Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy

Before Stalinism is a historical study of democratic life and institutions and their decline in the early years of the Russian Revolution. While attempting to synthesize a wealth of available historical material, the author assesses the extent to which the disappearance of Soviet democracy was due to objective circumstances, for example the impact of the Civil War, and the extent to which it was the result of Bolshevik politics and ideology. The author shows how there were, contrary to later Stalinist and Cold War mythologies, significant disputes within the pre-Stalinist Bolshevik camp about the preservation of the substantial democratic elements of the October upheaval.

Samuel Farber is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Brooklyn College, New York. Born and raised in Marianao, Cuba, he is the author of several works, including Revolution and Reaction in Cuba, The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered, Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959, and The Politics of Che Guevara.