Episode 79 - Autocracy on Edge

A memorable revolution needs a cartoonishly unsympathetic adversary, and the Communists had that in the autocracy that ruled Russia up to 1917. Today I cover some of the big institutions and figures whose mismanagement made Russia such fertile ground for revolution and the establishment of a new kind of state.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1917 Penguin Books 1998 Smith, SA Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis 1890-1928 Oxford University Press 2018 Fitzpatrick, Sheila The Russian Revolution, 4th Edition Oxford University Press 2017 Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]