shows the boldness of Gorbachev’s program as well as its ultimate result: the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

About this title

About the Author:

Geoffrey Hosking is Emeritus Professor of Russian History at 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

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0674304438
• ISBN 13: 9780674304437
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 570