The Russian Revolution

by Marcel Liebman, Arnold J. Pomerans (translator)

Paperback. 16,30 / 23,50 cm. In Turkish. 416 p. Marcel Liebman'in eseri, [Rus Devrimi hakkindaki] boslugu çok iyi doldurmaktadir. Yazar, devrimin hemen bütün yönleri ve tarihsel ortamiyla ilgili çok büyük miktarda temel bilgileri, az bir yerde özetlemeyi basarmis; olaylarin derli toplu, canli ve merakli bir hikâyesini ortaya koymustur. Hâdiseleri layik oldugu ciddilikle anlatmakta, fakat bunu tatli ve hareketli bir tarzda yapmaktadir. Gerçekten de, konuya iliskin bilgilerin günümüzdeki durumunu, rahat ve anlasilir bir tarzda özetleyebilmistir. Konuyu halk için basitlestirmenin asiriliklarina düsmeden ve ele almak zorunda kaldigi girift sorunlari fazlaca sadelestirmeden, büyük halk yiginlarina hitap etmektedir. Liebman olaylari örnek bir içtenlik ve objektiflikle anlatip çözümlemektedir. Bu eser, tümü bakimindan öylesine mükemmel, öylesine degerlidir ki, okunmasini bütün yüregimle ögütlemekten ve layik oldugu genis okur kitlesine ulasarak ona tam degerinin verilecegini ummaktan geri kalmiyorum. - Isaac Deutscher

Genres: History, Russia

389 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Marcel Liebman (1929 - 1986) was a Belgian Marxist historian of political sociology and theory, active at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

An historian of socialism and of communism, he published a number of well known books, notably on the Russian Revolution, Leninism and the history of the labour movement in Belgium. He was also an early initiator of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. His intellectual methodology was engaged, critical and rigorous.

From 1962 to 1967, he was editor of the weekly journal La Gauche (The Left) and in 1968 founded the journal Mai (May) which existed until 1973.

In 1976, he participated in the creation of the Association Belgo-Palestinienne, with Naïm Khader and Pierre Galand, where he was General-Secretary.

A foundation under the directorship Mateo Alaluf was created at the Université Libre de Bruxelles upon Marcel Liebman's death in 1986. In December 2005, the foundation was converted into the Marcel Liebman Institute. This Institute aims to contribute to socialist thought and the study of the left, as well as a critical reflection on the practices of social movements.

Reviews

[Nathan Fisher]

Very well-done; scrambles a little across the finish line, but that’s almost certainly unavoidable. Probably the best single-volume history?

[Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. The author is Marxist. So Lenin comes across as his savior in his writing. The text only covers the coming of Lenin and his crew into power. It ends as soon as the Civil War starts. The text is easy to follow and informative. Certainly its not as in depth as Trotsky and his account. But you get the overview of everything. The fate of the revolution at the end where they talk about other almost Marxist revolutions is eye opening. I'm not a Marxist at all, but bias aside from the author, I enjoyed the read.

[A]

Only read 1/2, but have been suffused with Russian Revolution of late and coming back to this after a good long break plunked me right back in the July days and that was a little much. I will get back to it, because this is a great "pro-worker" ("bolshevik") leaning history.