Rulers and Subjects

This is a study of the governers and the governed of Russia, from 1801 until the liquidation of the Soviet state in 1991. The book places the two revolutions of 1917 and 1989 in the context of 200 years of Russian history. The first in 1917 replaced tzarism and briefly created a government with democratic intensions, but within months it was toppled by the Bolsheviks whose subsequent attempt to build socialism caused untold suffering, and a more harshly repressive government than before. The second rebellion brought the Soviet experiment to an end. The collapse, provoked by Gorbachev’s reforms, resulted in the discrediting of socialism, the abolition of the Communist party, the disintegration of the Soviet empire and the disappearance of the Soviet state. Concluding with post-Soviet confusion and misery, the work portrays a new society struggling to be born amidst the ruins of the old, to overcome the authoritarianism and misgovernment that once seemed such an ineradicable feature of Russian life.

Author Biography

John Gooding, Honorary Fellow in History, University of Edinburgh, Scotland