A Peoples Tragedy: The Russian
Revolution: 1891-1924 by Professor
Orlando Figes
History The Way It Should Be Told
Written in a narrative style that captures both the scope and detail of the
Russian revolution, Orlando Figess history is certain to become one of the
most important contemporary studies of Russia as it was at the beginning
of the 20th century. With an almost cinematic eye, Figes captures the
broad movements of war and revolution, never losing sight of the
individuals whose lives make up his subject. He makes use of personal
papers and personal histories to illustrate the effects the revolution
wrought on a human scale, while providing a convincing and detailed
understanding of the role of workers, peasants, and soldiers in the
revolution. He moves deftly from topics such as the grand social forces
and mass movements that made up the revolution to profiles of key
personalities and representative characters. Figess themes of the
Russian revolution as a tragedy for the Russian people as a whole and for
the millions of individuals who lost their lives to the brutal forces it

unleashed make sense of events for a new generation of students of
Russian history. Sympathy for the charismatic leaders and ideological
theorizing regarding Hegelian dialectics and Marxist economics--two
hallmarks of much earlier writing on the Russian revolution--are banished
from these clear-eyed, fair-minded pages of A Peoples Tragedy. The
authors sympathy is squarely with the Russian people. That commitment,
together with the benefit of historical hindsight, provides a standpoint
Figes take full advantage of in this masterful history.
Personal Review: A Peoples Tragedy: The Russian Revolution:
1891-1924 by Professor Orlando Figes
Like most people who consider themselves educated I thought I
understood the Russian revolution. I knew practically nothing. This book,
in one easy to read ( but difficult to "take" ) volume goes a long way to
overcoming ignorance on a level such as was mine. Sure, I knew some
names, Trotsky, Lenin, others. Sure, I knew the phrase "dictatorship of the
proletariat". Sure. But I didn't even know that the "first" revolution came in
the 1905 period as Tsarist power was ineffectually challenged through the
creation of a quasi representative congress. Sure. I knew practically
nothing. This book gives you a continuity in a single volume that you may
wish you had not come to understand.
I don't see the point in recapitulating the entire book for you here. Others
get off on doing that in their reviews. I'll just tell you what I got from
reading this book: A two by four in the face. I had no idea of the suffering,
stupidity, and uselessness of all the waste that was contained in the history
of transition of Russia from Tsarist autocracy to the Bolshevik state under
Lenin and then Stalin.
This book will make you very glad we never fought a major war with the
Russians. Tough? After the Reds vs the Whites in a inane civil war?
Tough? After generations of brutal autocracy. Tough? After the horrors of
WW2 ( and in an area I know more about WW2 ). Thank God we never
tangled with those people. I remember the Cuban missile crisis ( I'm that
old. ) and reading this book made me cold with fear that comes from better
understanding the history that shaped the Soviet Union that faced us in
that time.
One thing that came from my reading this book was that when I rewatched
one of my favorite movies, "Dr. Zhivago" I actually understood it for the first
time. The scales fell from my eyes. I get it now. But how am I going to
sleep tonight?
The moral of the Russian revolution is that a VERY small group of
dedicated revolutionaries can overthrow and take control of a gigantic
nation If their timing is perfect. ( And, this book teaches that perfect timing
is really a function of fate and chance. A person should read several
books about chaos theory before or after reading this book. Only in the

comprehension of "tipping points" can be seen why events happened as
they did. )
Read the book to overcome your own ignorance of the subject. Read the
book to shake your head over needless carnage and waste of human life.
Read the book to be afraid of the powerlessness of the individual in the
face of gigantic social upheaval. And, if you love the movie "Dr. Zhivago"
read the book so that you'll finally understand what what happening and
why.
I recall a line from the movie, Zhivago's half brother, a RED general now,
says, right at the end of the movie, "Yes, but do you know what it cost?"
After you read this book you will have begun to have a glimmer of the
answer to that question. I don't think it can be expressed in words. It feels
like a gigantic pit of sorrow with a black hole at the bottom. How's that?
We must take care when meddling with gigantic systems that are very
finely balanced. Pasha would have understood this very well following his
stint as Strelnikof. You never know what might happen if you do X and
think Y will occur but really you had no idea of the true causality at all ( if
there even is any true causality ).
Then, later, as I have done, buy and view the silent film "Battleship
Potemkin". I have "October" on order now.
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