Freud and the Bolsheviks: Psychoanalysis in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union

by Martin A. Miller

This fascinating book is the first comprehensive history of psychoanalysis in Russia from the last years of the tsars through Stalin`s withering ideological assault to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Using rare Russian sources and newly opened Soviet archives, Martin A. Miller explores Freud`s influence in Russia, discusses the lives of the Russian Freudians, and explicates original Russian psychoanalytic case studies.

Genres: Psychoanalysis, History, Psychology, Soviet Union

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 1998

About the author

b. 1938 Martin Alan Miller

Reviews

[Marcus Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of the best I've read on the subject of the history of psychoanalytic movement. Miller shows a deep knowledge of the Russian history before, during and after the Freudian theories entered the country. He presents the discussion with an extensive support of documents and all kinds of reference.
Starting from the imperial Russia, and showing how there was already some studies of the unconscious before Freud, he slowly guides you to the entrance of the psychoanalytic thought before the revolution. There is also a relatively detailed discussion of the work of the first psychoanalysts of the country. Following that, there is the post-revoltuionary period, where Psychoanalysis goes from supported by the government to prohibited by it. And then there is an analysis of the return of the interest for the work of Freud, apparently from the 70's on.

[Paul Bustion · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was informative. I can see superficial similarities between Freud's ideas and those of the Bolsheviks. And obviously Freud had to deal with the Bolsheviks for his movement to gain credibility in Bolshevik Russia. But the book exaggerated the similarities between Freud and the Bolsheviks and exaggerated the links between them. The book also made some category mistakes, such as calling non-psychoanalytic psychotherapists such as Carl Jung and Alfred Adler "psychoanalysts" mistakenly. This led to some cases where Bolsheviks were using Adler's ideas being mistaken by author Martin Miller for cases where they were using Freud's ideas. The book made it look like Trotsky clearly was sympathetic to Freud's ideas when that is not as obvious as the author thinks. The evidence suggests Trotsky preferred Alfred Adler's ideas to Freud's.