A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924

by Orlando Figes

Release Date: March, 1998

Edition: Paperback

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An Eisenstein who writes history

I was going to say that reading Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution is like watching an Eisenstein film. But it's better than that: Figes has the grand sweep of Eisenstein along with the telling detail. Unlike Eisenstein's camera, however, Figes is situated at the top of this century, where the scene is put into a longer historical perspective. And Figes has a wider lens than the one available to Eisenstein: he sweeps from left to right and back again, giving us a more balanced view of the subject.

Figes' ability to zoom in on details sets this history apart from the many previous works on the Russian revolutionary period. Thanks to new material available from once-sealed Soviet archives, Figes re-creates not only the death and rebirth of a nation, but also the lives--and the deaths--of its citizens, from Tsar Nicholas to Lenin to peasants. It is history on a literally grand scale, but it is also history on an intimate level. Figes follows the lives of all levels of participants in the great events of the revolutionary epoch in Russia. Where else, to cite one prurient example, might we read a laudatory description of Rasputin's penis by Prince Felix Yusupov, who became Rasputin's assassin? Figes enlightens and has fun doing so, and his sometimes irreverent--but never irrelevant--eye for detail both delights and instructs. But Figes never forgets that he is an historian who is concerned with presenting information. He balances Yusupov's claim with the report of the coroner who examined Rasputin's corpse.

Figes' evenhandedness gives validity to his interpretations of fact from the archives. This is true not only for such trivia as Rasputin's member, but also for more important matters. Unlike some historians of the past, he does not brush over Lenin's appetite for terror. Nor, like still others, does Figes apologize for a Tsarist regime that murdered thousands of citizens.

A People's Tragedy belongs on the shelf with the best histories of an event that continues to shake our world. It is history at its most accessible level, telling what happened in a place and to a people at a particular time.

Good, non-partisan review of the Russian Revolution

The American Civil War,the French Revolution,the Holocaust,and the Russian Revolution will always tempt writers to re-examine them, from a new generation's perspective.

Certainly, idealogues and scholars will never tire of refuting the claims of their opponents, and dismissing attempts at writing a "readable" history of the Russian Revolution as dangerously simplistic.

Figes' post-Cold War era history of the Russian Revolution is a good introduction to the topic. The definative "version" of 20th C Russian history is yet to be written, and it will ultimately be the task of a Russian historian free from the taint of Soviet "historiography" to produce such a work.

BUT.. while waiting... this book is adequate. I believe it is impossible to read a single work on the Russian Revolution and form an objective opinion. However, objectivity is of more concern to the scholar than the lay-reader. Few scholars on this subject care to rise above sectarian arguments, and they share much in common with the irritating obscurantism of the Menshevik/Bolshevik polemicists.

Personally I have always felt that Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" was a readable, if partisan account of the social and economic conditions which led to the Revolution, and that Roy Medvedev's "Let History Judge", was a suitable sequel. Certainly Leninism contained the seeds of Stalinism, if it was not the actual root stock and green-house of Stalinism. Trotsky, although a "hero" of my youth, also lacked " clean hands" after the suppression of the Kronstadt Uprising. It will be worth waiting to see if any definate and readable history of Bukharin waits in the wings.

There are dozens of wretched books sitting in community libraries which purport to tell the story of the Russian revolution. Of the post Cold War writers, this is my favotite.

Figes has an editorial slant, as do all popular historians. He does arrange his narrative in a readable format.. that is, in "digestible hunks". His use of personal narratives sheds light on complex issues,and his development of certain historical characters help move his narrative forward. His far ranging opinions include observations on post-Soviet political life. The photographs chosen for this book are good,and some are quite disturbing. They are well-arranged, to support ideas developed in the text.

Opinions and belief shape our thinking, oft times more than actual facts. I think, that this book is a breath of fresh air. However,if the historical period is of interest to you, keep on breathing, and keep on reading. If this is the ONLY book you read about the Russian Revolution, you will certainly be no more mis-informed than generations of policy makers in the US government OR the Soviet government.