ABSTRACT
Soon after the Revolutions of 1917 a British observer stationed in Russia predicted that a verdict on Bolshevism will be possible after the final curtain will have come down. The consequences of the French Revolution which lasted a mere four years dominated French history for another century until a new equilibrium emerged. The consequences of the Russian Revolution are likely to be at least as enduring. Richard Pipes' volume on the history of the Russian Revolution ends with Lenin's death in 1924, whereas Martin Malia's work spans the entire Soviet era. Pipes concentrates on the period of the Civil War and the New Economic Policy. In the case of Malia the broadside against Bolshevism turns into a wholesale attack against socialism in all its forms, which led to the totalitarian monstrosities. Thus the poor, ineffectual Second International becomes responsible for Stalin.
