A major contribution to the historiography of the world in the 20th century, The Bolsheviks in Power focuses on the fateful first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd. It examines events that profoundly shaped the Soviet political system that endured through most of the 20th century. Drawing largely from previously inaccessible Soviet archives, it demolishes standard interpretations of the origins of Soviet authoritarianism by demonstrating that the Soviet system evolved ad hoc as the Bolsheviks struggled to retain political power amid spiraling political, social, economic, and military crises. The book covers issues such as the rapid fall of influential moderate Bolsheviks, the formation of the dreaded Cheka, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Red Terror, the national government's flight to Moscow, and the subsequent rivalry between Russia's new and old capitals.
Abbreviations
Preface
Prologue: The Bolsheviks and the October Revolution in Petrograd
Part I: The Defeat of the Moderates
Chapter 1 Forming a Government
Chapter 2 Rebels into Rulers
Chapter 3 Gathering Forces
Chapter 4 The Fate of the Constituent Assembly
Part II: War or Peace
Chapter 5 Fighting Lenin
Chapter 6 "The Socialist Fatherland Is in Danger"
Chapter 7 An Obscene Peace
Part III: Soviet Power on the Brink
Chapter 8 A Turbulent Spring
Chapter 9 Continuing Crises
Chapter 10 The Northern Commune and the Bolshevik-Left SR Alliance
Chapter 11 The Suicide of the Left SRs
Part IV: Celebration amid Terror
Chapter 12 The Road to "Red Terror"
Chapter 13 The Red Terror in Petrograd
Chapter 14 Celebrating "the Greatest Event in the History of the World"
Chapter 15 Price of Survival
Chronology of Key Events
Notes
Bibliography
Index
