Previous | Next :: Women in Red : Tate Modern : London | February 2, 2014, 9:27 pm

I was just browsing a very small history of the Russian Revolution ...... well a very small a promo prior to publication of the real book by Orlando Figes published by Pelican ........ Even in the opening lines it was surprising to me........ When did the Russian Revolution begin and end ? Did it begin and end in 1917 ? Some might say it ended in 1921 with the ending of the Civil War when armed opposition to the Bolsheviks was defeated. Others might say 1924 with the death of Lenin ..... others 1927 with the defeat of Trotsky and the left opposition ...... some might say 1929, with the onset of a different kind of revolutionary upheaval, forced industrialization and collectivization of the first 5 year plan. what about with the beginning or ending of the great Terror 1937 to 1938 ...... What about the beginning of the Second World War......... but the revolution strengthened and intensified through its military discipline and cult of sacrifice......... the command economy was made for a fighting war.......... The revolution was in many ways designed for war............ What about the Cold War? Anyway the author goes on even talking about the revolutionary expansion that was the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ........ Basically arguing until the end all the leaders thought they were continuing the revolution Lenin had begun.......... It only ended in 1991 with the collapse of The Soviet State......... interesting........ Orlando Figes even argues the revolutionary cycle begins in 1891 when the public's reaction to the famine crisis set it for the first time on a collision course with autocracy........ So the Russian Revolution .......... He has it as a 100 year revolutionary cycle........ Not an event in 1917? Interesting right ??? .......... It struck me as a great book I must get the whole thing to read on a plane if it's not as heavy as 'War and Peace' .........:-))))))))

OK Im going slightly off my head....... I've been static for far too long .......... So I'm rolling to airport tomorrow........ er....... today actually........ flyin to see Matt and shoot a big job in the mighty ATL :-)))))))))))))))) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com